I did observe a large-ish light yellow mayfly on Pine as the evening progressed. I don’t think it was a Grey Fox as I think the wings were more of a light cream colored nature. They certainly seemed to be too large for a Sulphur and, the wing was not the typical dun or grey color. I saw size 14 or maybe even size 12 bugs. But early on, I decided to fish a Blue-Winged Olive. I did see a few small BWOs on the water.
A gift of some Blue-Winged Olive Emergers and Floating Nymphs from two evening’s ago prompted me to select a BWO dry to start the evening’s fishing (6-7-2020). I think I used one of the style that I tied last summer – a size 14 parachute with a real dark post. I got a rejection and cast it one more time before I switched to a smaller version. I had a little more interest with a size 18.
After switching to a size 18, shown above, things got more interesting.
7:09 Fish, first to succumb to the size 18 BWO
Switching to the size 18 BWO seemed to be the ticket.
I decided to switch a version of the BWO that I tied the past year. I was interested to see if they would work.
Ron Dilbone from Archbold, Ohio showed me the concept years ago. I saw him at the fly show in the Warren/SE Michigan area. Held annually by FFI, except for this spring due to the Covid-19 issue. Nobody was visiting him when I asked him about how he tied a huge extended foam body Hex pattern he has on display at his station. He proceeded to take me through the steps, precisely cutting the foam, and then using a needle to tie the foam body first. Once this ‘sub-assembly’ is made, it is a simple matter of tying it to a hook and finishing the fly off.
It took me several years to finally get something respectable enough to present to fish. The above example is tied in a size 18. Tying much bigger, like for a March Brown sized fly, helped me refine the technique.
After I put this fly on, one cast…
Ole Black Lip was a heavy fish. His lower jaw extended beyond the upper, and on his left side, the lip was discolored for some reason. This was the best fish of the evening.
Picked up one rainbow this evening about 8:27 pm. It cleared the water a number of times – put on quite a show!
Feisty Rainbow 
Bow back in water
As Tom says at the store, ‘Just another day in paradise’.
… from Slate Run … UB
Slate Run Sportsmen 
Was up yesterday Mon trout were very selective not much hatch activity on pine but picked up a couple up on the run!
LikeLike
Nice Dale! I didn’t get out but the neighbors did just before dark and got a few. The wife arrived yesterday so my fishing might be a little more limited over the next few days, we’ll see. The last I was on the run was Thursday evening and it was very low – hard to approach then as they were so wary.
LikeLike
Ole Black Lip’s quite a bruiser! Looks like a fun night on the Pine, and that picture of Slate Run in the folds of paradise is pretty cool.
LikeLike
Thanks, for commenting and for the observations. It was a pretty nice night on Pine indeed! That fish was a bruiser. It was all the little 4 wt. could handle! The picture did not do justice to the real-time observation as the top of the mountain lit up when the sun hit it. UB
LikeLike