I’ve been working on dialing in a pattern that I was able to test out a couple of days ago. There was a hatch going and the fish wouldn’t touch any of my usual Kebari patterns that they usually have no trouble going after. In this stretch on the Provo I normally get small fish in the 8-14 inch range. I put this new pattern on and two larger browns nailed it. It doesn’t really imitate what is in the water, but has a ton of UV properties. I can fish it like a stiff hackle Kebari and have had really great results with it. I tie it in different colors, usually greens, yellow, pink, purple and grey. I’m calling it a Provo River Sparkler since it has a copious amount of bling.
I have no idea why and of course it’s likely in my head. This happened on the middle provo for me as well, I had some large trout come up and hammer this pattern. I plan on playing with it some more in different colors and sizes.
Yeah for sure, this pattern just seemed to perform better than more imitative stuff. And then it just felt like larger fish were willing to move on it where others they weren’t.
“Show them something new, catch a lot of fish” is a common saying among competition bass fishermen.
Why would that concept not work with trout?
Show them something new and different. Well done. An attractive fly!
I find that trout will sometimes respond to natural color schemes and sometimes flashier patterns.
Often they seem to respond to one or the other. I suspect they are in different feeding modes / moods.
My flybox has been reduced to 4 color schemes. light bodied, dark bodied, brown bodied, and flashy abnoxious bodied. The forms are exactly the same accept the bodies. I carry brown, but most often the fish respond to the the dark or light bodied…and if not that then the flashy. My flies for light or dark are simply shetland oyster or purple haze. The flash body is a cheap metalic gold craft thread.
light
dark
flash
brown
I forget the source but remember seeing footage of flies with flash or uv material and what the fish probably sees. The illustrations suggested a blinding bright offering. Think neon sign…something intruding the natural world.
I suspect that just as with salmon, trout can be aggravated into a strike by a flashy offering. I am sure everything that enters their space and is the size of forage is on their radar. So why an unnatural colored offering may out perform a natural can only be explained by curiosity or irritation.
