Spot And Stalk Trout

Fishing for trout can certainly be done by fishing blind, finding likely holding water and casting a good imitation of trout food into these places hoping for action.  Admittedly a lot of my time on the water is spent this way and sometimes it is your only option.  However, it is a truly rewarding experience when you are able to spot a subtly feeding fish, devise a game plan, and stalk within casting range without disturbing its feeding pattern.  Then choose the right fly, make a perfect cast, manage any tricky currents, bring the fly into the feeding zone at the right moment, and seeing it all come together at the intersection of fly and trout snout.

This spring I had plenty of occasions to practice my trout stalking skills on a local river.  It is a tail water fishery, and the flows in this river are quite low all winter and spring until they bump up sometime after the reservoir above fills in mid April.  This means that in March and early April there is a lot of skinny water, and you will often find large fish hanging in water barely deep enough to cover their backs.  These fish are relatively easy to spot and thus make for a perfect opportunity to apply the spot and stalk method to fly fishing.   I have really enjoyed testing my skills and finding out just how much fun stalking big trout can be.

Late March on this river also ushers in a highly anticipated event.  Skwalas.  An early stonefly that is welcomed with open arms as they offer a much needed break from fishing tiny midge and baetis patterns all winter.  The Skwala Stoneflies are not overly prolific but fish do often gobble up the unfortunate few adults that find themselves clumsily flailing about on the rivers surface.  There was one particular outing this spring where my intention from the beginning was to hammer the bigger bugs into likely holding water and watch the trout go nuts for the big juicy morsels.  In my over exuberance I made some critical mistakes that undoubtedly cost me a few fish that day.

After rigging up my fly rod at the truck with a trusted adult Skwala pattern, I barged down to the water and without much grace waded right into the current.  After casting into likely holding water below riffles, and around mostly submerged rocks for about 20 minutes, and coming up empty I turned to wade up river to the next run.  There about 20 feet from me just off the bank in some very shallow water I could see a good sized fish working back and forth in the trickling current.  With my mind still set on Skwalas I threw a nice cast landing a few feet out in front of the fish.  As the fly drifted overhead the big fish made a lazy start up at it then turned away at the last moment.  I made a few more casts and each one got similar results.  Finally I took a breather and just watched the fish as it fed.  It was feeding in a small channel of current that flowed between two small submerged rocks.  It was darting back and forth and at times rising nearly to the surface to intercept its food.  As I watched it I knew it was time to put away the big bugs and break out my midge box again.    As the fish continued to feed, its mouth slashing from one side to the other in the buffet line drifting by it in that soft current, I devised my game plan.  Seeing that the fish had not shied away from the Skwala pattern I had passed over it a few minutes earlier, I used one of my favorite methods of fishing small hard to see flies that are fished subsurface.  I tied about 18 inches of tippet to the bend of the hook on my bullet head Skwala pattern and tied on a #20 zebra midge as a dropper.  This would allow me to watch the larger fly to detect a strike on the smaller submerged fly without using an unnatural looking indicator that would likely spook or tip off the fish.

As the cast unfurled and landed a few feet above the slot the fish was feeding in, I watched in anticipation.  The flies drifted through the slot cleanly and as the Skwala pattern passed over the feeding fish I saw it make a quick movement and the Skwala gently dipped below the surface.  I brought up the rod tip and felt the heavy head shake of a hooked trout.  As the big brown trout blasted across the river ripping line from my reel a smile broke out on my face.  This is what it is all about.

A few moments later after releasing the 20 inch brown back into the current I took a very close look up the stream ahead of me.  There about 15 feet in front of where I had just caught this fish was another very similar fish in a similar lie slashing from side to side.  And up beyond that fish I could see the dark form of yet another fish also feeding a couple feet off the bank in the shallow water.  I was glad to see it but became quite aware that with fish stacked up like this tight to  the bank I surely had busted a couple feeding fish out of their water when I had pushed my way down to the river.  That day turned out to be one of my better ones on the river as I stalked and caught visibly feeding fish right up until dark.

If you are like me you value your time on the water fishing.  Quite a lot of energy can be built up just anticipating the moment that you arrive at the river.  The problem is our tendency to allow this energy to push us along right into the river where we begin to waive our rod madly about, without stopping to simply observe what is happening on the water.  The solution is a matter of taking the energy built up within us and dialing it back a couple notches before we arrive at our fishing spot.   Slow down and use your senses.  Too often I am in such a rush when I get to the river my main goal is just to get a fly tied on and get in the water.  While the advice we have all gotten at some point in our lives that “you can’t catch a fish without your line in the water,” is technically true, it can also cause you to miss out on a lot of fish.  Rather than rushing down to the water’s edge it is sometimes better to start by hunting rather than fishing.  Look for feeding fish, look for insects, keep your options open, and don’t solidify your game plan until you have taken some time to truly observe what is happening that day on the river.  Rivers are a changing environment and no two days will be the same.  We can’t just assume what worked for us last time we were here will work the same way again.  It is this constant challenge that keeps us coming back.

So the next time you pull up to your favorite fishing hole remember the words of baseball’s wordsmith, Yogi Bera, “you can observe a lot by just watching.”

This article by: BaseCampLegends.com

Fish Where the Trout are Feeding

When I started fly fishing I had the same romantic notion of the sport that many probably do.  Casting delicate little flies that land softly on the water and watching big fish come up from the depths to sip the offering ever so gently.  Then one day I was on a beautiful clear flowing river on a bright, fall day with no fish rising or even looking at my dry fly presentations.  I was still fairly new to the sport and had only read about fishing nymphs.  I rigged up, from my best recollections of what I had read, and went from casting a small dry to casting two nymphs under a bulky yarn indicator with some split shot.  On my first cast I discovered there was nothing delicate about presenting this setup to fish.  The split shot and the indicator made quite a splash as I tossed the whole get up to the head of a run.  I then discovered that this rig can quickly become a tangled mess of flies, tippet, split shot, and yarn.  There were a few false starts and aggravating intermissions to my fishing as I untangled several rat nests.  I was just beginning to think the hassle wasn’t worth it when I finally got the perfect cast, a good drift, and as the indicator flowed passed a large submerged boulder I saw the white mouth of a rainbow trout open and the indicator gently dipped below the surface.  I set the hook on what at the time was the largest trout I had ever caught.  Since that time I have not become much better at eliminating tangles in the complicated set up but I have discovered that using nymphs can improve your success at times when a dry fly just won’t interest a trout.

While it is fun to pick off rising fish with a dry fly it is good to remember that most of a fish’s feeding takes place sub surface on nymphs.  While it can be discouraging for a beginner to try and manage the double nymph rig it can pay off with more and often larger fish.  It also provides a realistic chance of catching fish under a wider variety of conditions.

The most effective method if I am specifically targeting fish with nymphs is the double nymph rig, as this method allows a very realistic presentation.  This rig starts at the top with an indicator of your choice.  There are many types of indicators and ideas for homemade indicators out there.  Most store bought indicators will be the poly yarn variety.  I like these but have had trouble in choppy water with them staying buoyant enough after becoming submerged in the riffles a couple times.  My personal choice is an appropriately sized Frog Hair Ultimate Adjustable indicator.

They are made of foam; they float well in almost all circumstances, are very responsive to even the lightest of bites, are highly visible, and they are easy to slide up and down your leader to adjust the depth as you move from run to run.  All the things that I feel make a good indicator.  The rule I use for where to put the indicator is usually twice as deep as the water I am fishing and adjust from there depending on the swiftness of the water.  The faster the flow the higher you will want the indicator to allow the nymphs to get to the bottom where the fish will be looking for them.

Once the indicator is in place I tie the top fly on the end of the tippet.  Personally I often use a larger nymph like a stonefly or one with a bead head as my point fly.  The advantage is twofold here.  First a larger fly like the Stonefly nymph or a bead head nymph will provide a little more weight to help get the flies to the bottom quickly.  Second they can serve as an attractor to get the fish’s attention.  Even if it is not exactly what the fish wants a big potential meal like the stonefly of something with some flash like the bead head will catch their eye and may be too much for the fish to resist.  As with everything else though this is just a guideline and if conditions dictate I will deviate from this strategy with different flies.

Once the top fly is chosen and tied on I tie about 12-18 inches of tippet to the bend in the hook and tie my second fly on.  In my experience the second fly will be the one you catch most of your fish on.  My most used patterns here are a small pheasant tail or hare’s ear nymphs.   Obviously your fly choices will again depend on what type of insects hatch on your body of water.

The final but very important step is the split shot.  I place my split shot about 12” above the top fly in my rig.  Start with as little weight as possible and work up as conditions dictate.  Most nymphs live on and under the rocks at the bottom of a river so a fish feeding on nymphs is most likely going to be found on the bottom as well.  You need to get your fly down to where the fish are and that means adding weight.  You will want your flies to be bumping bottom occasionally but not continually hanging up.  Finding this balance will be important to your success.

There is no fast hard rule about where I will fish this rig but the most likely spots I target are in tail outs just below a riffle or in long 3’-4’ deep channels with fast  to medium walking speed current flow.  Other good areas are in current seams where fast current meets a slower current.    I usually cast upstream at about a 45 degree angle and let the flies drift past me making sure to mend the line properly so I don’t get much drag.  Nothing will tip a fish off faster to an imitation than a fly that is streaming instead of drifting.  This is another good use for the indicator as it helps you get a better idea of what the flies beneath the surface are doing.  Since the flies are out of your sight you will have a hard time knowing for sure if you are getting a lot of drag or not without an indicator.  You can be confident that if your indicator is dragging, your flies are also dragging.  If your line is ahead of your indicator it will pull the indicator downstream.  Mend your line as often as needed to keep the line upstream of your indicator to get the most drag free drift.  Simply let your indicator float as drag free as possible for as long as possible.  One exception to this comes at the end of your drift when the flies have drifted past you and are coming to the end of the line.  The current will catch the indicator and the flies and start to pull them towards the surface.  I always let this happen because the rising flies will mimic nymphs that are swimming or floating towards the surface during a hatch.  Fish will sometimes take these nymphs as they make their rise from the bottom of the river to the surface.  I have caught many fish just being patient and letting the current take hold at the end of a drift.

One important thing to remember is that a trout’s take on a drifting nymph can be extremely subtle.  It can be very easy to miss a take as fish seem to be able to mouth your flies while your indicator makes almost no movement.  Keep your eyes on the indicator for any abnormal movement and be ready to take up your slack.  It takes a bit of experience with the set up but you soon develop a sense and can really tell the difference between your fly ticking the bottom and the soft take from a fish.  Generally though, you should probably be thinking fish anytime your indicator moves in a way contrary to what the current is doing.

The Double Nymph rig can be a very productive way to find and catch fish but the one piece of advice I would give to anyone giving it a try is to be patient and slow down.  When casting an outfit with this many moving parts things can get tangled in a hurry.  I was reminded of this advice last week as I broke down and opened the nymph fly box on a slow catching day on my local river.  I had been used to casting tiny Blue Wing Olive, and midge imitations so when I broke out the indicator and the split shot and failed to adjust my casting accordingly I found myself wasting a lot of time undoing big knots.  Each tangle made me more frustrated, which made me tense up even more, which did not improve my casting.  After an half an hour of fighting against myself and gritting my teeth at tangle after tangle, I was able to slow myself down and shorten my casts and wouldn’t you know it, I hooked right into a good fish.  It reaffirmed the lesson I learned years ago on that fall day, that knowing how to fish nymphs can turn a frustrating skunking into a great day on the river in a hurry.

See the original article at BaseCampLegends.com