Back to what Lefty said about how lifting a line off smooth water spooks fish: If he’s right, then how do we make a cast, land the fly line on smooth water and not spook fish?
Randy
“If he’s right, then how do we make a cast, land the fly line on smooth water and not spook fish?”
My response would be that when the fly line lands on water directly over fish, those fish will be spooked. If you know where the fish you are trying to get your fly to are, you would need to use a longer leader and tippet combination so that your fly line lands further away from the fish you are trying to catch and your leader/tippet lands softly on the water.
Just my thoughts and opinion only…
Perhaps he isn’t correct?
My experience is that, except in certain very specific and rather rare situations, the landing, or lifting off, of a fly line is irrelevant to the fish.
I’d just fish and not sweat it too much.
Buddy
Pretty much what Buddy said. Except that I do generally try to minimize any commotion made when casting, mending, or otherwise moving the fly line and / or leader.
One day last summer on the Lochsa, there were two large Westslope cutthroat actively feeding about thirty feet out, in the soft water between a couple currents of different speeds. Kind of a tricky cast to get the fly where they might take it. Started with a fly that had been working quite well for some time. Over the course of the next hour, I tried five or six different flies, working my way down with smaller and smaller flies. During that hour, I lined the fish, leadered the fish, and bounced flies off them many times, all without disrupting their feeding pattern.
Finally got down to a scruffy size 20 Griffith Gnat left over from the year before. Second or third cast, got one. About 19". Two or three casts later, got the other one. About 20".
John
in most instances you want to put a popper ON a bass’ head. Causes instinctive strike.
Exactly! While I’ve no doubt many of the fly fishers/tyers we admire are right a great majority of the time, they are not infallible and may simply be wrong! Many conditions to consider RE: the initial question. Warren’s comment about using a longer leader/tippet is applicable as well as using the natural drift to get the fly over the trout.
Allan
When you catch fish....
I just recently saw Lefty and he was saying that the forward cast is two part.
- stopping the forward cast so that your line is parallel to the water
- letting your line float down onto the water, so as not to let it splash down.
I saw him cast and his line barely made a ripple in the water when it came down. As far as lifting went, he brought the rod tip up in a quick snap so the line did not drag the surface of the water. It was pretty impressive to watch him, especially considering we had quite a wind that day. Just my observations.
You do what any respectable southern tailwater fisherman does when presenting a dry fly to sipping trout on slick pools: Strip off 50’ of line off the reel (using a 16’ slack leader), cast 4’ of fly line + leader, and then stack mend gently and allow the remaining 30 of line’ to drift Downstream to the fish. Allow the fish to sip the fly, count to three, and then lift the rod like Bill Dance in a BASS tourney! Hoop and hollar, and play the fish like it was a true trophy. Release and repeat.
Mike
If you can lift most of the fly line out of the water and begin your back cast with just the fly or even leader and fly in the water the disturbance created is marginal when cpmpared with ripping a fly line out of the water.
I know for a fact this works and it isn’t at all hard to do. Just make the line lift a part of your back cast.