I was setting at a picnic table along a very popular trout stream eating lunch
after a pleasant morning of angling, when a car drove into the parking lot.
A single person emerged, looked up and down the stream, and then began to
assemble his gear. I could not help but notice that he was well equipped.
From his breathable stocking foot waders to his top of the line vest and latest
graphite rod he was the image of the well-dressed modern angler. Within a
few moments he had assembled and strung his fly rod, donned his waders and
vest, and had walked a short distance upstream where he entered the water
and immediately began casting.
There were a few mayflies emerging, the remnants of the major hatch that had
occurred earlier in the day, and a few trout were still feeding in the run
where he was fishing. Most of the fish were small but there were a couple
good fish that were consistently rising along the edge of the current seam.
His casting seemed to be acceptable; good loops with a relatively accurate
delivery, but after several minutes of casting to the feeding fish he had
yet to move a single one. What followed was a predictable litany of fly changes,
tippet alterations, and finally abandonment of the entire thing.
He exited the stream and moved up around the bend and I followed cautiously,
not wanting him to think that I was spying on him. The next run was a carbon
copy of the previous one with a few trout still feeding on the occasional
mayfly that came drifting down the current. Once again I watched as he repeated
the same scenario; several fly changes, fiddling with his tippet, and then,
in obvious frustration, he reeled in and moved to the next place.
I was loading my gear into my car when he returned to the parking lot. A casual, “How
did you do,” was followed by a detailed description of his lack of success.
“I can’t figure it out,” he said. “The trout were
rising, I was using the flies that matched the bugs, but I couldn’t
buy a rise. I even used 6 and 7x tippets but I still couldn’t get a
take. How did you do?”
Not wanting to seem like a bragger I said, “I hooked a few this morning.” I
had just had a fabulous morning with several good fish hooked and landed.
In fact, it was one of those days when the fishing seemed almost too easy.
“Well, you did a whole lot better than I did,” he responded. “I
guess I should have been here earlier.”
Unfortunately, I do not believe that this angler would have been any more
successful if he had been here earlier or later. Like many anglers he was
looking for the answers to his lack of success in the wrong place. The problem
was not the time of day when he was fishing or the gear that he was using;
the problem was with the guy that was holding the fly rod!
Fish, whether they are brown trout or carp, are not Rhodes scholars, but they
can be very picky when they are feeding. Like a gourmet diner they know how
they want their food presented, and if it is not present to their liking,
at best they ignore it and at worse they quit feeding. As I observed my fellow
angler, without being presumptuous, I noted several things that I felt would
have increased his chances of being successful.
First, he began casting without taking any time for observation. He saw the
fish rising, he saw the insects hatching, and immediately he began casting.
When his first offering was rejected he did what most anglers do; he changed
flies. When changing flies did not do the trick he changed his tippet, and
when that failed to work he changed locations only to have the entire scenario
repeated until he left in frustration. A few minutes of observation might
have proven to be the best investment of time that he could have made. Most
anglers need to spend twice as much time observing as they do casting.
Secondly, while I noted that he was a competent caster, I observed that he
wasn’t a competent angler. His lack of observation was the first clue,
but his lack of technical abilities; specifically his presentation skills
were his Achilles heel. His casting was ‘relatively accurate’ but
the fish were feeding in very tight lanes, and his presentation needed to
be spot-on accurate to induce a take. Having gorged themselves earlier on
the heavy hatch they were not inclined to move very far to take another bug.
If he had taken time to observe before he started to fish he would have noted
that more flies were hatching and flying away than were being eaten. He would
have observed that only flies coming down a specific drift line were being
eaten while flies just a few inches away were being ignored. Close enough
was not good enough.
As I watched I noticed that when he presented his fly to the trout he was
dropping it several feet above the fish. With the shifting currents and subtle
eddies, that are so common on this particular stream, the fly was often dragging
or acting unnaturally as it approached where the trout was holding. A much
shorter, more accurate delivery would have immensely improved his chances
of a successful hook-up.
Predictably, when he was not enticing the fish to rise, he first changed flies
and then he altered his tippet. On this particular stream, even with its crystal
clear water and small flies, I rarely use anything smaller than 5x. Occasionally,
on the flats when I am fishing very small midges, I will resort to 6x but
never anything smaller, since I have found that tippet size is only important
if it affects the way the fly acts on the water. I never give the trout anything
they don’t earn, and unless the tippet affects the way that the fly
acts on the water I will use the largest tippet I can get away with to tip
the odds of landing them more in my favor. I have yet to find a fish that
can tell the difference between a tippet that measures .006 and one that measures
.005. [The difference between 5 and 6x] If fish start carrying micrometers
we all will have to take up golf!!!
You don’t have to be a genius to be a fly fisher, but you do have to
think. Observation and application will trump equipment and even technical
ability. When you’re not catching fish don’t look at what’s
attached to the end of your line for the solution. Look first at the person
holding the rod.
~ The Chronicler
Originally published October 5, 2009 on Fly Anglers Online by By Neil M. Travis.