If trout see you, it will be next to impossible for you to catch them. In order to hide from them, you need to know a little about how a trout sees the world outside the water. The subject is far too complicated to discuss in detail in a short article but thank goodness, it isn’t necessary. This issue has an article that gets into the trout’s window of vision and how they see things both under and above the
water. For purposes of what I want to point out in this article, just a little common sense and a little basic knowledge about how trout see is all you need to help you prevent them from seeing you.
Trout don’t see objects above the water, especially those at a distance, clearly. To make it simple, lets just say they see things as a blur. They cannot see anything in detail at a distance. A person standing twenty feet from them is just a blurred image. Now for those who want to get picky, what I am about to say isn’t exactly technically correct but I am not writing a scientific paper. I am describing how a trout sees someone trying to catch them. For all practical purposes, I am being accurate.
What trout will notice, much quicker than anything else, is the movement of an object above the water. They are used to seeing blurred images of objects above the water that remain fairly still. Trees and boulders don’t move around a lot. Overhead predators pose a danger to them. Large birds and a animals pose a danger to trout. When something moves above the water, it gets their attention.
The bottom line to this is that you should move as little as possible and when you do move, move as slowly as possible. Of course, it is difficult to cast without moving.
The other thing about what they see above the water has to do with the distance the object is from them. To make this simple, due to refraction of light, they don’t see things that are low above the water. The higher the object, the easier it is for them to see it. For example, they could see an object ten feet above the water as far as twenty feet away but they would not see an object one foot about the water that is ten feet away. The lower you are, the closer you can get to trout without their
seeing you. If you stand on top of the highest rock in the stream and look around you, chances are every trout within twenty or thirty feet of you will see you. Your movements climbing up on the rock and back down will spook them for sure. Stay low and slow, right the opposite of what you want to do if you are flying an airplane.
Trout face normally face in an upstream direction. Their bodies and fins are streamlined for them to remain in current expending as little energy as possible. They would have a difficult time holding their position in current if they had their tail pointed into the current.
Most all of their food comes to them in a downstream direction. Aquatic insects in a current seam are drifting downstream. The trout face in an upstream direction looking for them. The bottom line to this is that you can get closer to trout if you are downstream of them. If you fish in an upstream direction, they will not be able to see you as easily as they would if you were fishing in a downstream direction. With few exceptions I will not go into here, in the small fast water freestone streams in the Great Smoky Mountains, for example, you should always fish in an upstream direction.
Trout don’t see the same way us humans do. They have a much wider peripheral vision. In other words they can see almost all the way around. Their binocular vision is not near as good as ours. That is part of the reason why they don’t see things at a distance above the water clearly and in great detail or resolution.
Sounds simple so far. However, just because you are approaching them from their back side doesn’t mean you can slip up on them and tap them on their shoulders.
As I have said, trout have a blind spot in their peripheral vision. It is a small area directly behind them. When they are positioned in the moving water of the stream facing in an upstream direction, that small blind area enables you to get fairly close to them provided you approach them from their rear. This must be done carefully and quietly. Approaching them from their front (the direction they are looking) isn’t as easy to do without being spotted.
Again, it is movement of objects at a distance that gets their attention quicker than
anything. Another big factor in just how well they can spot you has to do with your
contrast with the surrounding background. For example, If you are wearing a white
shirt and white hat, you are not blending in very well with the typical background of
a stream unless snow is a foot deep. You want to blend in with the background in
the same manner a deer or turkey hunter would. In fact, the best clothing you could
possible wear would be the best matching camouflage outfits you could find to
match the colors of the forest during the different seasons of the year. I am not
suggesting you should go so far as to wear a camouflage net over your head or
that you should shade your eyes. I am not even saying that camouflage clothing is
necessary even though it would solve the problem very well. Trout will not detect
your presence near as well if you blend in with the background. Subdued shades of
browns and greens usually work best. You should avoid bright, flashy colors.
Another factor in how close you can approach trout is how well you can see them. If
there is a lot of glare on the water, and there always is, you should wear polarized
glasses. There is no sense in stumbling over a trout directly in front of you. It will go
upstream and warn its entire family that a creature is coming. Seriously, when trout
suddenly shoot upstream, I believe it signals other fish that danger is approaching
or it at least makes them aware something is not normal. The least fish you can
spook, the better off you are, even if you are not trying to catch them.
It helps if you can see what is ahead period. I don’t want to get into wading yet, but
when you can see everything in the water ahead of you, you can wade making the
least amount of disturbance.
Trout do not have to see you in order for them to detect your presence. They can
hear you. You can yell at your buddy and that won’t bother them. If you move a
rock on the bottom of the stream, it will. If you stumble along the bank, it will disturb
them. They can hear the sound you through their lateral line. Again, I don’t want to
get technical. This is not the place to discuss how fish hear in detail. Just be aware
that you should walk softly, without disturbing things on the bottom of the stream or
the ground.
Lets summarize what I have said so far about hiding from the trout:
1. Keep a low profile. I don’t mean crawl along the bank or even that you need to
stoop low when you are wading. Just be aware that the higher you are, the farther
away trout can see you. Don’t climb up on boulders and search the water for the
trout. They are there. You are just warning them that you are there.
2. Fish in an upstream direction. Whether you are wading or moving along a
bank, progress in an upstream direction, not downstream. Cast in a general
upstream direction, not downstream. You can get closer to the trout and they won’t
see you as well as if you approached them when they are facing you.
3. Dress to blend in with the surroundings. Don’t wear flashy or bright colored
clothing.
4. Don’t disturb the bottom of the stream or the ground along the banks.
Trout can hear you. Avoid moving or kicking rocks.
5. Wear polarized sunglasses. The better you can see what is ahead in the water, the easier it is for you to prevent spooking the trout ahead. If you loose your footing and step off into a deep hole you will spook every trout in the creek.If you really want to learn a lot about what spooks trout, and how well they can see and hear you, do right the opposite of what you should do. See how many trout you can spook. Spring creeks are perfect places to do this. It is easier for you to see the trout and easier for the trout to see you. You can see the reaction of the trout, whereas in freestone streams, trout can flee without you ever seeing them. We have experimented with this several times and I believe we have picked up a few things we would not have otherwise learned.
The first thing I noticed was that when I was about 40 feet away in full view of a
trout, yet not noticed by the trout to the point it would flee, I could wave my arms
without spooking the trout. Waving my arms and fly rod didn’t seem to make any
difference in the reaction of the trout. I would be well within its line of vision standing
on a bank, not below it. If I started walking to my left or right, the same trout would
shoot under the grass to hide. I think that was because they could not see my arms
well enough for the movement to get their attention but when my body moved, they
could see what was going on. That is only a guess. There is no real proof of that
theory, of course. I tried the same experiment on several trout and the results were
always the same. The movement of my body had a different reaction than the
movement of just my arms.
If I stayed low on the ground and slowly stood up within about twenty feet of a trout,
I could get by doing so most of the time without spooking the trout. However, when I
would do the arm waving deal, they would all take off every time. That told me that it
was next to impossible to cast to a trout that close too me without spooking it if it
was looking in my direction. It also told me that if you move very slowly the trout
didn’t spook as much as they do when you make sudden movements.
I could do the exact same thing, approaching a trout from its rear, and pull it off
without the spooking the trout. The effects of the blind spot to their rear became
very obvious.
I have tried moving up on trout in spring creeks about every way I could think off. I
have been working on a DVD on fly fishing spring creeks now for about six years.
That was the reason I was spooking trout rather than trying to catch them. I
attempted to show, on camera, the different reactions from the trout for various
scenarios. It didn’t turn out very easy to do, by the way. Some of the things I
discovered fooled me, but in most cases I was able to guess what would happen.
That makes me think common sense goes a long way in approaching trout.
I have kicked rocks just to see the reaction of the trout. I have stomped the ground
with my feet. I have yelled as loud as I can yell and done a number of sound test on
trout in spring creeks. That did fool me. They can hear much better than I thought
they could. I have also done these sound test in the smokies. You can drop a rock on
another rock in the stream and send every trout in sight fleeing. Try that from one
of the high banks along a stream and watch the reaction.
Spring creeks taught me a lot about approaching trout. You must be able to do so successfully or you are not going to catch any trout. Blind casting is a waste of time in spring creeks unless you are fishing a riffle section of the stream. I love fishing spring creeks because it does teach you a lot about the reactions of trout and a lot about being able to fool and catch them. Spring creeks are perfect places to learn how trout react to movements and sound. You can clearly see what spooks away with. You must stalk trout to catch them. You do not blind cast because you can see everything in the water. I
For an example, let’s consider Silver Creek Idaho, one of our favorite streams. We have fished this beautiful creek several times and we have learned a lot about trout doing so. You rarely catch a
trout you don’t first see. If the wind is not blowing hard, you will be looking at the trout you
are casting to every time. Knowing what spooks trout, what you can get away with and what you can not get away with, goes a long way in being able to catch them.
We learned that the surface of the water makes a huge difference in what the trout can and cannot see above the water. If it is smooth without ripples, you are seen by the trout much farther away than you are seen when the surface of the water is disturbed by current or wind. That is another reason you can get closer to the trout in riffles and runs than you can in the smooth water of a pool or pockets along banks and behind boulders in the Smokies.
Fish holding in deeper water will spook much quicker than those holding just under the surface. I think this is to do with their window of vision but it could also be a result of what the trout are concentrating on. When they are only inches deep feeding in current, they are looking for tiny insects. You would think they would be keenly aware of what was around them since they are in an exposed position but
they don’t spook as easily as they do when they are holding in water a couple of feet deep. When they are holding inches under the water, they don’t see insects in the water until they are within inches from their nose. This is due to their small window of vision.Reviewing the Basics – Hiding From the Trout – WadingWading can help you catch more trout in the small streams of Great Smoky
Mountains National Park in some cases, but before I discuss when and where it can help you, let me give you a fair warning. Wading can also prevent you from catching trout in the Smokies. It is an easy and fast way to spook trout. The trout can see you under the water and above the water. They can hear your boots scrape the bottom or move some sand and gravel. If you are in calmer water such
as a pool, your wake can spook trout. Never wade unless it is necessary for you to get into position to make a presentation to areas of the water you think are holding trout. If you can reach those areas and get a good drift from the bank, by all means do so. Every time you wade you are taking chances on spooking some trout that you may have been able to catch from the bank.
The problem with everything I have said so far is that it is often and very common that you will not be able to present your fly to areas of the stream that are likely holding trout without wading. One thing that makes it almost impossible to cast from the bank is the heavy growth of trees and bushes along the banks of the stream.
There are nine different species of rhododendrons that live in the park and many of them completely enclose the small streams. In many areas there is timber growing right up to the banks of the streams. This is great because if it did not, the streams would not have the trout that live in them. The water would be too warm in most areas for trout. They do keep you from casting along the banks in many cases.
Now don’t take this wrong. Just because there are some trees along the bank don’t mean you can’t cast from the bank. You can make all kinds of creative cast if you try and learn to make them. When you can, be certain to fish the water near the banks before you get into the water to wade. About the biggest mistake you can make is just to walk up to a stream, wade out into the center and start casting. You may have spooked some trout right where you headed into the stream. Always
take you time. Stop and look at the water. Figure out your best approach to get to the likely holding and feeding areas you intend to cast to.
I am not the best person in the world to give out this tip but I will anyway. Never cast while you are taking steps wading. You can’t concentrate on both and you will eventually end up making bad cast or tripping, stumbling or even falling. Stop casting and look at the water where you are wading. I am often guilty of making this mistake. I catch myself doing it and stop, then forget and do it again. I have also
busted my you know what a few times – casting when I was wading. I hate to admit this one, but I slipped off a rock on the bank in a hole under the heavy cover of rhododendron bushes along Little River one time, got wet to the bone, could have drowned and lost my fly rod, reel and line. The water was fairly high, I was looking at a good size brown trout a few feet upstream and was determined to cast to it. I didn’t look where I was stepping. I was too concerned about casting. It knocked the
breath out of me and turned my back black and blue. When I looked up my rod was not in sight.
The bottom line is wading can be dangerous. Never wade when you question the water depth or speed. Use the knee deep rule. Don’t wade water over knee deep. Stop casting when you move and look at the bottom ahead. Move slowly. There is no need to rush. Everyone has to get used to wading the water. The more you wade, the easier it is to do. It also takes some leg muscles if you do
very much of it. Climbing up and down and over rocks gives you legs a good workout. The water resistance in the current and weight of the waders and boots will tire you out until you get used to it. Never wade when you are tired. That is a huge mistake. If you are tired and give out and you have a problem such as slipping and falling, you do not want to be tired.
Wear a wading belt tight around your waist. If you fall in the water, it will run
down into your waders filling them with pounds of water. Try standing up with your
waders full of water. The wading belt will keep your legs and waste from filling up
with water. I fell in the Madison River one time, just above the two dollar bridge. I
had a big rainbow on that I actually ended up catching, and was moving
downstream with the trout wading when I stepped off into a deep hole. I went
completely under the water except for the very top of my head. I have no idea how
or even why I held the fly rod. I almost did not get up because the current carried
me about ten yards downstream as I fought to regain my footing. I am totally
convinced that if I did not have my wading belt on, I would have drowned. The entire
episode is on video tape. I will never forget it. It took every ounce of energy I had. I
should have dropped the rod and I have no idea why I didn’t. When I caught on and
got back up, it dawned on me I still had the fly rod and when I tightened the line, I
found the trout was still on. It was a solid eighteen inches long. A bridge full of
vehicles also watched that little episode. Angie was running the camera from a
tripod and was screaming to the top of her voice. She could not have possible
helped me. I did a stupid thing, wading in deep, swift water. I did one thing right that
I think saved my life. I had my wading belt on tight. From my waist up, I had a lot of
water to deal with. I don’t think I could have handled the current if my pants legs
filled up. Wading is dangerous. Several anglers have died from mistakes. Many of
them were below dams but some of them were in other types of streams.
I got off course with safety but it is very important.