PART OF THE GAME
For a number of years it has been my practice during the summer months to head out after dinner and spend a couple hours matching wits with some of our local trout. Since I am blessed to have three world famous spring creeks within 3 miles of my front door and the Yellowstone River within a couple blocks of my back yard I have lots of options. Unfortunately, even though I live in at the backdoor of trout heaven, I still have to ‘play the game’ and often the opposing team wins.
What is ‘the game’ you might ask? Well, the game is fly fishing, and much like gambling you pay your money and take your chance. When I head out for an evening of fly fishing on one of my local waters I am looking for a specific set of circumstances with a specific set of players.
The specific players are rising trout and the specific set of circumstances required to get rising trout are insects; hatching or returning as spinners. I’m not looking for sporadic risers that are sipping in an occasional ant that inadvertently tumbled into the stream or an errant caddis fly fluttering over the surface. I want bugs and trout that are eating them, on or somewhere in the vicinity of the surface.
What I hope to find when I arrive at my chosen location are a few hatching insects left over from the major daytime hatch and a nice spinner flight in progress. Regrettably, it takes a specific set of circumstances to make this hope a reality.
One of the major factors is weather. Spinner flights, especially when they involve small mayflies, are subject to the whims of the weather. Wind, especially anything over a very occasional breeze, is enough to send the bugs back into the grass. Rain, even a brief shower, will usually cool the ardor of the most passionate male spinners, especially in the evening hours. A sudden drop in air temperature is usually the death knell for any evening spinner activity. Sadly, most of these types of situations are all too common here in Montana.
However, you can’t play the game unless you are where the game is being played. This means that I have to eat dinner, make certain that all my gear is in the fishing car, and then drive to the place where I am hoping that I will find the right set of circumstances. Often, upon arrival, everything looks favorable. There is no wind, the air temperature is holding steady, and not a rain cloud in sight and a few spinners are already beginning to start their mating flight. With eager anticipation I assemble my gear, don my waders, and set out for the spot, where, I hope to find the bugs and the trout making a connection. Just when things look like they are all going to come together for a memorable evening of fly fishing the wind begins to blow! Always the eternal optimist I think that it is just an evening zephyr, and I settle back in the grass waiting for it to disappear. Alas it grows stronger and steadier. The wind scours out the warm air from along the stream and the temperature drops. Game over.
The point of this rant is to point out the fact that fly fishing is a game. It’s a game where the player sets the rules for themselves. When I set out for an evening of fishing my rules require that the trout are rising. These are my rules for my personal game. It’s very likely that I could catch some fish by prospecting with a nymph or a soft hackle. A woolly bugger would likely produce a fish or two, and even random casting with a dry fly might produce some action, but my rules call for trout rising to specific insects.
When the conditions conspire against me I am disappointed but I can’t blame the fish or the weather since I have made the rules. It’s part of my game. Tomorrow the conditions may be perfect, and when they are I revel in the moment. This is my idea of the perfect set of conditions for an evening of fly fishing; trout feeding on a specific insect, that requires a specific imitation, fished in a specific manner to an individual trout.
Back in ‘the day’ several fly fishing heavyweights carried on a serious debate about what constitutes the perfect and proper method of fly fishing. Upstream and dry, or across and down with a wet fly. In short, what is the proper way to ‘play the game?’ Fly fishing went from something that was, according to Izaak Walton, a contemplative sport and a gentleman’s recreation to a serious, rule bound pursuit of greatest import. Rather than the act of trying to catch a fish with an artificial fly being a challenge enough in and of itself it was felt, by some, that only when a fish was pursued in a specific way could it be truly acceptable.
The rules that I impose on myself for an evening of fly fishing on my local water are neither the best way nor the only way to fish these waters. These are my rules that apply only to me. It is the way that I prefer to play the game. I am not pompous enough or arrogant enough to presume that this is the only ‘right way’ to fish these waters in the evening, or any other time for that matter.
Do you find pleasure in pursuing fish in a certain way? Do you prefer one type of fishing to the exclusion of other types of angling? Hooray for you but remember, those are your preferences, your rules that apply only to you. Upstream and dry, rising fish only, across and down, or whatever it takes to catch a fish. It’s your rules, your game and as long as it is lawful have your pleasure. After all, it’s all just a game.