
This past Sunday, I was working the Little Fort Leech slow and low with the wind. I had had a successful morning picking up hatchery fish, but of no size. I decided to switch from the heretofore successful Orb to the Little Fort Leech and to fish deeper water. My plan worked! The only one like it for the day. Yes, it is a hatchery fish, but it was a fiesty trout and for once my son, Tony, was not at the other end of the lake. So, I got a picture. Many fish were caught today, but this one will be added to my special moments. It barely made it into the net. The fish was quickly released and swam away with a strong flex of its’ tail. This fish was caught from a Cascade Mountains’ lake. 

Tony Muncy had an equally successful day and the above homely, little Fuzzy Dragon, in green, bug eyed and all, was a killer fly. Dragon flies came off for hours (not much else until an evening midge hatch) and the Fuzzy Dragon(s) were eventually torn to shreds. The fly accounted for dozens and dozens of trout. Also, productive patterns were The Orb, Prince Nymph, Calico Woolly Bugger, Lightning Bug, Lake Bait and a lighter green leech pattern. The picture below is of a Lake Bait fly. This pattern was new to us and provided to Tony by a generous lady he met on the lake. He tried it and it was also a productive fly. Tied on a size 10 hook, it was a pretty big fly. You can see it is basically a fat Carey Special with hot red overwing and the Marabou/Chickabou tail. It worked well and that overwing really glowed. 
https://swittersb.wordpress.com/2008/07/10/trout-tattoo-art/

Hello Michael,
Really they are interchangeable. I think it goes back to what you mentioned before re weighting or not weighting the fly and how it moves in the water and how quickly it descends and on what plain it travels with the strip. I noted in the show I mentioned in an earlier post, with Brian Chan, that his brushed back leech pattern had a bead head as he mentioned it. He mentioned the undulating movement as a good thing. I think the retrieve is a balance of water depth, fly weight and your sense of teasing for a hit. Maybe I just overthink the presentation but I always do something to break the presentation pattern whether kicking, rowing, stillfishing or drifting along. If nothing else it keeps me mentally engaged when the lull hits. I did have tons of hits yesterday and as I always wonder is the tail too long…I pinched some of them shorter and still got smacks and no hook set. Who knows what they were really doing in the attack…smack and return, quick misses…I don’t know,
Gary
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Gary — when you fish a leech vs a Woolly Bugger… do you tie the tail shorter on the leech or are the patterns interchangable? Do you retrieve them differently?
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NICE FISH! Which lake were you and Tony on? I “putzed” a bit on Devil’s Lake (Lincoln City) on Sunday morning. I should have just gone to the Salmon River instead. All I could see were those “giant” carp that they planted there years ago to eat all the vegetation. If I were a fish in Devil’s Lake, I’d have no where to hide.
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