WHAT FLY SHOULD I USE TODAY? - Readers Cast (Tom Deschaine) - January 11, 2011

WHAT FLY SHOULD I USE TODAY?

It's a decision we make every time we approach the water. You've done it hundreds of times, yet we still struggle with the decision. My first instinct is to match what?s flying around, be it a major hatch, or just some local everyday caddis. No insects seen, no trout rising, my second choice would be an attractor. This is the mental conditioning I received from years of reading trout books and magazines. Your methods of fly selection are probably different then mine, and the method by which you were conditioned may be different then mine. But we all still go through the mental process. How often has your first selection of a pattern been so right that you fished with that pattern all day? A quick browse through my fishing log reveals to me that I switched patterns as many as nine times in one day.

Tom:

I agree with everything that you said, in your article. I would also like to interject a few more findings. Trout are nearsighted, and since they have fish-eyes. They must get close to the prey to make the final determination, before attacking or rejecting the morsel in front of them.

They can be spooked by a cloud passing over, or your shadow.

Sometimes I do not try to match the hatch, instead I attempt to match the laying of the eggs on the water.

I was at the Idaho Fish-In, and I noticed that the October Caddis were landing heavily onto the water surface, to dislodge eggs into the water, then immediately take to flight, and land heavily on the water a couple feet distance. This they repeated over and over again.

Sometimes the opposite is the best way, create a commotion, and give the fish little time to to commensurate on whether to take or reject.

There are times to play by the rules, and there are other times to toss the rules out!

~Parnelli :D

Thank you Mr. Parnelli, It's nice to know that someone agrees with me --- you said it so well --- there are times to play by the rules and other times not to.

Tom --- See you on the water

Give them what they want, and give it to them the way they want it. This is the formula for success in fly-fishing. I know many guides and outfitters that would say 'Amen' to that.

The Chronicler

Thanks, Tom. What a great article. I think that some of the romance of flyfishing is the part where we're standing in the river with nothing hatching, but prime conditions, and we're wracking our brains to 'crack the code' of the day. Too me this is the ultimate challenge in flyfishing and tying. What bug will crack this day's code? I fish a local spring creek quite regularly and each year the winter season, with it's inherant higher water, carves new channels through the weed beds and the fish take up new holding lies different from previous years, at the same time the bugs that worked last year seem to be less effective this year, and so on. But that is the allure of this particular water for me. Just when I think I've figured it out, it changes. I've been fishing this piece of water for eight years now and I still haven't cracked the dry fly code, yet I've become very successful with nymphs and such. Sure, I catch a fish here and there on a smattering of different dries, but no matter how much observation I do and how many precise patterns I tie, I have never found anything that is consistent - yet this conundrum is what keeps me coming back for more. Someday I'm sure I'll figure it out, but I'm just as sure that it will change again and I'll be back at square one. The first fish I ever caught on this water was on the surface with a Renegade (go figure) and I've never caught another on that fly since that first fish.
Don't you just love a challenge?! I do, and that's why I keep going back.
There is nothing like fishing a new water and trying to crack that code, and it is very satisfying when you finally do.
Thanks, again for the great article!

Kelly.

Kelly,

If you ever figure it out you let me know........

See you on the water......

Tom