Combating The Dog Days

As we move into late July the dog days of summer can make trout sluggish and very selective.  As water warms and it is low and clear and sun intensity creates increased visibility in the water, two things should be remembered.  Trout seek increased oxygen, which is connected to temperature, and they head for spots where they feel less vulnerable.  To find oxygenated water fish need to find moving water or colder water.  Moving water obscures the surface and takes care of the visibility piece, but often this time of year if that moving water is too shallow then it's too warm.  What do fish do?  They head deep.  

Thinking about these factors today, after fishing the Cold River for one hour with no sign of fish, I changed to a spool of sinking line, added a couple feet of tippet to make my leader/tippet combo 11 feet and I used a cone head sculpin pattern.  I then focused on deep pools and fished the fly as deeply as possible.  I went on to catch 10 trout in four different deep pools and two were 15 inches plus.  The scientist in me says that I should have isolated my variable; changed to sinking line first, then only changing the tippet only, changing to the sculpin pattern with floating and sinking line and finally fishing the pools with both lines as well.  Who has the time though?  I wanted to fish.  My instincts tell me that fishing deep with the aid of a sinking line was the key.  Over the next month if conditions call for it explore the depths of fly fishing.