LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION
The stream pushed hard against the far bank carrying a cornucopia of small mayfly duns, spinners, an occasional caddis, and the general flotsam consisting of small terrestrials and midges. A respectable brown trout was holding in a slight depression in the stream bed within inches of the shoreline. Just upstream from where he was holding the long strands of Canary Grass draped down into the water creating a series of small whorls that disturbed the otherwise consistent flow of the water. Caught in the whorls, the profusion of insect life trapped in the tension of the surface film spun around and around before being whisked away by the relentless current pushing ever seaward. Into this mass of life the brown would occasional stick his nose and inhaled something from the smorgasbord that swirled over his head.
A short distance upstream another brown trout was holding in mid-current below a weed bed. As the water streamed over the undulating weeds occasionally the ends of the weeds would get caught up in the flow and create a disturbance on the surface sending the collection of floating insects whirling across the surface like a tilt-a-whirl ride on a circus midway. The holding brown trout seemed to have no interest in the passing parade of insects drifting above his head, but occasionally he would dart right or left as if he was intercepting something.
At the tail out of a small riffle several browns and rainbows were jockeying for position while sporadically rising to the various insects that were riding the current over their heads. Between the rises they would engage in territorial battles, chasing each other down into the pool before slipping back to the base of the riffle.
Above the riffle several trout could be seen rising along a long flat piece of water. The rises were sporadic and random along the length of the run. Some of the rises were obviously bulges to emerging or subsurface nymphs, but others were clearly surface rises. The pattern was random and the fish appeared to be cruising.
Sitting on the bank an angler watched the activity, his fly rod lying in the grass at his side. Each of these situations demanded a different approach if he had any hope of hooking one of these fish.
The brown holding next to the bank presented the most difficult challenge. The trout was holding in the relatively slack water next to the bank with a strong current line running just beyond his chosen position. Complicating the situation were the strands of grass that were hanging in the water disrupting the current and creating a vortex of twisting currents. Another complication was the erratic rise pattern.
The brown holding below the weed bed presented a completely different set of problems for the angler. While it was obvious that he was not rising to the flies on the surface exactly what he was taking below the surface could not readily be determined. Since the flies that were drifting in the surface film represented a variety of different species the exact type of nymph that the brown was feeding on was impossible to establish. In order to present the fly at the feeding level of the fish would require a fly with sufficient weight to get down to where the fish was holding but not too deep. The weed beds that surrounded the fish’s chosen spot would further complicate the issue since only a narrow slot of open water existed on each side where the angler could drop his fly.
The trout holding at the tail of the riffle presented even different issues. Each time one of the fish began to chase another one all of the trout would scatter and drop back into the deeper water at the base of the riffle. Slowly the fish would circle around in the pool and then, one by one, they would move back to the base of the riffle and begin to feed. There was a variety of feeding spots along the base of the riffle, and after each disruption the trout would return to feed, but rarely in the same location.
The angler knew that the fish that were feeding on the flat were probably the largest fish that were feeding, and also the most difficult. The flat was mostly too deep to wade, the water was slow and the undulating surface currents presented a challenge to achieving anything that remotely resembled a drag free float. The cruising trout often covered several yards before they would feed, and often they would drift below a chosen morsel for several feet before rising to eat it. A careless cast would send them all fleeing for the depths.
These scenarios present typical problems that trout anglers encounter on a regular basis, especially on spring creeks and the tail water fisheries. Each situation requires a different approach and a different set of skills on the part of the angler. The ability to cast accurately is a prerequisite in each situation, but there are additional skills that are required. What are those skills? Think how you would approach each situation; what type of fly would you use and why, what type of cast would you need to make in each situation and why? Would you modify your leader, where would you stand in relation to the position of the fish? For each purposed solution you need to answer the question why. Think over your answers and next week I will offer my solutions.