[Sandy Nelson]

Over the course of the season I spent a lot of time watching while fishing.

I made quite a few interesting observations into the behaviour of the bigger fish, especially in their feeding habits. I was wondering what any of you guys thought as to the following observations.
Any alternative experiences or similar ones, it might be nice to get a few different takes on it.

The biggest thing I noticed this year was.....

Good sized trout will opportunistically feed on hatching flies if they are hungry (or the hatch is isolated and prolific, like hawthorns falling from a tree), however if they are not hungry they will just ignore them, unless the hatch is a hatch of olives.
Every hatch of olives brings the better fish up to feed (well most of them ), no other flies seem to do this with any regularity. It didn't seem to matter which species of olive was hatching, whether it was Large dark olives, olive uprights, Blue winged olives or Small dark olives as soon as they appeared the trout would start to feed on them. Hence why I only seemed to have to match the size and profile of the insects hatching to succeed with the fish and not change the basic colour of the fly.
It became very apparent to me during June when I was getting some afternoons on the river and it was teeming with fly life but no decent fish rising until some sporadic mini hatches of BWO's started, as soon as they appeared decent fish would appear, sometimes right under your feet (if you were not making any fuss) and the fish would take a fly confidently, I hadn't made this connection quite so deliberately before but the more I studied it the more apparent it became that it was the olives the fish were looking for.
I spotted many hatches of other flies at the same time as the olives and if you watch them very carefully the trout will select the olives out of the mix. So Olives must taste nice
It did make my basic fly selection a lot of sense, but with all the books and information about all the bugs I was surprised by just how basic it all might be.

It may well be that this only really applies to the Don, or any other freestone river where Olives are prevalent and that on other types of river the trout show similar behaviour towards other flies, so it would be interesting to hear from some of the guys who fish a lot elsewhere as to whether you have noticed similar behaviour.

Either that or Olives are made of Chocolate



regular BWO



Chocolate BWO?


Cheers

Sandy

[Marc Fauvet]

Either that or Olives are made of Chocolate

tbh, that's the only thing that really makes sense...   

but ! the whole olive thing is a really nice observation. 
i can definitely say that this doesn't apply to my local streams in the Pyrenees.
but on the other hand, your very same selection of flies (smaller sized) will work just as well here even though we have few olives of any form.
go figure, i'll stick to your chocolate theory 

cheers,
marc

[Mike Barrio]

I like your thinking Sandy, keep it simple ......... and with observation to back this up and boost your confidence

Cheers
Mike

[Allan Liddle]

Could it be because the olives are water borne and the fish follow them up through the water as they emerge? Certainly the bread and butter feeding in these parts (although caddis would be high on that list),I've witnessed that the fish take a little while to 'lock on' to all fly life (Bob Wyatt prey image kinda thinking) and olives are no exception. Once homed in though it only takes a trickle hatch to bring the fish up.  On the other hand I've covered black gnat and hawthorn feeders that simply won't look at an olive imitation, chocolate flavour or otherwise.

[Sandy Nelson]

Allan

Interesting observations, I would have agreed with everything you have said last year, but my experience this year was different.
I'm trying not to be contrary but.......

Could it be because the olives are water borne and the fish follow them up through the water as they emerge?

Quite a few flies do this and based on what I watched this year on the river, don't seem to elicit the same reaction from the better fish.

On the other hand I've covered black gnat and hawthorn feeders that simply won't look at an olive imitation, chocolate flavour or otherwise.

I'd agree unless there are olives in amongst the flies and then I have seen the fish picking out the olives to feed on.

I've witnessed that the fish take a little while to 'lock on' to all fly life (Bob Wyatt prey image kinda thinking) and olives are no exception. Once homed in though it only takes a trickle hatch to bring the fish up.

I have always thought this, but this year it appeared to me that the fish will wait until the olives start and then key onto them almost straight away (chocoholics ), whether it was big hatch or a tiny one. It may have been the early start to the season weather wise, so the fish were already up for the flies come the 1st of April, hence why they appeared to key straight onto the flies. But then I also thought that perhaps it was just I paid a lot more attention to where the flies were on the water this year and less so about trying to imitate them, so I feel I have noticed a lot more detail about the fish's behaviour towards the insects. It could also be that because I almost became obsessed with olives and big fish this year I have only noticed fish feeding on Olives, then again it was my best season in 28 years  (by quite a margin) for catching good sized trout. So I must have been doing something right.

Who knows all my observations were from the Don and Ythan so its a pretty limited field for facts , but perhaps one for people to think about next year

Anyone else got any good observations to add?

Cheers

Sandy

[Allan Liddle]

Very interesting stuff Sandy, something i'll be looking out for more next season.
One other thing i've noticed is how often (especially early season) it's the bigger fish that come on first, especially if hatch is sporadic, in other words if you're only seeing single fish moving often these are 'Rod Benders'.

The black gnat / buzzer feeding fish on the Deveron will ignore olives amongst their chosen quarry Sandy, or to be more accurate will often ignore.  Very frustrating at times and no wonder i've no hair left.
Also in times of sustained prevailing downstream wind (several days) the fish will take swung / skated olives in preference to dead drift presentation.  My guess with this is simply the naturals are getting blown about on the surface creating movement and wakes similar to the old across and down presentation.  However bigger fish tend not to be so easily fooled (no surprise there) and seem to take up lies where the naturals don't get blown around so much (tree cover, folds and especially slack water.)  All what you might expect, but it's often in places you don't normally encounter them such as amazingly shallow water or tight to the bank when all the school troots are going mental in the middle of the river chasing wind blown flees.

[Sandy Nelson]

One other thing i've noticed is how often (especially early season) it's the bigger fish that come on first, especially if hatch is sporadic, in other words if you're only seeing single fish moving often these are 'Rod Benders'.

Ditto that

Think I will have to get out a few times on the Deveron next year to try and add some more depth to the theory. I know a certain person who was catching very big trout by Skating large olives (or maybe sedges ) on an evening, but otherwise based on 2014 I'd totally agree with

However bigger fish tend not to be so easily fooled (no surprise there) and seem to take up lies where the naturals don't get blown around so much (tree cover, folds and especially slack water.)  All what you might expect, but it's often in places you don't normally encounter them such as amazingly shallow water or tight to the bank when all the school troots are going mental in the middle of the river chasing wind blown flees.

Its all very interesting stuff, that despite its ramblings actually simplifies the fishing

Cheers

Sandy

[Allan Liddle]

Everyone knows i can ramble for Scotland 

[Sandy Nelson]

Everyone knows i can ramble for Scotland 

You and I both

[Iain Cameron]

hi Sandy - that was an interesting post, got me scratching head to remember back to what trout were up to. I'll have to remember to re-read this post before next season!

[Derek Roxborough]

I don't do much river fishing, I find that the up wing takes on the lochs quite variable,some of our local lochs have what seems to be quite different feed patterns, the trout seem to be taking mostly sedges, and ignoring up wings, except for one afternoon where I found after a couple of hours chasing rises only to find it was a tiny red ant the fish were taking,, Loch Maree can get considerable  hatches of Large dark olives and not a take  or   rise any where, I watched a veritable regatta of green drakes coming down a loch , but the trout were taking sub surface, there just seems to be that difference with lochs and flowing water, easgach 1

[Allan Liddle]

Not so sure about that Derek I fish mostly dries on lochs now, certainly when I see surface activity and can say not only have my catches improved, but also I get better sized trout.
When you catch it right then you can rack up a huge score quickly and as it's all visual, these days stay with you a long long time.

I've also had loch sessions when he fish will pick out surface flies throughout the season, matching the hatch is key of course along with stealth and presentation.
I would never venture onto say Harray Loch without a Cow Dung Hopper especially from mid July through to season end (although you do get them all season warmer months are better) and searching with a tem of two, ginked up and worked around all the skerries and weeds is simply fantastic.

One big tip for loch dry fishing is: DO NOT MOVE 'EM, even the sedges.  OK sometimes a wee fig 8 will work but this is the exception.

[Hamish Young]

One big tip for loch dry fishing is: DO NOT MOVE 'EM, even the sedges.  OK sometimes a wee fig 8 will work but this is the exception.

'cos if you move them..... you'd be as well fishing bushy wets 

H 

[Mike Barrio]

Bushy wets catch fish 

[Hamish Young]

Bushy wets catch fish 

Indeed they do