Can you create a hatch?

[SaltH2oFly]

Years ago I saw a video of some famous western fly fisherman fishing a river. He said, if you don't see any fish rising and if they don't seem to be taking anything...you can "create" a hatch. He took a dry fly and cast up river and let it drift down until the fly started to drag and he had run out of line to mend, and then he cast back up to the same spot. He did this four times and picked up a nice RB and the tail end of the drift.

I wasn't sure if this was just camera magic or if it was real.

Today at lunch I took a quick ride to a nice shady little portion of a local river and I decided to tie on a Gray Wulf. I was casting all around the various pools, up river, across river etc. No hits.

Then I remembered my famous friend out west - well actually, I have no idea what the heck his name was but I remembered his thesis. So I tried it. Cast across, and mend up...drift, pick up and repeat. On the fourth cast (NO - I'm not kidding), I got a nice hit from below. He ran a bit and I lost him. My landing skills not withstanding, I followed my same pattern (remember the old Napoleon Hill rule of life, repeat what works, eliminate what doesn't) and this time on the second cast I got another hit....yes I lost him too but that's not the point.

So what do our resident experts think? Can you create a hatch?

[overmywaders]

I'm no expert but I have cast as many as 40 times to the same spot before bringing a fish to the surface. You should read the episode in LaBranche's "The Dry Fly and Fast Water" (1914) in which he brings a logy old brown from the bottom in the middle of the day to finally take his dry on the 25th cast. LaBranche was the first to write on Creating a Hatch.

See http://www.overmywaders.com/articles/preppingthewater.html for other ways to interest fish.

Best regards,
Reed
www.overmywaders.com

[Steve H.]

My favorite way to "create a hatch" is gather up a handful of grasshoppers and toss them at the head of a pool. Or is that known as "chumming"????!!!!! :roll:

[fessiewig]

Sometime when I'm fishing and it's slow I'll kick up the bottom and then fish downstream. That works sometimes.

[bar]

Not quite the same thing but…..Was fishing on the Atikonac (sp?) River in Labrador one evening on a back channel of the river. There was no action but there was a heavy caddis hatch and the alders along the shore were full of them. The guide shook the alders and got some of the flies on the water but still nothing. He then went back to the canoe for the paddle and whacked the water, shook the alders, whacked the water and soon there were trout and whitefish rising down at the end of the run. Caught a 6.5 lb Brookie on a # 14 brown bivisible at the end of the run just during a beautiful sunset. Some memories last forever!

Bruce

[Ken B]

I've heard of the San Juan shuffle where guys would disturb the area underneath where they were fishing and the larvae would flow downstream and they'd follow with their fly. Not a hatch per say nor is it looked upon with favor out there.


Ken