"Cast Where They Ain't"

That was very interesting...food for thought...some points I never thought of...

One thing I would like to see discussed is...time....e.i. see a rise and how soon to cast to the area?
Give the fish a chance to reposition...I believe in that and I do cast more upstream but I have never thought of this as a reason..."When you see it, it has already moved downstream some. "

JC,if we see it the instant it happened it must be where it happened...speed of light...are you saying that the fish was stationed more upstream when he sighted the fly...therefore the rise was below his station????....makes sense ...

"...secretly I lament the hundreds (of fish) we never caught because we forever persisted in fishing only the likeliest holding water"
Tom Sutcliffe "Reflections On Fishing" (1990)

I hooked and landed a beautiful summer run steelhead on the Oak Grove Fork of the Clackamas River in Oregon years ago by testing my casting with a #10 Royal Coachman Bucktail on the fastest, frothest stretch of the river I could find. I was elevated from the road and the position allowed me to practice without thought to backcast or objects in front of me. The thrill and shock of the fish coming out of nowhere will never be forgotten. I went downsteam from the road to a pool almost a hundred yards downstream to land him. Since I did not have a punchcard on me for the fish, he was released. I may be way off your thread but I thought this story might interest you.