Truckee River - Fishtacular II

This video was really to test out a new HD video camera. This particular day, caddis adults were so thick that I inhaled about half a dozen throughout our session. Despite the prolific hatch and hundreds of adults depositing eggs as they smacked the surface, the trout were only looking for pupae. I know caddises are some of the best dry fly hatches, even so, I often run an emerger/cripple or an un-weighted caddis pupae in the film vs. an elk hair on top, even when the fish are breaking the surface. This tactic works at the head of a hole where a long riffle of fast water dumps into a slow run. That's because towards the middle and end of the run, the adults are generally able to fly. Try watching rising fish closely, if you see them expel an air bubble from their gills, it means that their mouth broke the surface and they're sipping items on top of the water. If an air bubble isn't present after a rise, they're likely sipping subsurface. I read this years ago, and I've found it incredibly useful in practice, especially in technical waters like the LT.