S6, Ep 99: Unlocking Late Summer Fly Fishing Strategies with Dustin White

Marvin: Hey folks, it's Marvin Cash, the host of the Articulate Fly.

Marvin: We're back with another On the Water with Dustin White. Dustin, how are you?

Dustin: Marvin, I am doing great. Got off the water, having a little post-work beverage

Dustin: and loving life. How about you, man?

Marvin: I'm getting there. So I just want to see where you are in the progression.

Marvin: Have you moved from like craft beers to liquor or are you still on craft beer?

Dustin: Oh, I'm not even in that. Matt, I have a bloody beer, which at the moment is

Dustin: a PDR with the Zing Zang pre-mixed bloody sauce.

Dustin: So that's the status of my evening right now. So you can't complain.

Marvin: Yeah, that's a great way to replenish electrolytes and way better than just

Marvin: tomato juice. I was going to say, if you said kombucha, I was just going to hang up on you.

Dustin: I do have standards.

Marvin: There's so you know

Marvin: it's kind of funny last two weeks we talked um everyone else um you know had

Marvin: better weather and now you're winning because you are you're in that kind of

Marvin: breezy kind of cool off getting even drier than usual right for uh the high

Marvin: prairie yeah yeah so what are you seeing on the water um.

Dustin: You know uh we are starting to see finally starting to see some some some good dry fly action.

Dustin: And that's kind of typical this time of year. Once we, you know,

Dustin: start to get that little cool off and the trichos have kind of been out for a while,

Dustin: generally speaking every day, about that first hour and a half after that spinner

Dustin: fall, cut on each system that we would guide on.

Dustin: We're finding trout, you know, kind of sipping in that biomass of the spinner

Dustin: fall of trichos. So that's been really exciting.

Dustin: You have even had the other day on the mile, some, you know,

Dustin: a pretty modest but sustainable little pot of fish that were rising on Blue Wings.

Dustin: So that was really, really, that's been fun.

Dustin: Really haven't been too many fish taking caddis on the surface yet.

Dustin: Some here or there, but it has been a little breezy.

Dustin: So a lot of those caddis really haven't been kind of skittering around on the

Dustin: water in those times where those fish are looking up.

Dustin: But, you know, on the mile, they just dropped us today, in fact.

Dustin: So we went from 1,600 CFS, which they had dropped it down from 2,500-ish down

Dustin: to 1,600 a week or so ago. Now we're down to...

Dustin: To uh 800 so that's kind of consolidating those

Dustin: fish but um it it's it's

Dustin: a double-edged sword because on one hand it means oh man

Dustin: a lot of the the migratory fish that had uh you know pushed up in the system

Dustin: and have been holding there for much of the summer are starting to drop back

Dustin: into the reservoir but it gives us a great window of a few weeks of just phenomenal

Dustin: fishing as those fish are starting their journey back into the reservoir they're

Dustin: kind of holding in that sort of transition water.

Dustin: And so you can really capitalize on those fish. And so that's,

Dustin: that's what we're doing a lot of right now.

Dustin: Um, but we kind of have been picking them apart, uh, uh, in,

Dustin: uh, you know, the kind of four mile stretch.

Dustin: Uh, but now that we're at that 800 today, we're starting to see some of those

Dustin: fish kind of consolidate stage up, um, in those sections. So that's been a lot of fun.

Dustin: Um, the The reef is still pretty grassy, pretty mossy. It's running high right now.

Dustin: But I would say that the saving grace of that is that you get those pockets

Dustin: in that slack water where those fish are willing to eat those trichos,

Dustin: as I said, on the surface.

Dustin: So that's been good. um you know it's it

Dustin: really is a trichocatus um worm

Dustin: uh sort of fair in terms

Dustin: of if you're going to nymph for them if you're going to throw dries um you

Dustin: know we like i said uh definitely trichos are the way to go uh with the cooler

Dustin: days uh that we're getting a little bit of cloud cover that's been coming in

Dustin: uh that's when starting to say hey keep an eye peeled for some blue wings because

Dustin: when that hatch comes off uh that'll definitely entice those fish to come up um Um,

Dustin: uh, likewise, uh, I would say much is still the same for, for the bighorn.

Dustin: Um, you know, trichos, uh, caddis worms primarily there haven't had a ton of

Dustin: dry fly action there, but, uh, it is just around the corner.

Dustin: So, uh, we're really kind of looking forward to when, uh, flows start dropping on the reef.

Dustin: Uh, that's going to open up a lot more sections for us to get lower in the system.

Dustin: Like what you and I had since the last time you were out here, Marvin.

Dustin: That is just around the corner for us. So it should be another week,

Dustin: two weeks, and that portion of the system should be fired on all cylinders.

Dustin: But right now, the midsection has been where, you know, if we're not on the

Dustin: mile, that's been where I've been spending most of our time.

Marvin: Got it. And got a really good streamer question for you. You came in by email today from Paul.

Marvin: Fair. And he's got a fishing puzzle for you. So he's found some large fish holding,

Marvin: he says, in like a five foot by seven foot pocket that's about 10 feet deep.

Marvin: And he said the water's pretty fast and bouldery.

Marvin: And he's had chases and nips, but he hasn't been able to get a hookup.

Marvin: And he was kind of curious if we had, you know, kind of any leader formula suggestions

Marvin: for throwing large articulated streamers to help him get down in that quicker

Marvin: water or if we had any other suggestions for him.

Dustin: Sure. That's a great question, Paul. I love that.

Dustin: The first thing I'm going to ask is, what is actually your fly line itself that you're using?

Dustin: Are you using a sinking line?

Dustin: If not, do you have a sinking leader or sink tip that you're employing?

Dustin: The most important thing is if it's in that fast

Dustin: water and they're down that deep you need to

Dustin: get down to them somehow shortening up your leader system is definitely going

Dustin: to help with that so you know the first thing is you know look at your fly line

Dustin: look at that that leader make sure and look at your ips you know so you know

Dustin: how fast is it sinking what angle are you,

Dustin: casting towards in order to get that down to depth and so you're kind of doing

Dustin: that that whole formula there, once you're at that point, then I would say you

Dustin: can probably shorten up your leader.

Dustin: Your typical, if you're the dry fly leader that's 12 plus feet long,

Dustin: definitely way too much. A nymphing leader, way too much. So you shorten up that leader.

Dustin: You might want to build that section of 4-0 to 1, that shorter butt section

Dustin: that tapers down yourself.

Dustin: That way you get that fly to turn over.

Dustin: But, you know, with that, you know, after you get out of that butt section,

Dustin: a thinner portion of that leader to help you get down to depth can help.

Dustin: But again, even if that's, you know, if that's predicated that you have a,

Dustin: you know, a full sink line and flies that can get down, think about having some

Dustin: weighted flies at that point.

Dustin: And then we kind of go into the philosophy of what the, you know,

Dustin: hunting tactics are of those fish and even fly construction.

Dustin: So let's talk the latter first, fly construction.

Dustin: Again, making sure you're getting down to depth. So if you're...

Dustin: Have a sinking line, sinking leader, still not quite getting down.

Dustin: Might want to think about having some weighted flies.

Dustin: The other thing is, it sounds like you are getting nips and takes.

Dustin: They might just be shallow. And so there's two things that I would say to consider there.

Dustin: One is the construction of the fly. So if you are tying those flies,

Dustin: where is that trailer hook located at? How near the tail?

Dustin: A lot of commercially tied flies. flies, that hook might be a little further

Dustin: up from the tail and trout will often give those kind of shallow takes.

Dustin: Oftentimes, what you're interpreting as a shallow nip at the tail might actually

Dustin: be a fish trying to t-bone or injure that bait fish and come around for it.

Dustin: So what that means is if you're tying your own flies, consider that hook to

Dustin: be back further towards that, that tail section.

Dustin: So for example, you know, I love fishing a lot of, a lot of game changers,

Dustin: um, but a lot of changers, um, are tied and has, you know, a tail,

Dustin: you have a tail shank, then another shank in front of it. And then you have your hook.

Dustin: Uh, a lot of times when I'm tying mine, I'm tying like the hooks,

Dustin: the hook, that trailer hook as the tail section of it to ensure if it is a shallow

Dustin: take from that fish, um, that, that I'm able to get that hook up.

Dustin: The other thing is, too, if you think biologically of how that fish is hunting,

Dustin: if it's trying to injure that bait fish and then come back around.

Dustin: You need to consider that in your retrieval.

Dustin: If you keep retrieving it after that nip and it's kind of done,

Dustin: then that fish probably has circled back around to kind of pick that up.

Dustin: So play with the cadence of your retrieval.

Dustin: Obviously, if you're getting the chases, then you've got the right cadence there.

Dustin: But if that nip is happening and then it's kind of done, I'd consider,

Dustin: you know, pausing that and then kind of, you know, swimming the fly as if it were injured.

Dustin: The last thing I would consider, you know, is that, you know,

Dustin: needing to visualize what that water looks like.

Dustin: If it's coming off of a flat, you know, a lot of times, at least here on the

Dustin: North Platte, a lot of those deeper buckets that like you're describing that

Dustin: fast water coming off a shallow flat.

Dustin: And a lot of times we as anglers want to strip off the flat or strip off the

Dustin: shallow into the deep when the reality is.

Dustin: A lot of larger predatory trout

Dustin: want to chase bait fish up onto those shallows to eliminate how many,

Dustin: you know, access points that they're needing to engage in in order to attack that fly.

Dustin: So meaning if that fish doesn't have to raise vertically and it can only attack

Dustin: that prey laterally, it's going to, you know, definitely prefer that too.

Dustin: So think about where you are casting into and retrieving from,

Dustin: and that might help as well.

Dustin: So there's a lot of different factors, but if you kind of play around with that

Dustin: formula there, I think you might have some success.

Marvin: And just to back up for a second on the streamer leader formula,

Marvin: I would imagine you're probably talking about something that's maybe all in,

Marvin: maybe five feet long, right?

Marvin: Like maybe like, yeah, like that. that yeah yeah i mean four i would think maybe

Marvin: what five four feet five feet probably yeah you know but it's probably like

Marvin: 20 pound maxima dropping down to maybe like 15 right 15.

Dustin: Yep absolutely absolutely yep.

Marvin: Yep just wanted to make sure we got that in there and you

Marvin: know folks we love questions on the articulate fly you can email them

Marvin: to us or dm us on social media whatever is easiest for you and if we use your

Marvin: question i will send you some articulate fly schwag and we are drawing for a

Marvin: half a day of fishing with dustin and dustin like we always do we like to give

Marvin: a shout out to a uh local uh eatery or watering hole and i think we have a watering

Marvin: hole this time right yeah.

Dustin: We do i want to shout out front here brewing uh located

Dustin: in downtown casper one of our uh many just

Dustin: fantastic breweries that are here in town but uh just a

Dustin: great staple in the community they are in the old fox movie theater so that's

Dustin: pretty cool i mean to go into the brewery and you know it's kind of i mean literally

Dustin: movie theater style seating they They obviously have kind of a standard tap

Dustin: room with the bar and tabletops.

Dustin: But they got a lot of cool events that occur in the theaters.

Dustin: And yeah, just a great place to share a drink with folks. There's constantly food trucks there.

Dustin: And my favorite is the location of our weekly trivia.

Dustin: So I believe you've joined us a time or two for that as well,

Dustin: Marvin, in your ventures out this way.

Marvin: Yeah, I think I've played two or three times at this point.

Dustin: Yeah, yeah, you're our ringer. Every time you come to town, you bring the pop

Dustin: culture knowledge with you.

Marvin: Yeah, but it's...

Dustin: The deep dives.

Marvin: Well, it's the Gen X pop culture, you know. Don't ask me about Katy Perry songs

Marvin: or we're going to be in deep, deep trouble.

Dustin: We need the full rounded experience of the breadth of knowledge, so you bring it.

Marvin: Yeah, well, I try. Right. But, you know, the cool thing at Frontier is like,

Marvin: you know, they've got the copier cards for the beer. Right.

Marvin: So, you know, you can try a lot of different beers, you know,

Marvin: so if you don't want to, you know, drink one big giant, you know,

Marvin: juicy IPA, you can try a lot of different things.

Marvin: I think it's really kind of a kind of a cool way to do things.

Dustin: Yeah, there's just, you know, you get that card and just kind of scan it and

Dustin: you can pick the size glass you want.

Dustin: You know, it's it's it's a cool premise. And yeah.

Dustin: And then again, like just they've got a ton of really cool events.

Dustin: You know, we're coming into fall football season. And so they always they always

Dustin: have the big games on weekly on the big screen. So that's always a ton of fun.

Dustin: And so, yeah, just conveniently located downtown. And, you know,

Dustin: we love making our weekly haunt, at least a weekly haunt on Wednesdays for trivia.

Dustin: So it's a great place, great people, and just a great environment.

Dustin: So we're very happy to have them here in Casper and get to go hang out there

Dustin: when we get off the water.

Marvin: Yeah, so I have to say, because we got a big game coming up,

Marvin: right? We got the Cowboys and the Browns.

Dustin: We do. They are like opening the season for us. Yeah, big one.

Marvin: So are you going to watch the game there? or are you going to watch it at Fuzzy's?

Dustin: You know what? It's a big one for me. I'm actually going down to Boulder,

Dustin: to the Boulder Browns Backers Bar to watch it there.

Dustin: So it's a big one, so we're making the most of it.

Marvin: So they're going to be flying in pierogies and everything to DIA, right?

Dustin: You know, the Boulder Browns Backers Bar does a phenomenal job.

Dustin: So they actually get some Cleveland beers imported there, and they've got the

Dustin: pierogies, they've got the brats, they've got the mustards.

Dustin: It's the home away from home.

Dustin: So, yeah, for the season opener, we're definitely making the journey down there to enjoy the first game.

Marvin: Yeah, you'll be singing Sweet Caroline by the beginning of the fourth quarter.

Dustin: Maybe, maybe.

Marvin: Yeah, so before I let you hop, you want to let folks know how they can book

Marvin: you and get out on the water with you before you head back east?

Dustin: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, there's still a couple of dates left for the fall.

Dustin: So folks are wanting to strip streamers like Paul was describing,

Dustin: or if you want to get in our killer dry fly action, you can give our shop, The Ugly Bug, a call.

Dustin: Area code 307-234-6905.

Dustin: If you'd like to reach out to me directly, you can find me on Instagram at Dustin James White.

Marvin: Well, there you go. Well, listen, folks, we're heading into a long holiday weekend.

Marvin: I want everyone to have a happy, safe, and relaxing Labor Day.

Marvin: And as I always say, you owe it to yourself to get out there and catch a few.

Marvin: Tight lines, everybody. Tight lines, Dustin.

Dustin: Tight lines, Marvin. Thanks so much.