# HighNDry Humpy's



## PBH (Nov 7, 2007)

A long, long time ago (in a galaxy far away....), RAW sent me some flies. He sent me some humpy's and hoppers. I still have two or three of each still in my boxes.

Over the 24th weekend I had a chance to go do some fishing. It was disappointing to see the water color closer to coffee than water. I fished anyway. I was not disappointed.

The biggest surprise was to see a cutthroat sipping "stuff" off the surface near a fallen tree. I opened my dry box and those pink humpies were calling out to the fish. 1 cast, 1 cutt. I sure enjoy fishing those flies!

The next day I fished another small stream, and took a few more fish using the same humpy. Ton's of fun.

Enjoy some pics:


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## PBH (Nov 7, 2007)




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## sawsman (Sep 13, 2007)

..and here I thought you were strictly a worm and power bait kinda guy.;-)

I've got some of H&D's stuff too. They work for sure.


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## Catherder (Aug 2, 2008)

Very nice! :O||: Those cutts and the first brown look very well fed. Much healthier than the skinny fish I caught this weekend in the Uintas. 


H&D won't give me any flies. I argued too much with him about Utah/BYU over the years.


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## PBH (Nov 7, 2007)

sawsman said:


> ..and here I thought you were strictly a worm and power bait kinda guy.;-)


Don't judge a guy by his handle!

I have never used powerbait. I'm not afraid to use a worm, when the conditions warrant it. Conditions certainly warranted the use of worms:










That picture was from Sunday. Friday it wasn't as bad as that, but it was still much more "brown" than I would have liked. Worms would have been a good choice, but I resorted to throwing streamers. The fish still complied. Interestingly I did find that one fish slurping scum off the top in the brown water. The pink humpy did the trick.

The smaller brown actually came from a different stream, which was running crystal clear. The other fish were all very fat. That biggest brown was probably 20".

good times.


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## LOAH (Sep 29, 2007)

Nice looking fish! Way to pull them out of the murk.


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## brookieguy1 (Oct 14, 2008)

Looks fun, Brett. Hats-off to fishing that chocolate milk. Stuff just discourages me. But you made it pay off. Well done.


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## smoothie (Nov 21, 2011)

Thanks for sharing. Great photos! Glad to hear the poor conditions didn't ruin your time on the water.


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## HighNDry (Dec 26, 2007)

I didn't tie those pink Humpys. I remember sending some hoppers but not Humpys. Might have been Cheech?

Anyway--ugly water but nice fish. So the question is: did the fish hit the fly as soon as it hit the water? How could they see it? Were they hitting based on vibration? 

I ask because I have fished some small smooth water where I cast and watched trout rush downstream to take the fly. I assumed they were facing upstream but felt the vibration through their lateral line and came to investigate.


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## LOAH (Sep 29, 2007)

I think that's the case, HighNDry. I've been obsessed with a certain largemouth on my lunch breaks recently. Always in the same spot by the bank and I can't cast within 30 feet of it without it spooking out of sight, whether up or downstream, no matter how concealed I am. 

The visibility in that murky water is only a foot or so. It's gotta be the vibration being recognized. That, and the fish knows I'm gunning for it (oh, I'll get it, one of these days).


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## PBH (Nov 7, 2007)

HighNDry said:


> I didn't tie those pink Humpys. I remember sending some hoppers but not Humpys. Might have been Cheech?
> 
> Anyway--ugly water but nice fish. So the question is: did the fish hit the fly as soon as it hit the water? How could they see it? Were they hitting based on vibration?


I thought those humps came from you. I'll have to go back and figure out who sent those. I do still use those twisted foam hoppers!

As for the catch on the dry out of the muddy water -- I'm positive it was done by sight. I could see the ripples from a fish taking "stuff" off the surface. I say "stuff" because that's exactly what it was. That cutt was taking everything that floated by (foam, debris, insects, etc.). The fish was very aggressive. When I cast to that fish I made sure to cast well above it and allow the dry to float down directly to where the fish was slurping. I do not believe that the fish hit based off vibration.

This fish was sitting right on the surface, on the edge of a fallen tree, in the slow current. It was sight fishing.

One other thing that keep in mind (as mentioned in my post with the picture of the muddy water) is that on Friday the water was not as muddy as the water was on Sunday (the day I took the picture of the muddy water). The water was still very murky -- much more so than I would have liked. It certainly was not ideal fly-fishing conditions. But, as you can see, the fish still cooperated.


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## PBH (Nov 7, 2007)

HighNDry said:


> I didn't tie those pink Humpys. Might have been Cheech?





PBH said:


> I thought those humpys came from you. I'll have to go back and figure out who sent those.


The humpy's came from Mike Mead. I don't know if he's still around Utah or not. Haven't heard from him for a long time.

The humpys came from a Tag Team Swap Challenge. Reading that thread on UOTF brought back some good memories. That site had a great run!


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## spencerD (Jan 14, 2014)

PBH said:


> As for the catch on the dry out of the muddy water -- I'm positive it was done by sight. I could see the ripples from a fish taking "stuff" off the surface. I say "stuff" because that's exactly what it was. That cutt was taking everything that floated by (foam, debris, insects, etc.). The fish was very aggressive. When I cast to that fish I made sure to cast well above it and allow the dry to float down directly to where the fish was slurping. I do not believe that the fish hit based off vibration.
> 
> This fish was sitting right on the surface, on the edge of a fallen tree, in the slow current. It was sight fishing.
> 
> One other thing that keep in mind (as mentioned in my post with the picture of the muddy water) is that on Friday the water was not as muddy as the water was on Sunday (the day I took the picture of the muddy water). The water was still very murky -- much more so than I would have liked. It certainly was not ideal fly-fishing conditions. But, as you can see, the fish still cooperated.


It's always amazing to me how well fish have evolved to see in such crappy conditions, be it murky water or very late at night. I was fishing last night, before the moon came up in just about pitch-darkness, and still getting fish hitting my nymphs. It's cool the fish manage to do that.


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## HighNDry (Dec 26, 2007)

The humpys came from a Tag Team Swap Challenge. Reading that thread on UOTF brought back some good memories. That site had a great run![/QUOTE]

It was fun over there for a few years. It's like a ghost town now.

It's pretty much hopper time for me from about mid July until the snow hits. This summer and into fall, I'm using a "new" pattern. So far it's been good--but I fish a lot of small creeks and streams where fish aren't all that picky. If I can find the time, I will tie some up and send them down for you to play with.


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