I decided to take advantage of the weather and get out on a lake today. The day started sound slow with cold fog and sluggish fish.
Once the sun came out a nice midge hatch started popping off and the fish put on a better show fight wise.
I ended up with a little over a dozen fish to hand. Best fly for me today was a size 14 dark red v-rib pupa with a white bead.
I throat pumped a few fish and found small black and green chironomids, daphnia and small pale peach colored scuds. It looked like some of them may have had eggs due to the orange belly color.
I also sucked a 3" leech out of the throat of one bow that must have just eaten it as it was still wiggling.
A few of the fish looked like they had encounters with eagles.
Once the fog burned off it was about as nice a day as you can ask for in early March.
Here are a few pics from today.
SF

Thanks for the great report and pics. Are you fishing 15-20ft deep again? I haven't chased trout yet this spring but it looks like it is time.

JS
Fish were in 12-16' of water last weekend.
If we can get some stable weather the chironomid hatches should really take off.
SC

There was a good hatch tonight on my home lake, first time I have seen the swallows out this year. And the eagle was out too! He was scaring the crap out of the birds (scoters?) on the lake right now but was looking for planter trout. When this pineapple express stops I will get out there.

One other thing I should have noted that has worked well this spring is balanced leeches with or without an indicator. Either let them sit in the chop or slowly strip them back in.
http://www.flycraftangling.com/index.asp?p=134
http://innovativeflyfisher.com/forum/index.php?topic=143.0

Thanks for the links. Had never seen "balanced" leaches but they look interesting and fairly easy to tie. I normally fish leaches much shallower on an intermediate line and sometimes hook some big smallies instead of trout. BTW another hatch tonight out in the middle of the lake. Tons of swallows out.

Surfing around on the first link I found these small jig hooks

Haha, also found another fly I've never heard of on this site.
Las Vegas Boobies leach....interesting. I can imagine a steelhead hitting that but seems awfully flashy for lake fishing.

John,
Jam Session nailed it on the hook.
I get them from Barlows Tackle. 50 hooks for less then $6.00 is hard to beat price wise.
http://www.barlowstackle.com/Mustad-32833BLN-Jig-Hooks-P394.aspx
They are a steelhead hook. The wire is actually a bit heavy for trout, but finding a 90 degree jig hook to goes all the way down to size 10 is very difficult.
The smaller sizes are perfect for micro leeches. Any light wire 90 degree hook will work if you want to tie them in larger sizes.
SF

I've been using a fine wire Matzuo sickle jig hook made down to a #8 for my Balanced Micro Leech. An excellent jig hook to hang below an indicator for stillwater trout, not a power jig hook though.

5/32" brass bead, 1/4" from hook to pin head (.032 9/16") to balance.

I'll tie a level thread base in front of the brass bead on the sewing pin just thick enough to be able to pull the brass bead over the thread base, whip finish, cut, super glue, pull the brass bead up to the pin head. Then tie a thread dam behind the brass bead. It stabilizes the brass bead on the sewing pin quite well.


http://www.captainhookswarehouse.com/index.cfm?page=detail&hookid=639&view=1


GG

Another jig hook option with a great variety on size options.

http://www.allenflyfishing.com/copy-of-w501bl-wet-fly-nymph-1xl-barbless/

I'm intrigued by the balanced leech concept. I have had great success with a more standard "micro leech" pattern with a tungsten bead at the head on certain days, but other days it won't get a sniff. It's a fun way to fish (in my opinion).

I wonder how much a balanced configuration would improve my rate of success. For that matter, I wonder if using a lighter bead (brass) and placing a half hitch in the tippet, on the body behind the bead, of a fly tied on a standard hook might achieve a similar, "balanced" effect. I may try this first, as while I think the balanced leech is a great concept, I see it taking me quite a bit longer to tie one of those than it takes me to tie a standard micro leech, and I'm usually in a hurry when tying trout bugs.

FF,
The balanced leeches really don't take much longer to tie then a regular leech.
Adding the pin and the bead is really the only difference.
I think the advantage of them is they offer a hook point up / horizontal presentation and you can fish them incredibly slow under an indicator.
Here are a couple of angora goat leeches I tied tonight for tomorrow's fishing along with some hot spot San Juan worms. I ran out of the correct pins so these ended up being nipple headed leeches.
SF

So,... How'd the balanced leaches do on your day out?

Like those San Juan worms you tied up.

Sam,
The chironomid action was good enough yesterday that I never had to tie a leech on. Size 14 chromie was the ticket.
Got some dry action using raccoons today on some cutts and bows at different lake.

Redd,
They are about 2" long, but you can tie them pretty much any length you want.
The tails are medium vernille with the tips burnt. The body is flat holographic tinsel with blood red midge tubing wrapped over the tinsel. The beads are 5/32. I usually use 1/8" or 7/64" but I was out of them.
Here is a little different version with smaller bead and a silver wire rib to give the abdomen segmentation similar to a chironomid pupa body.
Hope this helps,
SF