I have been busy tying my winter supply of streamers for the Tongariro. My goto patterns are largely Woolly Buggers of various colour/flash combinations, mostly green, black, brown with none white or even grey. Now here is an interesting question. Out in the lake most rainbows are caught on smelt patterns, which are generally light coloured, yet when they come into the river they seem to prefer darker colours. We know that fresh run rainbows do not feed as autopsies of many empty and shrunken stomachs have confirmed. From the many fish I have caught at the river mouths I know that their stomachs have already shrunk while still in the lake and are generally empty. It seams to me that once fish stop feeding the trigger to attack flies changes. Just think about it. Out in the Delta one of the most used flies is a white booby yet up the river white streamers are a rarity so much so that I can not recall seeing one let alone using one myself. Aren't fish supposed to retain a prey image and instinctively react to it? That is what US steelhead anglers believe and that is why the Intruder patterns are squid imitations, which is the main prey out at sea. If we follow that logic than as smelt are the main prey out in the lake fly imitations of smelt should still work upriver.
I know that 'heave and leave" large globugs works out in the lake and swinging large globugs in the river also catches well. When swinging large globugs I definitely catch a lot more Jacks. Any thoughts????????
Cheers
Rainbow