Uinta Flies

[AEJ24]

Hey all, I'm going to be camping/fishing the North Slope of the Uintas the first week of August, and would like to start tying flies now in preparation for doing so. As I am very inexperienced with the North Slope and Stillwaters, what would you guys recommend having for both streams and lakes at that time of year? I'm guessing terrestrials would be money on the streams (eg. ants, hoppers, beetles), but am clueless when it comes to stillwaters.

[fishned]

I would go with Elk hair caddis, Adams Irresistables, Royal wulffs, small stimulators. Size 12-18. Anything you can get to float through 30 or 40 fish is probably a good thing.

For stillwater patterns, I am gonna defer to the stillwater gurus, as summertime in the uintas is dry fly, small stream nirvana for me and I don't waste a minute of it on lakes.

E-mail me if you're looking for suggestions for specific locations.

Where are you from in Maryland? I have a sister that lives on the north shore of the Magothy.

Ed

[campfire]

Dry fly fishing is not only a fun but a very effective way to fish Uinta lakes. The same patterns that fishned mentioned will work just fine on the stillwaters. I would also add the venerable Renegade, caddis emergers, midges and for some odd reason a small red serendipity.

[wovenstonefly]

I bet that over the years there have been more fish caught in the Uintas on a renegade than any other pattern. My expierience has been that those fish are hungry. Put any fly in front of them and they'll eat it. I fish drys on the lakes most of the time and do great.

[AEJ24]

Yeah, I'm looking forward to both stream and stillwater fishing. I'm actually from Orem, UT, but am currently in a NW Baltimore suburb (Owings Mills) while I go to dental school. My first year is winding down and I can't wait to start tying in anticipation of my trip back home. Thanks for the suggestions, I'm almost ready to explode and I've got 3 months left!

[Marty]

Gray hackle yellow, gray hackle peacock and a black gnat is all you need.

[Lewiskm3]

If for some reason the double digit hours on dries doesn't do it for you, and you want to go subsurface, scuds is pink, tan and olive will land you fish. You'll catch fish both ways, so I'd just stay on top.....

[ffjones]

a mosquito is the only thing you really need, that hatch is on every damned lake in the Uinta region, at all times as well.
Really, try to tie a few patterns you never thought any fish would look at and see what happens, every year I go with a couple that I think will scare the fish away and they usually attack them as well.

[Utah DaveII]

Gray hackle yellow, gray hackle peacock and a black gnat is all you need.

Man that is a blast from the past. I remember the days all we fished on Strawberry was a grey Hackle green, grey hackle peacock and renegade. I caught a lot fo fish on those back in the day.

I would also add a size 14 stimulator and bivisible for some of the rougher sections of water.

[AEJ24]

I'm not familiar with term "bivisible." Relative noob to the game. And thanks for all the info so far. Now if school would just end so I could get tyin...

[MuseJr]

I'm not familiar with term "bivisible."

Brown hackle on the back 2/3 with white hackle on the remainder or the hook.
Look for cluster patterns and bright colors to attract the fish. I prefer the yellow, red and lime humpy for the non cluster patterns and orange asher, crackleback and Griffith's gnat for the cluster patterns.

[Utah DaveII]

http://www.danica.com/flytier/jlafevers/brown_bivisible.htm

[Larry S.]

Man that is a blast from the past. I remember the days all we fished on Strawberry was a grey Hackle green, grey hackle peacock and renegade. I caught a lot fo fish on those back in the day.


And a Barber Pole............................

[AEJ24]

Turns out I've been tying bivisibles, who knew. Learn something knew every day, especially when you're an ignoramus such as I. Can't thank you all enough. What sizes of these would you recommend. I like tying big stimulators, but I'm guessing up there that might not be my best option. Anything bigger than 16's? I tie from 10-14's usually.

Also, I hit a certain river up there last year (my only time on the North Slope) for about a half day (thanks to a friend having to leave early), and I was only able to catch them on hare's ears, anybody know why they wouldn't have been hitting dries? It was in August sometime and I was quite surprised I got no action on top.

[ben trod]

10 - 14's are fine especially in the lakes because of the upslope winds that deposite a myriad insects ie... grass hoppers, moths, termites(those are fun when you hit them right), ants, crickets, beetles, and more. Its basically a smorgasboard of food items dumped daily on the high lakes especially in late summer.
Leave a pan of water outside for a time and see how many insects collect in it (on your porch)during the summer. This is exponetially greater on lakes due to anabatic(upslope) winds, and the greater surface area of the lake. In general(although there are exceptions)High country lakes and rivers for that matter, usually dont get diverse prolific hatches like lower elevation lakes and streams, so trout really key in on terrestrials.
I think this is why non-specific attractors like the renegade, grey hackle yellow/peacock, bisivle, stimis and other attractors work best because the trout eat a random sample of terrestrials daily.

[campfire]

Ben,
I never thought about the "upslope winds". It makes a lot of sense and explains a lot of things like why I have seen snow banks strewn with grass hoppers at 11000 feet plus.