Teeny method

[Rob Allen]

damn, when I clicked on this thread, I was hoping to learn some new rock throwing technique that I wasn't aware of...

I grew up on the river and threw lots of rocks but i don't think i ever threw one at a fish.. i used to flip dimes off a bridge and watch the steelhead slash at them though.. if more people fished spoons they'd catch a lot...

 

[tyghguy]

I don't want to talk about rock throwing techniques got into a lot of trouble rocking various things when I was a teenager

 

[gt]

the problem with winter fishing is getting your fly down on the stones. anything you can think of that helps do that is the 'technique' you should adopt. deep water express or whatever it is called nowadays was my method of choice and it worked quite well. combine that with about 5 wraps of ,050 lead on your flies and down they go. tie plenty because if you are doing this correctly, you are going to lose lots of flies on bottom rocks.

 

[Jeremy Floyd]

I grew up on the river and threw lots of rocks but i don't think i ever threw one at a fish.. i used to flip dimes off a bridge and watch the steelhead slash at them though.. if more people fished spoons they'd catch a lot...

You're changing lives tonight Rob.

And any color as long as it's silver, amirite?

 

[JACKspASS]

.5" of 5/16 hollow core, 3' leader, pearl pink corkie with sandshrimp......

 

[Cruik]

Teenys method was to get the fly to the fishes depth my any means necessary enough times that the fish either takes or is foul hooked.

This was sort of my understanding as well...maybe not the foul hooking part.

I think the strategy has merits, especially in hatchery terminal areas or other areas of fish concentration. In those situations where you KNOW there's fish and you KNOW they've seen other presentations. The hope is that cast #632 with the right size fly that enters the perfect 10"x10" zone will get bit where the previous 631 casts came up empty. It's the exact opposite of the "find the player" theory.

I think the strategy has merits. It's just not my jam. If I'm gonna do that, I'd rather just gear fish and know exactly that my offering is within a foot of the bottom.

My problem with the teeny method is not the difficulty of achieving a dead drift-I don't think that matters to steelhead. It's keeping the line tight to detect the grab.

 

[Rob Allen]

You're changing lives tonight Rob.

And any color as long as it's silver, amirite?

I like silver in summer, copper in winter

But i haven't done much spoon fishing in years.

My conventional fishing for steelhead has all been for hatchery fish for them my favorite method is drift fishing with eggs and yarn.

 

[jfilip85]

This was sort of my understanding as well...maybe not the foul hooking part.

I think the strategy has merits, especially in hatchery terminal areas or other areas of fish concentration. In those situations where you KNOW there's fish and you KNOW they've seen other presentations. The hope is that cast #632 with the right size fly that enters the perfect 10"x10" zone will get bit where the previous 631 casts came up empty. It's the exact opposite of the "find the player" theory.

I think the strategy has merits. It's just not my jam. If I'm gonna do that, I'd rather just gear fish and know exactly that my offering is within a foot of the bottom.

My problem with the teeny method is not the difficulty of achieving a dead drift-I don't think that matters to steelhead. It's keeping the line tight to detect the grab.

You nailed the part I was trying to get at in my original post. Casting upstream with an extra fast sinking line and some how still getting a good drift that's tight enough to where you can still detect a soft grab. Seems very difficult.

 

[Rob Allen]

You nailed the part I was trying to get at in my original post. Casting upstream with an extra fast sinking line and some how still getting a good drift that's tight enough to where you can still detect a soft grab. Seems very difficult.

You forgot the split shot and sight fishing.

 

[Wyobee]

I don't think it has anything to do with teeny but on narrow water a reach cast builds a mend into the cast and let's the fly do what it needs to do with out an extra thrash on top of the water.
Basically at the end of your cast move your arm upstream and letting slack run through you opposite hand.

 

[skyriver]

2 pages and nobody has said the word "floss". Whoops, guess I just did.

Seriously though... it depends on what you enjoy. I don't enjoy doing the Alaska floss bit over and over. It gets really old really quick for me. Sure it catches fish, but to me (just my opinion) it's not fly fishing. I'm not a dry fly snob. I've fished lots of nymphs with split shot. It's just I don't really enjoy it. I would rather find water I can swing.
Now in this situation, I would also enjoy drifting a jig or a corky on a nice spin rig. It would be more enjoyable to me and less "work" and I honestly think the takes I would get would be actual takes. Not flossing.
Again, just my 2 cents. Hope you catch some!

 

[Salmo_g]

I met and watched Jim Teeny fish Skier's pool on the NF Stilly in the mid 70s. He was with Bill Marts (I think), who was filming Jim fish. What I saw wasn't typical nymph fishing as I've understood and learned it. It was still a wet fly swing. The difference was in the method and application. First step was to spot a fish in a position that could be fished to. Then it was a matter of positioning yourself and adjusting your casts until every single cast would consistently swing in front of the fish at its level in the water column. The fish would either eventually strike or leave and move to another location. I presume that's how Jim came up with the phrase, "I spot 'em; I got 'em!"

I tried it, and it worked. It's just not how I prefer to fish.

I think the trench-like streams you're describing Joe, are typical of what contemporary steelhead nymphing technique was designed for. The holding water is cold, narrow, deep - relatively, and best suited to a nymphing presentation using a floating line, long leader, and either a weighted fly, or fly with split shot on the leader. The presentation is almost classic Leisenring Lift, such that the swing of the fly is not horizontal across the holding water, but vertical, from the stream bottom up through the water column in front of the fish. That could be a variation on the Teeny method, but surely fits the, "I spot 'em; I got 'em" concept.

 

[_WW_]

Leisenring Lift

Wait...you mean that demonstration of basic physics isn't called the WW lift?

 

[NRC]

The teeny method? That was always how my ex-wife described our sex life.

 

[jfilip85]

I met and watched Jim Teeny fish Skier's pool on the NF Stilly in the mid 70s. He was with Bill Marts (I think), who was filming Jim fish. What I saw wasn't typical nymph fishing as I've understood and learned it. It was still a wet fly swing. The difference was in the method and application. First step was to spot a fish in a position that could be fished to. Then it was a matter of positioning yourself and adjusting your casts until every single cast would consistently swing in front of the fish at its level in the water column. The fish would either eventually strike or leave and move to another location. I presume that's how Jim came up with the phrase, "I spot 'em; I got 'em!"

I tried it, and it worked. It's just not how I prefer to fish.

I think the trench-like streams you're describing Joe, are typical of what contemporary steelhead nymphing technique was designed for. The holding water is cold, narrow, deep - relatively, and best suited to a nymphing presentation using a floating line, long leader, and either a weighted fly, or fly with split shot on the leader. The presentation is almost classic Leisenring Lift, such that the swing of the fly is not horizontal across the holding water, but vertical, from the stream bottom up through the water column in front of the fish. That could be a variation on the Teeny method, but surely fits the, "I spot 'em; I got 'em" concept.

Thank you @Salmo_g

I think I'm realizing the root of the issue here is that I really just want to swing flies (because that's what I enjoy most) and am desperately trying to make it work in this new environment which mostly isn't conducive to that method. At least if you want to actually hook a fish.