Help picking out some sinking flies to target deep n ga trout

firebreather said:

Thanks for the input , I was,wearing brown waders n camo jacket . Don't understand how the fish can see me if I'm behind them by at least 10 ft , and they face upstream

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Trout can see rather well behind themselves believe it or not. They have what is known as a 'Cone of Vision'. Look it up one day. The cone refers to the position of a trout's eyes and how it allows them so see horizontally under water and vertically above water. They can see nearly all the way around themselves under water (330 degrees if I'm not mistaken) so if your feet are in the water and you are not standing directly in a line behind their tail, they probably know you're there. They can also see at roughly 100 degrees vertically above them. This is where it can get a little weird but neat nonetheless. Snell's Law tells us how light is reflected and refracted at different angles as it hits the water. Because of this, it allows them an additional 60 degrees of sight above the water, to roughly 160 degrees overall. I studied this crap for a college course once. The more you know!

Anyway, how does this help you? I have found that I almost always try to keep my feet out of the water where applicable. If it isn't possible, I try to stand behind a rock or structure that is in the water, but between me and the fish. Remember, if your feet is anywhere in the water, they can most likely see them and what they can't see they can sense via their lateral line. As to what they can see outside of the water, from the waters surface to 10 degrees above, they can't. At that angle all they can see is a reflection of the bed of the stream, unless again, you have some part of you visible under water. For you to stay in that 10 degree angle, you'd have to distance yourself quite a bit or shrink your silhouette in some fashion. This is why you'll see a lot of fly fisherman squatting near the rivers edge and such to make a cast.

There are plenty of illustrations you can find online if this doesn't make sense.

Good luck!

Black wooly buggers

firebreather said:

Thanks for the input , I was,wearing brown waders n camo jacket . Don't understand how the fish can see me if I'm behind them by at least 10 ft , and they face upstream

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As Ivy Thicket said, trout have a huge cone of vision compared to us-their eyes are on the sides of their heads, and are designed to spot predators.

I have caught tens of thousands of trout. Very few (almost none) of these were fish that I could see.

NCHillbilly said:

As Ivy Thicket said, trout have a huge cone of vision compared to us-their eyes are on the sides of their heads, and are designed to spot predators.

I have caught tens of thousands of trout. Very few (almost none) of these were fish that I could see.

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The fish I catch by sight are nearly all near the surface feeding on dry flies. I should have elaborated on that. I've caught very, very, very few fish on nymphs, that I was able to sight first. I could probably count them all on 2 hands.

Catching a wild truot in slow, shallow clear water is tough. Sometimes the fish just wins!

But, as mentioned above, your only chance is if the fish doesn't know you are there. Sometimes all it takes to spook a wild fish is the shadow of your fly line crossing over its lie.
Besides slow and low approach, hiding behind rocks, etc, you have to think about your cast and how to get your fly in position without alerting the fish. Long leaders, side arm casts, and sometimes just waiting to cast until the fish is heading towards the side of the current away from your cast.

It gets a lot easier in stained and faster moving water.

IvyThicket said:

The fish I catch by sight are nearly all near the surface feeding on dry flies. I should have elaborated on that. I've caught very, very, very few fish on nymphs, that I was able to sight first. I could probably count them all on 2 hands.

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About the same here. And I've caught a lot that I could see them rising, but not so much the fish itself. Some folks love slick-water fishing. I don't. I don't think I have a fly smaller than #16 in my boxes. Midges ain't my thing.

A cricket dragging across the bottom is not something they would normally see naturally. If I were fishing in 18 inches of water I would usually have a strike indicator about 3 feet above a bead head prince (or bead head olive wooly bugger), then a black zebra midge (or bead head pheasant tail/copper John/lightning bug) dropper about 8 inches below that. Stay below and on the side and cast well enough above so that your line isn't flopping down on top of them, let it feed down while mending your line. Then have your camera ready.