Observing
Water
As an avid flyfisherman,
I spend a lot of time on our local waters. Just the other day,
I went to the Middle Fork for some late afternoon fishing. I arrived
just after another angler, who was in the process of stringing
up his rod and tying on a large attractor pattern. After a brief
conversation, he headed off toward the stream. Rather than rush
to get going, I decided to watch for a while. The fisherman headed
for "Can't Miss Hole" and he immediately waded into
the river and and began casting to the most obvious holding lies.
The first few casts were rather sloppy, landing hard on the water
and putting the fly line over the best holding water. The next
30 or so casts were good, but by then the damage had been done.
After about 10 minutes with no results and he 
shook
his head and moved upstream to try the next pool.
What went wrong?
Failing to have a strategy is the most common mistake intermediate
anglers make. Even experienced fishermen (too often, yours truly)
often fall prey in their haste to "get their fly over some
trout."
Here are a few tips to improve you chances for success:
Warm -up:
Like golf, it doesn't
hurt to hit a few balls on the driving range
before you tee off. Find a stretch of "dead" water (water
than doesn't look like its holds trout) and make fifty or so practice
casts to hone your timing and accuracy.
Observe:
Don't just wade
right into the middle of the stream and begin flailing.
Sit on the bank back from the stream and just watch for a few
minutes. Are there any trout rising, and are there any insects
are hatching? Were is the best holding water? Near the bank? If
so, you don't want to just wade right into the stream and chance
spooking every fish the pool. Where's the best position to cast
from? Above or below the suspected holding lie? What fly to tie
on?
This is probably
the toughest question for all
skill levels, especially if there are no obvious hatches to mimic.
I don't have a secret formula for fly selection, but try to use
the process of elimination to narrow down your selection. If you
kicked up a few grasshoppers while strolling along the bank, tie
on Joe's hopper and drift it near the bank.
Another example
of this occurred while I was
guiding clients recently. One member of the group worked upstream
going right past a small, but likely piece of holding water. The
client I was working with and I noticed this holding water and
stopped 25 feet downstream of the best trout lie. At the head
of the pool was a dead pine with hundreds of termites scurrying
around on it. I tied on a large ant imitation (the closest thing
I had in my fly box to a termite) and after four well placed casts,
a feisty trout rose and gulped the fly. A minute later my client
released a fat 14"
rainbow. With a little patience and observation we landed a fish
that the other member of the party had walked right past.
I have found it's
more successful to make one well executed cast, with a well conceived
strategy, than a hundred haphazard ones. Approach each stretch
of holding water with a clear strategy and your chances of success
will be much improved.
By Steve
B. Walser
shook
his head and moved upstream to try the next pool.