Tied on a size 6 Umpqua Flats hook, x-small lead eyes, large cactus chenille and long craft fur, this design lets you push a little water using short strips and imitating a dying minnow, or lets you drift it along like a dead fish bumping along the bottom in the current. I usually approach a new rapid by using pretty quick short strips to give it a lot of action, casting across the water and letting the fly arc across until it's running upstream on my side of the river. Once fish stop responding, I'll slow it down and only make a few slower strips. After that stops getting the right responses, I'll simply cast and follow the drift looking for a fish to pick it up. Casting across the water helps to maintain enough line tension to see even faint bites in the line. Here's one after a hard morning of fishing and it's beaten up but still fishable after more than 200 fish.
The other thing I'm enjoying with this kind of fishing is using a short fly rod. The guys at Roy's talked me into trying the little six foot TFO signature 2weight rod. It makes fly casting very light and zippy, and makes getting under overhanging tree branches much easier. It also makes even the lightest bites easier to feel. The tiny rod was responsible for catching over 720 fish this season, and well over a thousand last year. Though I won't recommend it for everyone, this little rig has also caught redfish up to 28" in the flats with fight times similar to what I get with the larger rods. Reds will wear out the line faster, so I've been getting 2 or maybe 3 years out of a fly line before it has to be replaced - but for the number of smiles it has given, it's been worth the price.
