jamie shard

Wonderful stuff Most Noble Bob. I love it. No need for a blow by blow, but there is good stuff throughout... Excellent tip about using the slow water near fast water to get the light lure down, I can see a current break in my mind (slow by very fast) where this would work perfectly and prevent me from knocking myself unconcious with a cannon ball lashed to a hook After really digesting your post, I think Go Slow really cuts to the heart of it. I posted because I was looking for a fast and efficient way to clean out this slow section of water, one where the 10% could be found just about anywhere. No clear edges besides the stream edges, just a waist deep pool of mystery... Why rush the mystery? -jamie

That's a great system. You could also add in a prefix to let people know what it felt like prior to being in hand. For example, a feisty dink would be a donk-dink. A feisty denk in a fast moving river on a ultralight rod could maybe be a dunk-denk. A sickly dunk that momentarily revived, then floundered, then fought heroically could be a donk-denk-dunk-dunk. They system's beauty is its elegance and versatility. -jamie s

This is turning out to be a good fly for clear water:

Heh, thanks Jim! Believe me, I'd much rather fish this section upstream, but the water doesn't realize it's flowing the wrong way. Hmm, change the weight of the line for the trip downstream and not the weight of the flies... not a bad idea.

I noticed that a heavier fly was needed, too. A beadhead needed to become a dumbell head. I really like down and across for big streams... or technically greased lining. I like feeding more line downstream as it swims across to get that broadside effect. It was the only way (besides blind luck) that would get me strikes on the Kankakee. A white shenk streamer fished that way. Mid-level lure and you could see the strikes. Fun! Unfortunately, a rare event, too. It seems like there are four? ways to swim a swimmer: 1) The "Tough Guy" so focused on swimming upstream that it will swim past big fish. 2) The "Slipper" trying to swim upstream but doing so slower than the current and so slipping downstream. 3) The "Drifter" holds position in the current. 4) The "Tumbler" doesn't hold position, but mostly tumbles with the current. A nearly dead guy. 5) The "Retreater" holds position swimming downstream slightly faster than the current. 6) The freaking out "Spooked" swimming downstream as fast as its flippers will flip. Okay maybe 6. I guess I'm trying to do the Drifter, but most of the time I feel like I'm doing the Tumbler. I feel like I am probably missing lots of strikes as a result. It's interesting... I find it easier to keep in touch upstream. I tend to fish the Retreater upstream. Similarily, I tend to fish the Slipper downstream. I like to pull slightly against the current every second or so, trying to just barely feel the lure... that is, unless I've gone all braindead from wading and casting and trying not to fall in and dehydrated and hungry, then I don't have any idea what I'm doing... which is really most of the time. -jamie, not just a forum registrant, but a happy ISA member!

A question for y'all... There's one place that I like to fish that is downstream of the access point. It's a narrowish stream (maybe 30') so you can't really cast "across" you really need to fish "down" if you are going downstream. I find that it's fairly easy to fish topwater downstream. I use long casts and essentially fan cast to holding areas. There's one part of the river that is fairly slow water and over the hip deep. It's sorta one big potential holding area. I just get the feeling that in this water they aren't really "looking up" so I want to be able to go subsurface. The only way I can think of doing this and stay in connection is to essentially to use trot lining.. in otherwords just let the line float down the surface, stay in touch with the nymph for a long length of line, reel in, and repeat. Is there any other way to fish subsurface & downstream? -jamie

I'll be there and I'm bringing two others. -jamieS p.s. I'm moving to Wheaton at the end of the month, and I'm looking forward to doing even more exploring in the western burbs!

Umm.... the word.

http://flyfisherman.com/ftb/smcrayfish/index.html ....Early in the summer, the young crayfish are an inch or less long. They are usually light in color and inhabit shallow areas near cover. This time of year, I like to fish areas of current near expansive rock flats with patterns like Theo's Dream, Clouser's Crayfish, or similar small imitations. Because these crayfish are so small and light, they are occasionally swept away in the current, so fishing a #8-10 crayfish imitation in early summer is productive for trout, bass, panfish, and carp. As the summer progresses and the crayfish grow, increase the size of your imitation. Crayfish molt several times a year, and when they do, they are vulnerable. As crayfish grow, they shed their hard exoskeletons that become too small, leaving them defenseless with soft shells for a few days until their new shells harden. Because younger crayfish grow so rapidly their first year, this can happen eight or ten times a season. They also cannot swim well with a soft shell or use their claws to defend themselves against hungry predators. While they progress through this phase they are aggressively eaten by fish simply because it is less work. A crayfish full of fight with a hard shell and nasty claws takes time and energy for a fish to tackle. A molting crayfish is dinner in one gulp. A soft-shell crayfish is lighter in color than one with a hard shell, so fish patterns that are lighter in color than the crayfish you see to imitate this vulnerable stage.... -jamieS