I was just wondering how you guys are fishing. I was taught by one of the fathers of wet fly fishing in Southern Oregon how to swing nymphs and emerges long ago. My favorite presentation, the one that brings vicious strikes, is a greased line to a swing. Let me explain. I cast across the river, and slightly up stream much like I would if I was dead drifting, but rather than mending I stay in contact with the fly. I don't put any tension on the fly at all, but rather just stay in contact with it as it sinks perpendicularly to my position. if I need to add line to the presentation I will. The purpose for this is to get the fly as deep as I can before it hits the spot where I think the fish are lying. Once the fly hits the sweet spot I bring tension the the fly, which in turn makes it shoot to the surface. you can control the speed of the ascent by the amount of tension you use. Fish want to see flies ascending, that's what emergers do! I learned these presentations from the master, Polly Rosebrough, first hand, but if you're into swinging trout flies you can pick up a few tricks from him as well. He wrote a book named, Tying and Fishing the Fuzzy Nymph that you can get on amazon. I know it has Nymph in the title but I assure you it will help your swing game and teach you the wet fly tricks your Grandfather knew.

I believe that's the same idea as the Leisenring Lift, developed about the same time on the east coast as Mr Rosborough did on the west.

I used to fish it a lot during the March Brown hatch, as that bug swims aggressively to the surface. Setting up so the swing coincides with actively working fish results in some pretty hard takes.

I used to tie a MB nymph with a shredded nylon stocking wing protruding from the wing case that was really effective, but since went back to a march brown wet or soft hackle.

Also really effective during caddis hatches, and with two or three soft hackles.

Perfecting the lift at the key point in the swing or drift is deadly, the way I look at it, it's upstream nymphing in reverse. Use your rod tip positioning and a mend for swing speed, if the current is swift a poly leader will assist, no heavier than a slow sink and 5' for a SH setup. Soft hackle flies on sturdy hooks are a must, have been fishing 6lb tippet with a couple of loops of slack to with stand the initial strike, have had a fantastic autumn on rainbows this month fishing this technique only.

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I've been doing this for years, really works well even when dries are coming off or nothing rising, fish don't appear to care. The fish are more aggressive just under the surface. Soft hackles in different colors sizes from 12 to 18 and you can fish anywhere trout swim.

I'm a dry fly guy, easily 80% of the time and I use a single hander for that. The remaining time I'm usually indicator nymphing with my trout two hander. Maybe this is the year I try swinging a soft hackle for more than just a few casts here and there. You guys give me a little hope.

A little hope? go a bit south from central or, and swinging is the name of the game

Good dry fishing is about the only time I don't want to swing flies.

Treat it like a steelhead stream, setting up your swing for likely holding lies. Really fun way to spend a day.

I cut my trout fishing teeth on Missouri spring creeks, which are a veritable stew of edibles for the residents. Hence, it's rather difficult to catch fish "on top" with dries, even during a heavy hatch. (the major exception being a trico spinner fall - those things must be like Doritos to a rasta) Fishing to the emergers is much more effective, and the soft hackle of various types fits the bill very nicely. I read Syl Nemes' stuff back in the early 90's, didn't really know we were "swinging", just knew we were supposed to fish down and across.

I do have to say that we caught on to the idea of casting straight across and a quick mend to get the fly down, and then ascend at the end of the swing. Also, a lot of grabs on the dangle.

Nate,
I do have plans to explore the trout waters south on hwy 97 this year, but the plan has been stillwater stuff. The rivers of SC Oregon are rather daunting what with all the private property, private ramps, migratory trout, and stories of difficult fishing. Maybe a guided trip should be in my future. It'll probably take years off the learning curve when it comes to the K basin rivers. In the meanwhile I'm going to show some soft hackles to my local Deschutes redsides instead of nymphing when the fish aren't taking dries.

Peteo, I hear you! Its hard to swing flies when the big meaty salmon flies are out, but ill bet the Deschutes would fish well with a swung soft hackle. I've hooked several trout when I swing October caddis for steelhead on the Deschutes.

if you ever get down this way, pm me and I would be more than happy to share some access points with you. Everyone should experience a swung fly on the Williamson at least once in their life.

Nate,
thanks, I may take you up on that. In the meanwhile it's probably less than two weeks till the big bugs start hatching up this way and the prospects of dry fly action from dawn till dark will consume most of my free days and I might not fish a subsurface fly till June.

What Nate said, plus.
Most of my swing presentations are with tandem flies with the leading fly being weighted. When the current begins to swim the flies near surface around the 45 degree position I transmit action on the flies with a high rod tip and line twitching. I spend extra time just before, during, and after the dangle. A slow up and down rod tip movement at the dangle and 10' into the strip often times brings aggressive strikes from previously curious but uncommitted fish.

The big cicada hatch in the NE this year should make for some permanent grins skating big chunky dries.... At least that's how I'm imagining it

I swing deep sparkle pupa the same manner as the OP suggested. I have TFO signature 9' 5wt converted to double that throws a airflo #4 Scandi just beautiful with a pair of pupa. I switch up airflo polys and fly weight to get the depth I want. I run as heavy a tippet as I can get away with, strikes are vicous.

Not really sure if I have what I could quite call a "favorite" trout presentation. My "preferred" trout presentation would be swinging soft hackles... or possibly dry fly presentations. That being said, those two combined don't even come close to being the predominant presentation I use. Honestly, I'm becoming more and more of a streamer guy these days. The more I fish streamers the less set on one particular presentation I get. It usually involves some degree of combining a swung fly with a little (or a lot) more "action" added on my part with mending and stripping. It does seem that certain streams, and certain conditions really favor some dramatically different streamer presentations, but half the fun is the problem solving aspect... the other half is the grab of course!
JB