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I've already posted on this but a quick look on my flypatch reveals a bunch of parachute and irresistable Adams in various sizes.

Riley,

I've meant to post on this subject for a long time and just never got back to it. My favorite fly for all time would have to be the venerable Muddler Minnow! I have fished it as a swimming, dredgeing, floating, and waking fly and it rarely fails.

One of the most exciting methods of fishing it for bows on the Kenai is to "wake" it across the surface. I like to cast across and then flip as much line downstream as I can in order to have the current start pulling on the belly of the line. When the tension starts dragging the fly, I just follow the line with the rod tip, lightly bouncing the tip, as all the above drifts. When the Bow hits the fly, it is an awesome explosion! The fly is smallish, #8 or so, and is heavily greased. I suppose that this method creates the illusion of a caddis laying it's eggs on the surface.

This is a very effective method of catching trout in that "harder-to-catch" time period of early July on the Kenai. I would guess that a elk hair or humpy would achieve the same results; however, the action lasts for a short enough time and then the trout go to the bottom. The Muddler works double duty there as well...and no retying is necessary.

This fly has accounted for so many hundreds of fish for me that It ceases to amaze anymore. It gets my vote certainly!

best,
bhtr

Another thing about fishing for bows in the Kenai with small dries are that some of them are HUGE! They will rip the curve of a dry right off!

Riley

BearHunter,
Here is a link to some fish I cought in the Kenai.

Riley

AKGrayling,

I remember those pics and they are nice!

Back in the day when it was legal to fish with droppers, I once had a double: a pair of 5 pounders! One a Dollie and the other a Rainbow. The dollie took a glo bug and the bow took the muddler. I'm still amazed that I was able to land both of those fish on 2x tippet!

That combo was deadly for weeks. It became so easy to take large fish that I started busting the barb off of all my hooks and just counted the takes!

Somewhere, I have a pic of my older brother and a dollie he caught. It was a real pig! Only 24 1/2" but had an 18 1/2" girth and weighed over 11 pounds! It's head would have fit a normal 3 or 4 pounder but the rest of it looked like the largest male pink you've ever seen!

One of these days, I'll bust into the pic archives lying around the house and pass some along. I wouldn't be suprised if we have caught the same fish before.

best,
bhtr