How to Fish the Yellow Breeches
by
Eugene Macri

There are many ways to fish the Breeches some more successful than others. When I instruct fly anglers on the stream I give them at least 7 methods that they should try while they are fishing the stream. Here's an old method that still works very well today as it did when I learned it from my old fishing buddies the late Gene Utech and Sam Wilks.

Many fly anglers shy away from these techniques because they believe a superduper new fly pattern is what they need and that will be their saving grace. Well good luck. Although the stream is stocked heavily  the fish do get leader shy and fairly smart on any given day. This technique will allow you to cover a lot of water and is especially good when there's really nothing specific the fish are feeding on which is the usual course on the stream because the hatches on the Yellow Breeches aren't anywhere near what they were 35 years ago.

The technique is the 3 fly dropper method.  Of course you can use Czech Technique of tying the droppers to the bend of the hook on each fly but that's not how we fished it and I'll give you some reasons for it. This method uses the standard droppers tied on around 6-8 inches off the leader.  You can use a variety of knots and methods to do this, that's up to you.  I like the first dropper about 14 inches above the tail fly and the 3rd fly about the same above it.  You can experiment with this to see what distances work for you but these are just averages that seem to do well (Photo to the left shows the Isonychia mayfly, or Lead Wing Coachman.  The three fly technique is great for imitating these swimming nymphs).

Make sure you use heavier leaders for the droppers.  I like at least 6 lb; so we are talking around 4 x.  Also a little stiffer leader material lets the flies stick out from the leader more.  And that's one of the secrets on the Breeches. You can get some really fine action with this method of droppers that you can't get with any other rig. 

You can fish the droppers upstream, across, and down, or three-quarters down and each method will take fish.  Gene Utech was unbelievable successful and this is the way he normally fished.  Here's a couple other secrets: you can use this to fish soft hackles, wet flies or even nymphs.  Vary the colors with the season and vary the depth you fish at, including a little shot above the tail fly and you have a system that will out fish most of the guys on the stream. (for which flies to carry on these streams try the Spring Creek Fly Box)

One other trick that for some reason few anglers fail to use is to vary the sizes of the flies.  Try large wets or soft hackles, and then go to small ones and that will immediately tell you what size flies the fish are after that day.

On the Breeches you just flip the rig don't over cast and you won't tangle the droppers as much.  This is a technique that seldom fails to get fish.  If you'd like more instruction on this stream just give me an email.  Good Luck.