Fly Fishing Tips

 

 

When they first start out fly fishing, I think the mistake many new anglers make, and some not so new, is that they will just randomly walk up to the water and start casting, expecting to hook a trout right away.   Lord knows, if it's been a long stretch between fly fishing trips, I'm tripping over myself to get to the water.  Often I'll have my rod assembled with a fly at the end of my tippet before I've even seen the water.

 

 

Its possible you'll catch trout, but like Dave Hughes points out in his book Reading The Water, most of the fish are in a small percentage of the water.  So, if you're going to go fly fishing, learning what a trout needs and how the water takes care of those needs is vital to learning how to find the fish.

 

 

Now, the larger trout, the real pigs, they feed mostly at dawn, dusk and night.  They are much more predatory and when they are feeding, they  will actually forage a large area, using much more energy, in search of the big meal payoff.  They generally don't seek out aquatic insects, although they may snack during a nice hatch.  No, they are looking for smaller fish, crayfish, large terrestrials, and even small rodents that get too close or drop from a bank.  Because of this, I like to strip streamers at these times.  I will be less picky about where I strip through too.  I've hooked big trout in slow water that seemed too shallow to hold them and rougher water that seemed too turbulent for fish.  The rest of the day, that is, most of the daylight, is spent reading the water and looking for less aggressive fish that are waiting for a buggy meal to come into their window of vision and comfort - most fish feed on what they see.

 

 

For trout to survive, the water they are in needs at least 3 ppm (parts per million) of oxygen dissolved in it.  As the water temperature increases, it holds less oxygen.  Trout are most active when the water temperature is between 50° and 65°.  Not only is this due to the effect the temperature has on the trout's metabolism, but also its effect on insect activity.  In other words, food is abundant as the temperature reaches 65°.  As the temperature plunges, trout become almost dormant, using almost zero energy.  As the thermometer rises even higher than 65°, the trout become lethargic because of a lack of oxygen.  In fact, over 75° F, the fish can suffocate.  That is why when the water temperature gets too warm, the trout will gather much closer together than normal near areas where there is churning water (oxygenation) or cooler springs that feed into the stream (also oxygenation). 

 

 

Trout need shelter from two things:  predators and currents.  When trout are feeding, they set up shop within a short dash of safety.  If, they are spooked by a predator, they will immediately dart to their safe lie.  This could be a deep pool, the undercut of a bank, beneath the branches of a tree, or any number of other lies that take it out of harms way.  Often this safe lie is where it stays when it is not feeding.  Shelter from the current is also extremely important.  Again, trout are lazy.  They need to use as little energy as possible to get as much food as possible.  In a healthy river or stream, the best source of aquatic insects is the current.  So, trout need to find a way to stay close to the current without having to fight it.  Thankfully for us, the trout have an inherent grasp of physics.  

 

First of all, the current creates friction along the bottom of the stream.  Water closest to the bottom is not moving at all.  Even in fast water there is a small layer along the bottom that is turbulence free.  As the bottom of the stream becomes more uneven with stones, larger rocks and boulders, there are more areas of slow and still pockets.  Trout will find those dead spaces and wait for their meals to come to them.  Then they drift into the current, grab their meal, drop back down and work back to their holding spot.

 

 

See the section on trout food for more specifics here.  Generally, Trout need a food source, and until a trout reaches nearly a foot and half in length, that food source is aquatic insects.  You will find these insects in water where there is oxygenation and aquatic water plants or foliage near the water that can provide nutrients for the insects.

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