There are times you may encounter a few different insects hatching and other times when it appears there is nothing hatching. There are a lot of different insects that hatch during the Fall and Winter seasons. Most hatches take place during the Spring and Summer months of the year. Of course, this varies greatly with the section of the country you fish and the type of water you are fishing. A freestone stream, tailwaters, spring creeks and lakes may have a few different hatches. It is a fact that many anglers don’t really know how to go about fishing hatches, or for that matter, what is important about them. This article isn’t going into any detail on how to fish any specific aquatic insect. It is intended to point out some of the most important tips about how to go about fishing the Fall and Winter season hatches. 1. Why Hatches Are Important When an aquatic insect hatches, it must come out of its hiding place – from underneath a rock, crevices between rocks, out of a grass or moss bed, or in some cases, a burrow. In order to hatch, meaning emerge into an adult insect, it must develop its wing pad and either accent to the surface of the water, or crawl out of the water to emerge. When it emerges to the surface, it becomes directly exposed to the trout, or a sitting duck, you might say. When the insets emerge to the surface, they are very easy for the trout to acquire during the hatch. The emerging insect will have to get through the surface skim to dry their wings and fly off the water. It may be on the surface of the water for a few seconds for a minute or more. Those insects that crawl up the bank, a rock or boulder or anything else are exposed to feeding trout but not as easy for the trout to acquire as those emerging out in the water.
After the insect hatches into an adult, the males and females of the species much breed in order to produce new generations. This is usually done above the water they came from allowing most of them to fall dead to the surface of the water where they emerged from. Females mate with males, fertilize the eggs just prior to oviposition, and drop or lay them on the water and in some cases, the banks of the stream. Of course, when they land on the banks or anything other than the water, they won’t hatch. A few insect species are bi-brooded and become a factor for anglers to match at two different times during a calendar year, but this is a one time event per year for the great majority of aquatic insect species. 2. What Flies Should You Have During Hatches? You should have flies that imitate all stages of life that trout eat of all the aquatic insects that may hatch while you are on the water. For mayflies, that includes nymphs, emergers, duns and spinners. For stoneflies, that includes nymphs and adults. For caddisflies, that includes larva, pupa and adults. For midges, that includes larva, pupa and adults. 3. When To Fish Nymphs or Dry Flies (Below water or on the surface) I’m often asked, when to fish a nymph, or larva, or dry fly during a hatch. It depends somewhat on the particular insect, but in general, you should fish a mayfly or stonefly nymph, or a caddisfly or midge larvae during the morning hours, and a dry fly to imitate the mayfly dun, adult stonefly, or adult caddis or midge, during the afternoons. Early in the season, most of them hatch during the warmest part of the day. During the mid to late afternoon, most mayfly spinners return to the water to mate, deposit eggs and die. Caddisflies and Stoneflies usually deposit their eggs from the middle to late in the day. 4. What Fly Should You Fish First? It depends on the time you start fishing, but always the one that imitates the most plentiful and available insect at the time. In the case of multiple hatches, and there is often more than one insect that may hatch the day you fish, and assuming you start in the morning, fish the nymph or larva of that insect, or in the case when other types of foods are plentiful and more available, such as terrestrial insects, crustaceans, or baitfish, fish imitations of that food. If you are not sure which food or insects are most available for a given stream and time, you can always email or call us at Perfect Fly, and we can help you. 5. Where Should You Fish The Stream? Some trout streams are ninety miles or longer. Most all are at least five to ten miles. Whatever insects are hatching at the time, rest assured they are not hatching in the same place on the stream. They are usually hatching only in a small section of a stream ranging from a few hundred yards to maybe as much as five miles. In cases where the elevation of the stream changes a lot, they usually start at the lowest elevation and move upstream each day, remaining in one section for only a very few days. 6. The Type of Water Is Also Important Different types of aquatic insects hatch in different types of water. Burrower, crawler, and swimming mayflies live and hatch in slow to moderate water. Clinger mayflies live and hatch in fast water. Stoneflies mostly all live and hatch in fast water. Caddisflies hatch in different types of water depending on the species. When you are fishing a stream and a certain insect is hatching, spend your time only in the type of water that insect lives and hatches in. There is much more you should know about hatches, but hopefully, these tips will help make your next trip more productive. Each of our Perfect Flies has a page of information under the info link on our website on how, when and where to fish them. If you are planning a trip and don’t know what insects are hatching at the time you will be fishing, send us an email, or call us and we will be glad to help you. email: sales@perfectflystore.comTel. 800 – 594 – 4726 website: www.perfectflystore.com
At Perfect Fly, we receive email and phone calls from people who want to get into the sport of fly fishing and want to know what fly rod they should buy. Those who have owned a fly rod for some time and can cast from twenty to seventy feet, probably already know what rod suits them the best. Those new to the sport of fly fishing, and even those who have been fly fishing for some time but have not developed their casting skills, just want to get most they can get for the money. Most of those new to the sport just don’t cast well enough to fairly judge the quality of a fly rod.
Anglers who lack the skills to tell the difference between various rods are not capable of making the right decision when it comes to determining which one to buy. There’s a lot of marketing hype about fly rods as well as many anglers who consider themselves experts. Where does that leave a new angler looking for the right fly rod for them. Should anglers trust fly rod manufacturers to help them choose the right rod? Should they trust fly shop employees or guides? Many may have a interest in promoting a particular fly rod or a particular brand. Should they rely on the outdoor media?
At Perfect Fly, we want to make certain the fly rod works out well for the new angler because we have a vested interest in it. We want them to continue to purchase flies, gear and equipment from us. Here’s my advice for new anglers, or less-than-good casters looking to purchase a rod that will meet their needs. First, you need to understand what the fly rod can and cannot do for you. Is a fly rod merely a tool to accomplish the task of catching a fish? Does the looks of the rod need to be aesthetically pleasing? Are you more focused on casting, or protecting light tippets, or fighting a fish as quickly and effectively as possible? You’ll also want to be honest with yourself. If you’re someone who puts a lot of emphasis on brands and labels, or who wants other anglers to admire your new rod, you should realize that can be a huge mistake. Do as much research as you feel is necessary but keep in mind that some people are better resources than others, and certain people will have an incentive to steer you in a particular direction.
All of the points above, while helpful and important, are relatively standard. Here are some that are not so standard. If you’re a novice or intermediate angler, you should pay particular attention to how a company markets their fly rods. If they use terms like “fast” or “very fast” to describe a particular rod, that’s a red flag; a warning sign that the rod in question is probably not going to be a good fit for you. For the past several years, rod manufacturers have claimed that faster (or stiffer) rods are better rods. While that may be true in certain specific situations, and for certain casters, it’s not a true fact. Fast rods don’t flex easily, and they require far more effort to cast.
If you’re a novice or intermediate angler, you should pay particular attention to how a company markets their fly rods. If they use terms like “fast” or “very fast” to describe a particular rod, that’s a red flag; a warning sign that the rod in question is probably not going to be a good fit for you. For the past several years, rod manufacturers have claimed that faster (or stiffer) rods are better rods. While that may be true in certain specific situations, and for certain casters, it’s not a true fact. Fast rods don’t flex easily, and they require far more effort to cast.
Most of the work done with the rod is the result of rotation and not flex. But flex is what makes a rod pleasant, or unpleasant, to cast. Most rods made today feel terrible. If an angler buys a rod and is showing it off to his buddies, they can tend to make a lousy rod work. In fact, many have been doing that for years. After dumping a good bit of money on a rod, many tend to believe their bad rod is a good one. Many anglers, if not most, have never cast a pleasant-feeling rod.
If you’re a novice or often make less-than-good cast, and if you’re in the market for a new trout rod, I recommend that you rule out fast action rods. Stick to medium, or moderate rods.
If you already own a fast action rod, rather than putting them in the don’t use closet, try going up a line size with their fly line. Fish the rod with a one-size-heavier line. It won’t work for every rod — some models just won’t work well with any size fly line, but utilizing a heavier line can often help certain fast action rods perform better on the water.
If you want to save money and get the best quality available for your money, try our Perfect Fly brands. We are able to save customers money simply because we have eliminated the “middle men”, or distributors and sales representatives. https://perfectflystore.com/fly-rods-combos/
There are times you may encounter a lot of different insects hatching and other times when there are few to nothing hatching. There are a few insects that hatch during the Fall and Winter. Most of them take place during the Spring and Summer months of the year. Of course, this varies greatly with the section of the country you fish. It is a fact that many anglers don’t really know how to go about fishing hatches, or for that matter, what is important about them. This isn’t going into any detail, or any specific aquatic insects. It is intended to point out just a few basic tips about how to go about fishing the hatches. 1. Why Hatches Are Important When an aquatic insect hatches, it must come out of its hiding place – from underneath a rock, crevices between rocks, out of a grass or moss bed, or in some cases, a burrow. In order to hatch, meaning emerge into an adult insect, it must develop its wing pad and either accent to the surface, or crawl out of the water to emerger. It becomes directly exposed to the trout, or a sitting duck, you might say. The insects are very easy for the trout to acquire during the hatch. It may have to dry its wings in order to fly off the water. 2. What Flies Should You Have During Hatches? You should have flies that imitate all stages of life that trout eat of all the aquatic insects that may hatch while you are on the water. For mayflies, that includes nymphs, emergers, duns and spinners. For stoneflies, that includes nymphs and adults. For caddisflies, that includes larva, pupa and adults. For midges, that includes larva, pupa and adults. 3. When To Fish Nymphs or Dry Flies (Below water or on the surface) I’m often asked, when to fish a nymph, or larva, or dry fly during a hatch. It depends somewhat on the particular insect, but in general, you should fish a mayfly or stonefly nymph, or a caddisfly or midge larvae during the morning hours, and a dry fly to imitate the mayfly dun, adult stonefly, or adult caddis or midge, during the afternoons. Early in the season, most of them hatch during the warmest part of the day. During the mid to late afternoon, most mayfly spinners return to the water to mate, deposit eggs and die. Caddisflies and Stoneflies usually deposit their eggs from the middle to late in the day. 4. What Fly Should You Fish First? It depends on the time you start fishing, but always the one that imitates the most plentiful and available insect at the time. In the case of multiple hatches, and there is often more than one insect that may hatch the day you fish, and assuming you start in the morning, fish the nymph or larva of that insect, or in the case when other types of foods are plentiful and more available, such as terrestrial insects, crustaceans, or baitfish, fish imitations of that food. If you are not sure which food or insects are most available for a given stream and time, you can always email or call us at Perfect Fly, and we can help you. 5. Where Should You Fish The Stream? Some trout streams are ninety miles or longer. Most all are at least five to ten miles. Whatever insects are hatching at the time, rest assured they are not hatching in the same place on the stream. They are usually hatching only in a small section of a stream ranging from a few hundred yards to maybe as much as five miles. In cases where the elevation of the stream changes a lot, they usually start at the lowest elevation and move upstream each day, remaining in one section for only a very few days. 6. The Type of Water Is Also Important Different types of aquatic insects hatch in different types of water. Burrower, crawler, and swimming mayflies live and hatch in slow to moderate water. Clinger mayflies live and hatch in fast water. Stoneflies mostly all live and hatch in fast water. Caddisflies hatch in different types of water depending on the species. When you are fishing a stream and a certain insect is hatching, spend your time only in the type of water that insect lives and hatches in. There is much more you should know about hatches, but hopefully, these tips will help make your next trip more productive. Each of our Perfect Flies has a page of information under the info link on our website on how, when and where to fish them. If you are planning a trip and don’t know what insects are hatching at the time you will be fishing, send us an email, or call us and we will be glad to help you. email: sales@perfectflystore.comTel. 800 – 594 – 4726 website: www.perfectflystore.com
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.
Welcome to the new June 2014 Issue of the Perfect Fly Journal. When the subject of fishing comes up, the concerns of most anglers, especially those without a lot of experience, gets down to the subject of how, when and where to catch more fish. This issue contains three articles we think will be of help in that regard.
In order to understand why trout will take a particular fly at certain times and places and not take it at other times and places, you first must understand the basics of how the trout sees a fly and what triggers the trout into taking the fly or ignoring it. The same basic knowledge is necessary in order to understand why generic, attractor and impressionistic imitations work at certain times and places and don’t work at other times and places. The same is true of when, where and why specific imitations are more productive than generic or attractor flies. You cannot possibly understand it without knowing at least some of the basics of the trout’s senses and behavior. Keep in mind that this is about specific imitations (flies that imitate a specific insect at a specific stage of life) versus generic imitations (attractor or impressionistic flies that imitate a variety of insects or other trout food). It is not about one fly pattern versus another fly pattern.
Trout learn from birth to accept and reject various objects in the streams as food. They never eat something they don’t take for food. Even though they have very tiny brains and even by the stretch of one’s imagination are not smart, they can still learn by experience. They do not depend on intelligence as much as they rely on senses and instincts to eat.
Feeding Zones: Trout have the ability to hold in slow to moderate current without swimming or expending a great amount of energy. They manage to do this a lot like birds do when they are gliding in the wind without moving their wings. When they are feeding, trout find the areas where the current concentrates the insects. Anglers call these places drift lines. Trout will position themselves somewhere along these drift lines. There they will hold their position and stay focused on what is referred to as their “window of vision”. They must seek an area of the stream to hold in where the current is not strong. If they didn’t they would expend more energy than they could take in. Most often, they accomplish this by seeking a depth where the current is slowed down by obstructions upstream, usually rocks and boulders. Sometimes they are able to position themselves on the slow side of the drift line. The current in the drift line above or to the immediate side of the trout may be moving along rather fast but the trout is usually positioned in slow to moderately moving water where they can view objects that come into their window of vision. If that food is in the form of nymphs, larvae or pupae drifting underwater, then the distance at which the trout can view it depends on several factors. The underwater background, amount of available light, clarity and speed of the water are just a few of them. Normally, in very clear water with good light, they are able to detect the movement of objects that are within several feet of them. Objects on the surface are viewed entirely different.
Window of Vision: You may hear anglers say “the trout were not looking up today”. I assume they mean that as a figure of speech because trout are always looking up. Unlike humans, they see almost all the way around themselves. Also, unlike humans, trout can focus at extremely close ranges. They can focus on a fly that is only an inch or less from their eyes. However, at long ranges they cannot focus well enough to discern the details of objects in the water. Without going into unnecessary detail regarding the physics of light, lets look at some facts that affect the trout’s vision of your fly. The “window of vision” as it is called, is the area of water on the surface above a trout where they can clearly see objects. Trout can see objects on the surface that are directly above them. If the surface of the water is smooth or not rough, they can see objects directly above them that are above the water. However, there is a point above them at which their line of sight will not pass through the surface of the water. It is exactly 48.5 degrees from a point at which a vertical line extends from a trout’s eyes to the surface of the water. This means that they can see through the surface of the water in an area formed by a 97 degrees cone. This cone looks like an upside down snow cone cup with the point of the snow cone extending from the trout’s eyes up to the surface of the water. Using this analogy, if the circle of the cone (or top of the upside down snow cone) was even with the surface of the water, it would be referred to as the window of vision. The trout sees everything that is outside of that cone as a mirror image of the underwater surroundings. The deeper the trout, the larger the window of vision is at the surface of the water. If the trout is only a couple of inches deep, the window of vision is just over four and one-half inches in diameter. If the trout is two feet deep, then the diameter of the window of vision is just over four and one-half feet in diameter. In other words the trout can see objects at the surface of the water just over two and one-half feet in front of, two and one- half feet behind and two and one-half feet on either side of their position. A fly on the surface of the water passing over the trout can only be seen by the trout for a total distance of four and one-half feet or the diameter of its window of vision. This window of vision is caused by light refraction. Stick the tip of you fly rod down into the water at an angle. Notice the rod appears to bend at the point it penetrates the surface of the water. This optical effect is caused by the change in speed of light as it goes from one transparent medium to another or air to water. Sometimes trout will hold just a few inches under the surface where they can closely inspect their food and at the same time, expend only a small amount of energy eating. When they are only a few inches deep, the depth of focus only allows them to see objects that are within a few inches of them. In other words, when they are holding this shallow, their feeding lane is only a few inches wide. If a dry fly passes by several inches away, to their left or right, they may not even see it. On the other hand, if the trout is three or four feet deep, the depth of focus is much greater and it has a much larger feeding lane. Although trout can focus in almost every direction at once, they cannot focus on an object that is three feet from them the same way they can one that is inches away. When objects on the surface or beyond first appear in the window of vision or come in view on the outermost edge of the circular window, they appear much shorter and wider than they actually are. The more they approach the center of the window of vision, the more they appear like they should. Objects directly overhead appear exactly as they should. That means that the appearance of your fly is changing as it comes into the window of vision from being short and wide to actually looking like the real thing. Now don’t misunderstand this to mean that since the trout sees a distorted view of your fly when it enter the window, that its appearance of your fly is not important because they see the real insects on the surface in the exact same manner. They too appear short and wide near the perimeter of the circle. So it is still a fact that the more your fly looks like the real thing, the more the trout are likely to accept it for the real thing.
Surface Film: The cohesive forces between liquid molecules are responsible for the phenomenon known as surface tension. A surface “film” is formed which makes it more difficult to move an object through the surface than to move it when it is completely submersed. If an insect is perched on the surface film its six legs and/or other portions of its body may protrude through the film. The parts of the insect or fly that extends below the surface can be seen by the trout even when it is outside its window of vision. Seeing the legs of an insect or other parts of its body may alert the trout that something is coming into its window of vision. A midge may make such a sight indentation in the surface film that would be almost impossible to see outside the window simply because the parts penetrating the film are so tiny. A grasshopper’s legs and maybe even part of its body would be visible outside of the window from much farther away. I could go on and on explaining light refraction, Snell’s Law and just how it affects the trout’s vision of the fly but I would be getting away from some of the main points I want to make. When a trout sees an insect on the surface that has drifted into its window of vision, it determines whether or not to take the insect. If the trout attempts to take the insect, it moves its fins in such a way that allows the current to assist it in propelling its upward motion. It takes the insect in its mouth and then moves its fins in such a manner as to propel back down into its holding position.
Binocular and Peripheral Vision: When us humans look ahead, our field of vision allows us to see thing that are within a 176 degrees area called the “field of vision”. Our forward zone of binocular vision is 90 ninety degrees or forty-five degrees on either side of a line straight ahead. The portion of our vision that is outside of that 90 degrees zone of binocular vision represents the area of our peripheral vision. Our peripheral vision represents a total of 86 degrees or 43 degrees on each side of our binocular vision. To illustrate this, place your finger about two feet directly in front of your face and focus on it. Now continue to look directly forward and move your finger to your left until you cannot clearly see it in focus. You should be able to see it clearly until it is 45 degrees left or right of straight ahead. The area in which you are able to see it clearly is the area of your binocular vision. If you continue to move it left up to 15 more degrees you should still be able to see the finger but your cannot see it clearly or in focus. This area represents the area of your peripheral vision. Of course things work the same if you move your finger to the right. Trout have a much narrower width of binocular vision than humans. The trout’s binocular vision allows them to only focus on things that are within a total of 30 thirty degrees directly ahead or fifteen degrees on either side of a line directly forward of their eyes. However, they have a much larger field of vision than us humans. It is a total of 330 degrees or represents an area almost completely around them. Of that 330 degrees field of vision, their zone of peripheral vision represents 300 degrees of it or 150 degrees on either side of their narrow 30 degrees binocular zone. When they detect something with their peripheral vision, they must move their eyes towards the object in order to focus on it. There is only an area of 30 degrees directly behind a trout that is not visible to them. This narrow area is commonly referred to as their blind zone. The bottom line to this is that although trout can detect movement and contrast almost all the way around themselves they must look almost directly at an object, or align the object in their narrow 30 degrees field of binocular vision, in order to clearly see it. Binocular vision is necessary for the trout to see things in detail. It is necessary for a trout to feed. Peripheral vision is great for detecting movement and contrast but things within the trout’s peripheral vision cannot be seen in detail.
Light Effect: The amount of available light also has a huge effect on how a trout sees your fly. Their iris is not adjustable. It is fixed and cannot be enlarged or reduced. This means that they cannot control the amount of light that enters their eyes with the iris. Rods and cones allow them to adjust to various light intensities. Trout can detect color and very fine detail but bright sunlight can eliminate the color that enters their eyes. By the same token, under low light conditions such as when it is early in the morning, late in the day or at times when the sky is dark, they cannot see the colors of the fly and well as they can in a well lit situation. Light doesn’t penetrate very deep in water and the depth of your fly also affects how the trout sees the color of it. If the trout is deep in the water, flies that are floating on the surface will not be viewed in the their true colors. The trout must get closer to the fly in order to see it in true color. The bottom line to this is that under many different lighting conditions, they cannot see the fly very well at all. But the amount of light is not the only factor in how well a trout sees your fly. There is yet another, far more important factor, in how well the trout sees an insect or fly. It is the speed of the water and insects or flies that are drifting in it or floating on it.
Speed of the Water: Now lets discuss another, huge factor is how well a trout is able to see an insect or your fly – the speed of the water. In fast moving water with a broken surface, the trout must make a very quick decision as to whether to take or reject a fly. The speed of the water doesn’t just apply to flies drifting on the surface of the water. The same thing applies to a nymph or larva moving through the water. In fast moving water, the trout cannot take their time in deciding whether or not to take the fly. The speed of the water is the number one reason trout can be fooled by generic, impressionistic or attractor type flies. In fact, if the water in the current seam is moving fast enough and the trout are holding fairly close to it, they can often be fooled by a fly that doesn’t resemble much of anything they have ever seen before. Due to the factors I have mentioned above and the fast speed of the fly they don’t have much opportunity to examine anything. In smooth, slick water where the current is moving at a slow rate, the trout has plenty of time to make a very close inspection of your fly. For years I have said that you want a fish to see any artificial bait or lure just well enough to think it is a real creature but not well enough to determine that it isn’t. In other words, you want them to be able to just barely see it – just enough for them to think it is the real thing. The same thing is true of flies. It doesn’t matter if it is a twelve-inch long marlin lure, jumping in and out of a wave in offshore blue water; a crankbait passing by a bass in dingy water, or a fly passing by a trout in clear water. You want the fish to see the artificial imitation only well enough to fool it into thinking it is the real thing. The more the lure or fly looks and acts like the real thing, the longer you can allow the fish to examine it. In other words, the slower it can pass by the fish. Notice I said “acts” like because that is even more important than “looking like” whatever you are trying to imitate. A solid brass nymph cast to perfection exactly like the real thing won’t fool a trout very well. It’s abdomen, gills, legs and other body parts will not move and act like a nymph. When you are fishing for trout with flies, the faster the water is moving, the easier it is to fool them. When trout can only get a quick glimpse of the fly they are much easier to fool than they are when they have a lot of time to closely examine the fly. This is especially true when it passes by at close ranges where they can really focus on the details of it.
Smoky Mountain Streams: Now so far, when you are fishing the fast water freestone streams of the Smokies, everything sounds great and in favor of using generic, impressionistic and attractor flies. I have just explained in detail the main reasons trout can be fooled into taking attractor flies for real insects. The typical Smoky Mountain angler makes all of their presentations in the fast water of runs and riffles. The biggest decision made is whether to fish a dry fly on the surface or a nymph below the surface of the run or riffle. If they don’t get them on one or the other type of attractor or generic flies in the fast runs and riffles, they excuse their performance by declaring that fishing is poor. Poor success usually occurs when the trout are not feeding in the fast water of the runs and riffles.
Where Trout Feed When There Is No Hatch to Match: First of all and most importantly, trout do not always feed in the faster moving water. They often feed near the bottom in slow to moderately moving water. They sometimes feed in pools. When the water is fairly cold, they almost always feed in very slow moving water. In cold water, since most of the faster moving water in the freestone streams of the Smokies is near the surface, they choose to locate in the lower or bottom sections of the stream where the water is moving much slower to feed. Many anglers think they position themselves on or near the bottom to get warmer. Trout are cold blooded and do not seek warmer water for comfort. They seek the slower moving water to prevent spending more energy than they can take in from food in the cold water. Besides, the water temperature changes little if any with the depth of the streams. Larger brown trout do not feed on crawfish and sculphin in fast water. They eat them in slow to moderately moving water on the bottom either under low light conditions or from an ambush position. Terrestrial insects are eaten wherever they happen to fall in the water. More often than not, this is near the banks and often in slow moving water.
Where Trout Feed During Hatches: Where do the trout feed during aquatic insect hatches? For example, where do midges hatch and the trout feed on them? Answer: In the slow moving water such as eddies, calm pockets and the slow moving water of pools. Where do most mayflies hatch? Answer: Even the clingers that live in the fast water runs and riffles move to the slow moving water of calmer pockets and shallow water that is near banks and behind boulders to hatch. Just about all the crawlers and swimmers move to slow to moderately moving water to hatch. Where do the spinners fall? Answer: Usually in the riffles and runs where they hatched but they are eaten by trout in eddies, calm pockets and the slow water at the heads of pools where they collect. Where do the stoneflies hatch? Answer: They move out of their fast water habitat into slower, shallower water to hatch on the banks and rocks. Where do the caddisflies hatch? Answer: They just about always move to the slow to moderately flowing water for their pupae to emerge.
In other words, about everything that hatches does so in moderate to calm water. Often this slower moving water is very close to fast water. Often the calmer water is in pockets distributed throughout the stream within the fast water of the stream. Sometimes it is the ends of long runs where the water slows down. If the newly hatched insect stays on the water and doesn’t fly away quickly it will most likely be caught up in the fast currents. It depends on the species hatching. Some never get caught in the fast water. Examples are stonefly nymphs that all crawl out of the water in calmer areas. Slate Drake mayflies that crawl out of the stream in calm water to hatch. Blue Quill and Mahogany Dun mayflies almost always hatch in calm pockets along the banks and usually never get caught up in fast currents before they fly away. Many species of Blue-winged Olives, Little Blue-winged Olives, Small Eastern Blue-winged Olives and Eastern Blue-winged Olives are able to depart the water from calmer sections or moderately moving water before getting caught up in fast water. Some mayflies do usually get caught up in fast water before they are able to depart the water. Quill Gordons and March Browns hatch in calm pockets within the fast water areas of the stream but often get caught in the fast currents prior to departing the water. However, the facts are that most hatching aquatic insects and egg layers do not usually get caught up in the fast currents. When trout feed in the slow to moderately flowing sections of the streams; or eddies, pools, the ends of runs and riffles and calm pockets that are within the fast flowing freestone streams, they can examine the fly much closer. Given that opportunity, if the fly is not very imitative of the natural insect and if it is not presented in such a manner as to behave like the natural insect, the trout will usually reject the fly. As I just touched on, the problem isn’t just a matter of how well the imitation looks like the real thing. The way in which it is presented may be an even bigger problem. You have probably heard over and over that the presentation of the fly is more important than the fly itself. That is a very correct statement but it doesn’ t mean that the fly is not important. It just means that a perfect imitation is not effective unless it is presented to the trout in the same manner they view the real thing. The fly must drift and act like the real thing without the trout being able to become alerted or alarmed by a tippet, fly line or leader attached to it. Again, that is fairly easy to accomplish in fast moving water but again, that is not always where the trout are feeding. The presentation and the appearance of the fly become even more critical in slow or moderately moving water. When anglers concentrate only on the fast water of riffles and runs they are making a big mistake.
The Big Misconception: When there is no hatch occurring (which is 98% of the time) anglers tend to think they are better off using an attractor or generic imitation that imitates a variety of things. A fly that imitates no specific insect but rather a variety of them works best when environmental conditions (water temp, oxygen, stream levels, etc) are near perfect and lots of insects are readily available for the trout to eat. In other words when anyone that can cast a Royal Humphy twenty feet upstream in a run can catch trout. When you can hit them over the heads with the line and they still will eat the fly, a Royal Wulff works great. When there is little challenge in catching trout most anything made of feathers and hair with a hook in it will produce some good results. This big misconception came about because book after book about trout fishing lumped things into one of only two categories – selective feeding or opportunistic feeding. Most anglers think that trout are feeding either one way or the other. It is true that if trout are not feeding exclusively on one insect, they are categorized as feeding opportunistically, so by strict definition, I suppose they are. That is fine as far as categorizing them is concerned but it has little to do with what is really going on and it is of little information or use in catching trout.
For example, lets suppose that there are lots of Little Yellow Stonefly nymphs crawling to the banks to hatch. Don’t think the trout don’t know it. They view their underwater world 24 hours a day and they know and see exactly what is going on. Since these nymphs are crawling across the bottom to get to the banks, they are easy prey for the trout. Naturally, the trout will focus on feeding on the easy prey. If the trout are eating these nymphs migrating to the banks and a stray mayfly nymph happens to come along, the trout may or may not eat it. Most likely, if the trout does not have to go out of its way to do so, it may very well feed on the mayfly nymph. If it takes more effort than it does to catch another stonefly nymph crawling to the bank, it most likely won’t eat it. Lets suppose a trout did eat the mayfly nymph. By definition you would have to categorize the trout as feeding opportunistically. That is why marine fishery biologist classifies all trout as opportunistically feeders. It makes sense from a scientific standpoint but little sense from a practical standpoint of catching fish. A particular trout may be feeding selectively at the same time one a few feet away may be feeding opportunistically. One run or riffle may have several trout that are feeding selectively at the moment when another run or riffle a few yards upstream may not. Call it whatever you prefer to call it. Under these conditions, would you rather be fishing an imitation of a stonefly nymph or a mayfly nymph? I think most anglers would agree that your odds would be greater if you were fishing an imitation of a Little Yellow Stonefly nymph.
The Bottom Line: You are always better off using specific imitations ( a fly that imitates a specific insect at a specific stage of life) to imitate the behavior of the insects or other food the trout are most likely eating at the particular time and place. Unless a substantial hatch is underway, this would most likely be the food that is most plentiful and easiest for the trout to acquire.
Example One: Lets suppose it is the first day of March and nothing is hatching. Everyone knows that the Quill Gordons and Blue Quills will start to hatch any day. However, this particular day the water will only reach a high of about 48 degrees F. In other words, it is still a little too cold and maybe a little too early for the hatches to start. Under these conditions, the Quill Gordon clinger nymphs have already begin moving out of their fast water habitat of the runs and riffles into nearby slower moving water, mainly pockets behind large rocks and boulders. The little Blue Quill crawler nymphs have began to move from their moderate water habitat to slow moving water to hatch, usually along the edges of the stream in calm pockets of water. There are no mayflies hatching on the surface. The streams are full of nymphs and larvae because most everything is yet to hatch. That is most everything except the Little Black Caddisflies. They have formed their pupae and are hatching during the warmest part of the day, usually mid afternoon. Shortly thereafter the females will begin depositing their eggs over the same water they are still hatching from. Most anglers are either not fishing, fishing a generic nymph in the fast runs and riffles or fishing a dry fly Quill Gordon or Blue Quill imitation. Most are catching few trout and most are complaining that the water is still to cold for “good” fishing. If you were fishing this hypothetical day during the morning and up to the warmest part of the day, a good choice would be to fish an imitation of the Quill Gordon clinger nymph in the pockets behind boulders and large rocks. A flat nymph, hock size 14 heavily weighted would be a good choice. You would make short up and across presentations on the swing or “high stickin” presentations. Another option would be to fish an imitation of the small Blue Quill nymphs along the edges of the stream in slow to moderate water. A good choice would be a slim, narrow clinger nymph imitation, hook size 18. You would want a long leader and light 6X tippet. You would make longer than normal upstream cast into shallow water along the banks. You would make very careful approaches to keep from spooking the trout that may be holding in the nearby the shallow water. Later in the mid-afternoon, you would want to switch to an imitation of the Little Black Caddisfly pupae in the moderately flowing sections of the stream such as the ends of the long runs and tailouts of the pools. This would be a hook size 16 imitation of the Little Black Caddisfly pupa. You would present it up and across. Later in the afternoon, when you started seeing the caddis deposit their eggs you may want to switch to a dry fly imitation of the adult Little Black Caddis. A black Elk Hair Caddis, hook size 16 or 18, should work fine. Using the strategy I just outlined and fishing imitations of the specific aquatic insects I just mentioned would greatly increase you odds of catching trout this hypothetical March first day. In fact, this past early March (I am not certain of the exact day but under the same circumstances) Angie and I caught over twenty trout in Little River in less than three hours of fishing when everyone else we talked to caught few or none. The “fishing reports” all labeled things as “fair” with an “any day now” tag to it. All of the fish were taken within the first half-mile of water below the turn from the main road to the Elkmont Campground. We did exactly what I described above. We started fishing about 2:00 o’clock in the afternoon and fished our own “Perfect Fly” imitation of a Quill Gordon nymph. When we didn’t catch any fish, we changed to a Blue Quill nymph imitation (a Shane Stalcup swimming nymph pattern) and caught a couple of nice rainbows in very shallow water along the bank. When we noticed the Little Black Caddisflies were hatching (about 3:00 o’ clock) we changed to a caddisfly pupa imitation (Orvis model if I remember correctly) and caught most of the fish we caught during the next hour. About 4; 00 o’clock we changed to a plain black Elk Hair Caddis. During the next hour, we caught a few more trout. We stopped fishing about 5:00 o’clock, which is fairly early in the afternoon when the egg laying process was still underway. That is not the only time we have been able to accomplish this early in the early season leading into the Quill Gordon hatch. We have done that several times during the last three years using the same basic strategy. In most cases, we are able to catch trout on the Quill Gordon nymph just prior to the hatch. The Blue Quill nymph works great but is difficult to fish in shallow water edges of the stream. You will spook a lot of fish trying to make a good presentation along the banks under the trees. Again, the point is unless conditions are prime and multiple hatches are occurring, you are always better off using specific imitations of the most prevalent insects than you are using a generic or attractor flies. Attractor and generic imitations usually work fine as long as conditions are prime and there are multiple choices of food available for the trout to eat.
Summary: 1. The trout’s “window of vision” on the surface of the water is relatively small. Insects and flies pass through it quickly, especially in fast water. 2. While they can see movement and contrast most all the way around themselves, they only see objects clearly when they directly face the object to align it in their narrow area of binocular vision. 3. Attractor or generic flies usually work okay in fast water where the trout have little time to examine the fly, but trout don’t always feed in fast water. Day in and day out, most of the time, they feed in slow to moderate water. 4. Attractor or generic flies work best when environmental conditions (water temperature, oxygen content, water levels, etc.) are prime and multiple hatches are underway. Simply put, when hungry, aggressive trout have a lot of food to choose from. When it is easy to catch them. 5. Trout do not have to be feeding “selectively” to be focusing on or keying in on a particular insect. Most of the time they are feeding they are focusing on one or no more than a very few insects. Call it opportunistic feeding if you like. Regardless of how you label it, they are going to feed mostly on the insect or insects that are most abundant and easiest to acquire at the particular time and place. 6. You are always better off using specific imitations to imitate the behavior of the insects or other food the trout are most likely eating at the particular time and place. Unless a substantial hatch is underway (to repeat the most important point again) this would most likely be the food that is most plentiful and easiest for the trout to acquire.
Coming Up: In the forthcoming articles (as I have time to write them) I will give several other examples of how specific imitations of the most prevalent insects outperform the use of attractor or generic flies. I will use hypothetical scenarios and actual examples of success we have experienced during those times generic fly patterns failed other anglers fishing the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park – Top Two Streams
Yellowstone National Park – Top Two Streams
Fly Fishing Tailwater Streams
New Euro nymph/Hi-sticking flies
New Perfect Fly Euro/Nymph Fly Rod Series
New Perfect Fly Spey Fly Rod Series
Great Smoky Mountains National Park-Top Two Streams
You are probably wondering why we choose to list the top two streams instead of the top stream. That’s because about half of the park is in the state of North Carolina and half in the state of Tennessee. https://www.flyfishingsmokymountains.com/
Angie Marsh fishing Little River which is on the Tennessee Side of the park.
The Tennessee side of the park is blessed with several different streams that provide year-round fly fishing opportunities. Little River has both brown and rainbow trout in the middle and lower elevations and brook trout in the upper sections. We will label it the best one on the Tennessee side of the park but the choice is very debatable. There are other streams that provide very good fly fishing opportunities.
There are three prongs of Little River – the East Prong, West Prong and Middle Prong. They are really three entirely different streams that flow together near the entrance to the park near Townsend. We are referring to the East Prong which is the largest of the three prongs. Much of the stream is easily accessed from a paved road that closely follows the stream from its lower portion all the way past the Elkmont Campground; however, there are several miles of the stream above Elkmont accessed only by tail. There are several small tributary streams that provide more small stream fishing opportunity that flow into the upper segment of Little River above Elkmont Campground. The various sections of Little River can be easily accessed from Gatlinburg, Townsend and Cades Cove.
Hazel Creek which is on the North Carolina side of the park.
This is considered the best by many but that could be debatable. There are several very good ones. Probably the best advantage is the fact it isn’t easy to access; however, you can turn that around and say probably its biggest disadvantage is the effort it requires to access it. You have to either cross Fontana Lake or make a very long hike to get around it to get to Hazel Creek. It has a wide diversity of insect species and large supply of aquatic insects for the trout to eat.
Hazel has a good population of brown and rainbow trout with brook trout in its higher elevations. It has several tributary streams including Sugar Fork, Bone Valley, Walker Creek, and Proctor Creek. Hazel Creek is a popular stream for back packing and it has several remote campsite locations along its course.
Yellowstone National Park-Top Two Streams http://www.flyfishingyellowstonenationalpark.com/
You are probably wondering why we choose to list the top two streams instead of the top stream in Yellowstone National Park. That is because the park is very wide and depending on where you are staying, may take half the day just to reach a stream. The Firehole River and the Lamar River are on opposite sides of the park.
The Firehole River is one of the best as well as most unusual trout streams there is. Many would argue that the Madison River would be the top stream to fish on the Western Side of the park and it is a very good one but it’s limited inside the park boundaries with miles of very good water outside the park. The warm water from geysers provide a longer season that the pure freestone streams inside the park. It can get a little too warm during mid summer but even then, its uppermost reaches offer very good opportunity. It is usually the first stream anglers plan to fish on the opening day of a new season because the water is usually warm enough to provide good hatches and good dry fly fishing opportunity.
The Lamar River is my favorite stream in the Yellowstone National Park. It is in the upper eastern section of the park and one of the last streams in the park to get into a good condition to fish. Most of the trout are cutthroats but the other species of trout are also there. It is 44 miles long and the largest tributary to the Yellowstone River.
Fly Fishing Tailwater Streams
Two anglers fishing the West Branch of the Delaware in New York a few miles below Cannonville Dam
The West Branch is an excellent tailwater. Just in case you are very new to fly fishing, please be advised that tailwaters are streams that lie below man made dams. Many tailwater streams didn’t have any trout prior to construction of the dam but others did. Generally, if the stream was in a climate where the water temperature didn’t exceed the high sixties to the low seventies during the hottest summer months, there was usually a population of trout. Streams that had water that exceeded the high sixties to low seventies during the hottest summer months did not have a population of trout. In many, if not most of those cases, constructing a bottom release dam of substantial height, released water cold enough to support trout at least for all except the warmest months of the year. Many such dams released water cold enough to support trout year round. The ability of the tailwater stream to support trout greatly depends on how cold the water being released is, how often it is released and the volume of water that is being released. Almost all tailwater streams vary greatly in respect to how much, how often and how cold the being released is. Construction of the dams for flood control and electrical energy throughout the nation has resulted in tailwater streams that vary greatly in this respect. Some are capable of supporting trout year round and others for only the colder months of the year.
To understand why trout will take a particular fly at certain times and places and not take it at other times and places, you first must understand the basics of how the trout sees a fly and what triggers the trout into taking the fly or ignoring it. The same basic knowledge is necessary to understand why generic, attractor and impressionistic imitations work at certain times and places and don’t work at other times and places. The same is true of when, where and why specific imitations are more productive than generic or attractor flies. You cannot possibly understand it without knowing at least some of the basics of the trout’s senses and behavior. Keep in mind that this is about specific imitations (flies that imitate a specific insect at a specific stage of life) versus generic imitations (attractor or impressionistic flies that imitate a variety of insects or other trout food). It is not about any one fly pattern versus another fly pattern.
Trout learn from birth to accept and reject various objects in the streams as food. They never eat something they don’t take for food. Even though they have very tiny brains and even by the stretch of one’s imagination are not smart, they can still learn by experience. They do not depend on intelligence as much as they rely on senses and instincts to eat.
Feeding Zones: Trout can hold in slow to moderate current without swimming or expending a great amount of energy. They manage to do this a lot like birds do when they are gliding in the wind without moving their wings. When they are feeding, trout find the areas where the current concentrates the insects. Anglers call these places drift lines. Trout will position themselves somewhere along these drift lines. There they will hold their position and stay focused on what is referred to as their “window of vision”. They must seek an area of the stream to hold in where the current is not strong. If they didn’t, they would expend more energy than they could take in. Most often, they accomplish this by seeking a depth where the current is slowed down by obstructions upstream, usually rocks and boulders. Sometimes they can position themselves on the slow side of the drift line. The current in the drift line above or to the immediate side of the trout may be moving along rather fast, but the trout is usually positioned in slow to moderately moving water where they can view objects that come into their window of vision. If that food is in the form of nymphs, larvae or pupae drifting underwater, then the distance at which the trout can view it depends on several factors. The underwater background, amount of available light, clarity, and speed of the water are just a few of them. Normally, in very clear water with good light, they can detect the movement of objects that are within several feet of them. Objects on the surface are viewed entirely different.
Window of Vision: You may hear anglers say, “the trout were not looking up today”. I assume they mean that as a figure of speech because trout are always looking up. Unlike humans, they see almost all the way around themselves. Also, unlike humans, trout can focus at extremely close ranges. They can focus on a fly that is only an inch or less from their eyes. However, at long ranges they cannot focus well enough to discern the details of objects in the water. Without going into unnecessary detail regarding the physics of light, let’s look at some facts that affect the trout’s vision of your fly. The “window of vision” as it is called, is the area of water on the surface above a trout where they can clearly see objects. Trout can see objects on the surface that are directly above them. If the surface of the water is smooth or not rough, they can see objects directly above them that are above the water. However, there is a point above them at which their line of sight will not pass through the surface of the water. It is exactly 48.5 degrees from a point at which a vertical line extends from a trout’s eyes to the surface of the water. This means that they can see through the surface of the water in an area formed by a 97 degrees cone. This cone looks like an upside down snow cone cup with the point of the snow cone extending from the trout’s eyes up to the surface of the water. Using this analogy, if the circle of the cone (or top of the upside-down snow cone) was even with the surface of the water, it would be referred to as the window of vision. The trout sees everything that is outside of that cone as a mirror image of the underwater surroundings. The deeper the trout, the larger the window of vision is at the surface of the water. If the trout is only a couple of inches deep, the window of vision is just over four and one-half inches in diameter. If the trout is two feet deep, then the diameter of the window of vision is just over four and one-half feet in diameter. In other words the trout can see objects at the surface of the water just over two and one-half feet in front of, two and one- half feet behind and two and one-half feet on either side of their position. A fly on the surface of the water passing over the trout can only be seen by the trout for a total distance of four and one-half feet or the diameter of its window of vision. This window of vision is caused by light refraction. Stick the tip of you fly rod down into the water at an angle. Notice the rod appears to bend at the point it penetrates the surface of the water. This optical effect is caused by the change in speed of light as it goes from one transparent medium to another or air to water. Sometimes trout will hold just a few inches under the surface where they can closely inspect their food and at the same time, expend only a small amount of energy eating. When they are only a few inches deep, the depth of focus only allows them to see objects that are within a few inches of them. In other words, when they are holding this shallow, their feeding lane is only a few inches wide. If a dry fly passes by several inches away, to their left or right, they may not even see it. On the other hand, if the trout is three or four feet deep, the depth of focus is much greater, and it has a much larger feeding lane. Although trout can focus on almost every direction at once, they cannot focus on an object that is three feet from them the same way they can one that is inches away. When objects on the surface or beyond first appear in the window of vision or come in view on the outermost edge of the circular window, they appear much shorter and wider than they are. The more they approach the center of the window of vision, the more they appear like they should. Objects directly overhead appear exactly as they should. That means that the appearance of your fly is changing as it comes into the window of vision from being short and wide to actually looking like the real thing. Now don’t misunderstand this to mean that since the trout sees a distorted view of your fly when it enter the window, that its appearance of your fly is not important because they see the real insects on the surface in the exact same manner. They too appear short and wide near the perimeter of the circle. So, it is still a fact that the more your fly looks like the real thing, the more the trout are likely to accept it for the real thing.
Surface Film: The cohesive forces between liquid molecules are responsible for the phenomenon known as surface tension. A surface “film” is formed which makes it more difficult to move an object through the surface than to move it when it is completely submersed. If an insect is perched on the surface film its six legs and/or other portions of its body may protrude through the film. The parts of the insect or fly that extends below the surface can be seen by the trout even when it is outside its window of vision. Seeing the legs of an insect or other parts of its body may alert the trout that something is coming into its window of vision. A midge may make such a sight indentation in the surface film that would be almost impossible to see outside the window simply because the parts penetrating the film are so tiny. A grasshopper’s legs and maybe even part of its body would be visible outside of the window from much farther away. I could go on and on explaining light refraction, Snell’s Law and just how it affects the trout’s vision of the fly but I would be getting away from some of the main points I want to make. When a trout sees an insect on the surface that has drifted into its window of vision, it determines whether or not to take the insect. If the trout attempts to take the insect, it moves its fins in such a way that allows the current to assist it in propelling its upward motion. It takes the insect in its mouth and then moves its fins in such a manner as to propel back down into its holding position.
Binocular and Peripheral Vision: When us humans look ahead, our field of vision allows us to see thing that are within a 176 degrees area called the “field of vision”. Our forward zone of binocular vision is 90 ninety degrees or forty-five degrees on either side of a line straight ahead. The portion of our vision that is outside of that 90 degrees zone of binocular vision represents the area of our peripheral vision. Our peripheral vision represents a total of 86 degrees or 43 degrees on each side of our binocular vision. To illustrate this, place your finger about two feet directly in front of your face and focus on it. Now continue to look directly forward and move your finger to your left until you cannot clearly see it in focus. You should be able to see it clearly until it is 45 degrees left or right of straight ahead. The area in which you can see it clearly is the area of your binocular vision. If you continue to move it left up to 15 more degrees, you should still be able to see the finger but your cannot see it clearly or in focus. This area represents the area of your peripheral vision. Of course, things work the same if you move your finger to the right. Trout have a much narrower width of binocular vision than humans. The trout’s binocular vision allows them to only focus on things that are within a total of 30 thirty degrees directly ahead or fifteen degrees on either side of a line directly forward of their eyes. However, they have a much larger field of vision than us humans. It is a total of 330 degrees or represents an area almost completely around them. Of the 330 degrees field of vision, their zone of peripheral vision represents 300 degrees of it or 150 degrees on either side of their narrow 30 degrees binocular zone. When they detect something with their peripheral vision, they must move their eyes towards the object to focus on it. There is only an area of 30 degrees directly behind a trout that is not visible to them. This narrow area is commonly referred to as their blind zone. The bottom line to this is that although trout can detect movement and contrast almost all the way around themselves they must look almost directly at an object, or align the object in their narrow 30 degrees field of binocular vision, in order to clearly see it. Binocular vision is necessary for the trout to see things in detail. It is necessary for a trout to feed. Peripheral vision is great for detecting movement and contrast but things within the trout’s peripheral vision cannot be seen in detail.
Light Effect: The amount of available light also has a huge effect on how a trout sees your fly. Their iris is not adjustable. It is fixed and cannot be enlarged or reduced. This means that they cannot control the amount of light that enters their eyes with the iris. Rods and cones allow them to adjust to various light intensities. Trout can detect color and very fine detail, but bright sunlight can eliminate the color that enters their eyes. By the same token, under low light conditions such as when it is early in the morning, late in the day or at times when the sky is dark, they cannot see the colors of the fly and well as they can in a well lit situation. Light doesn’t penetrate very deep in water and the depth of your fly also affects how the trout sees the color of it. If the trout is deep in the water, flies that are floating on the surface will not be viewed in their true colors. The trout must get closer to the fly to see it in true color. The bottom line to this is that under many different lighting conditions, they cannot see the fly very well at all. But the amount of light is not the only factor in how well a trout sees your fly. There is yet another, far more important factor, in how well the trout sees an insect or fly. It is the speed of the water and insects or flies that are drifting in it or floating on it.
Speed of the Water: Now let’s discuss another, huge factor is how well a trout is able to see an insect or your fly – the speed of the water. In fast moving water with a broken surface, the trout must make a very quick decision as to whether to take or reject a fly. The speed of the water doesn’t just apply to flies drifting on the surface of the water. The same thing applies to a nymph or larva moving through the water. In fast moving water, the trout cannot take their time in deciding whether or not to take the fly. The speed of the water is the number one reason trout can be fooled by generic, impressionistic or attractor type flies. In fact, if the water in the current seam is moving fast enough and the trout are holding close to it, they can often be fooled by a fly that doesn’t resemble much of anything they have ever seen before. Due to the factors that I have mentioned above and the fast speed of the fly they don’t have much opportunity to examine anything. In smooth, slick water where the current is moving at a slow rate, the trout has plenty of time to make a very close inspection of your fly. For years I have said that you want a fish to see any artificial bait or lure just well enough to think it is a real creature, but not well enough to determine that it isn’t. In other words, you want them to be able to just barely see it – just enough for them to think it is the real thing. The same thing is true of flies. It doesn’t matter if it is a twelve-inch long marlin lure, jumping in and out of a wave in offshore blue water; a crankbait passing by a bass in dingy water, or a fly passing by a trout in clear water. You want the fish to see the artificial imitation only well enough to fool it into thinking it is the real thing. The more the lure or fly looks and acts like the real thing, the longer you can allow the fish to examine it. In other words, the slower it can pass by the fish. Notice I said “acts” like because that is even more important than “looking like” whatever you are trying to imitate. A solid brass nymph cast to perfection exactly like the real thing won’t fool a trout very well. It’s abdomen, gills, legs and other body parts will not move and act like a nymph. When you are fishing for trout with flies, the faster the water is moving, the easier it is to fool them. When trout can only get a quick glimpse of the fly, they are much easier to fool than they are when they have a lot of time to closely examine the fly. This is especially true when it passes by at close ranges where they can really focus on the details of it.
Fast Water Mountain Streams: Now so far, when you are fishing the fast water freestone streams, everything sounds great and in favor of using generic, impressionistic and attractor flies. I have just explained in detail the main reasons trout can be fooled into taking attractor flies for real insects. The typical small stream, fast water angler makes all of their presentations in the fast water of runs and riffles. The biggest decision made is whether to fish a dry fly on the surface or a nymph below the surface of the run or riffle. If they don’t get them on one or the other type of attractor or generic flies in the fast runs and riffles, they excuse their performance by declaring that fishing is poor. Poor success usually occurs when the trout are not feeding in the fast water of the runs and riffles.
Where Trout Feed When There Is No Hatch to Match: First, and most importantly, trout do not always feed in the faster moving water. They often feed near the bottom in slow to moderately moving water. They sometimes feed in pools. When the water is fairly cold, they almost always feed in very slow-moving water. In cold water, since most of the faster moving water in freestone is near the surface, they choose to locate in the lower or bottom sections of the stream where the water is moving much slower to feed. Many anglers think they position themselves on or near the bottom to get warmer. Trout are cold blooded and do not seek warmer water for comfort. They seek the slower moving water to prevent spending more energy than they can take in from food in the cold water. Besides, the water temperature changes little if any with the depth of the streams. Larger brown trout do not feed on crawfish and sculpin in fast water. They eat them in slow to moderately moving water on the bottom either under low light conditions or from an ambush position. Terrestrial insects are eaten wherever they happen to fall in the water. More often than not, this is near the banks and often in slow moving water.
Where Trout Feed During Hatches: Where do the trout feed during aquatic insect hatches? For example, where do midges hatch and the trout feed on them? Answer: In the slow-moving water such as eddies, calm pockets and the slow moving water of pools. Where do most mayflies hatch? Answer: Even the clingers that live in the fast water runs and riffles move to the slow moving water of calmer pockets and shallow water that is near banks and behind boulders to hatch. Just about all the crawlers and swimmers move to slow to moderately moving water to hatch. Where do the spinners fall? Answer: Usually in the riffles and runs where they hatched but they are eaten by trout in eddies, calm pockets and the slow water at the heads of pools where they collect. Where do the stoneflies hatch? Answer: They move out of their fast water habitat into slower, shallower water to hatch on the banks and rocks. Where do the caddisflies hatch? Answer: They just about always move to the slow to moderately flowing water for their pupae to emerge.
In other words, about everything that hatches does so in moderate to calm water. Often this slower moving water is very close to fast water. Often the calmer water is in pockets distributed throughout the stream within the fast water of the stream. Sometimes it is the ends of long runs where the water slows down. If the newly hatched insect stays on the water and doesn’t fly away quickly it will most likely be caught up in the fast currents. It depends on the species hatching. Some never get caught in the fast water. Examples are stonefly nymphs that all crawl out of the water in calmer areas. Slate Drake mayflies that crawl out of the stream in calm water to hatch. Blue Quill and Mahogany Dun mayflies almost always hatch in calm pockets along the banks and usually never get caught up in fast currents before they fly away. Many species of Blue-winged Olives are able to depart the water from calmer sections or moderately moving water before getting caught up in fast water. Some mayflies do usually get caught up in fast water before they are able to depart the water. Some mayflies hatch in calm pockets within the fast water areas of the stream but often get caught in the fast currents prior to departing the water. However, the facts are that most hatching aquatic insects and egg layers do not usually get caught up in the fast currents. When trout feed in the slow to moderately flowing sections of the streams; or eddies, pools, the ends of runs and riffles and calm pockets that are within the fast flowing freestone streams, they can examine the fly much closer. Given that opportunity, if the fly is not very imitative of the natural insect and if it is not presented in such a manner as to behave like the natural insect, the trout will usually reject the fly. As I just touched on, the problem isn’t just a matter of how well the imitation looks like the real thing. The way in which it is presented may be an even bigger problem. You have probably heard over and over that the presentation of the fly is more important than the fly itself. That is a very correct statement, but it doesn’t mean that the fly is not important. It just means that a perfect imitation is not effective unless it is presented to the trout in the same manner they view the real thing. The fly must drift and act like the real thing without the trout being able to become alerted or alarmed by a tippet, fly line or leader attached to it. Again, that is easy to accomplish in fast moving water but again, that is not always where the trout are feeding. The presentation and the appearance of the fly become even more critical in slow or moderately moving water. When anglers concentrate only on the fast water of riffles and runs, they are making a big mistake.
The Big Misconception: When there is no hatch occurring (which is much of the time) anglers tend to think they are better off using an attractor or generic imitation that imitates a variety of things. A fly that imitates no specific insect but rather a variety of them works best when environmental conditions (water temp, oxygen, stream levels, etc) are near perfect and lots of insects are readily available for the trout to eat. In other words when anyone that can cast a Royal Humpy twenty feet upstream in a run can catch trout. When you can hit them over the heads with the line and they still will eat the fly, a Royal Wulff works great. When there is little challenge in catching trout most anything made of feathers and hair with a hook in it will produce some good results. This big misconception came about because book after book about trout fishing lumped things into one of only two categories – selective feeding or opportunistic feeding. Most anglers think that trout are feeding either one way or the other. It is true that if trout are not feeding exclusively on one insect, they are categorized as feeding opportunistically, so by strict definition, I suppose they are. That is fine as far as categorizing them is concerned but it has little to do with what is really going on and it is of little information or use in catching trout.
For example, let’s suppose that there are lots of Little Yellow Stonefly nymphs crawling to the banks to hatch. Don’t think the trout don’t know it. They view their underwater world 24 hours a day and they know and see exactly what is going on. Since these nymphs are crawling across the bottom to get to the banks, they are easy prey for the trout. Naturally, the trout will focus on feeding on the easy prey. If the trout are eating these nymphs migrating to the banks and a stray mayfly nymph happens to come along, the trout may or may not eat it. Most likely, if the trout does not have to go out of its way to do so, it may very well feed on the mayfly nymph. If it takes more effort than it does to catch another stonefly nymph crawling to the bank, it most likely won’t eat it. Let’s suppose a trout did eat the mayfly nymph. You would have to categorize the trout as feeding opportunistically. That is why marine fishery biologist classifies all trout as opportunistically feeders. It makes sense from a scientific standpoint but little sense from a practical standpoint of catching fish. A trout may be feeding selectively at the same time one a few feet away may be feeding opportunistically. One run or riffle may have several trout that are feeding selectively at the moment when another run or riffle a few yards upstream may not. Call it whatever you prefer to call it. Under these conditions, would you rather be fishing an imitation of a stonefly nymph or a mayfly nymph? I think most anglers would agree that your odds would be greater if you were fishing an imitation of a Little Yellow Stonefly nymph.
The Bottom Line: You are always better off using specific imitations (a fly that imitates a specific insect at a specific stage of life) to imitate the behavior of the insects or other food the trout are most likely eating at the particular time and place. Unless a substantial hatch is underway, this would most likely be the food that is most plentiful and easiest for the trout to acquire.
Summary: 1. The trout’s “window of vision” on the surface of the water is relatively small. Insects and flies pass through it quickly, especially in fast water. 2. While they can see movement and contrast most all the way around themselves, they only see objects clearly when they directly face the object to align it in their narrow area of binocular vision. 3. Attractor or generic flies usually work okay in fast water where the trout have little time to examine the fly, but trout don’t always feed in fast water. Day in and day out, most of the time, they feed in slow to moderate water. 4. Attractor or generic flies work best when environmental conditions (water temperature, oxygen content, water levels, etc.) are prime and multiple hatches are underway. Simply put, when hungry, aggressive trout have a lot of food to choose from. When it is easy to catch them. 5. Trout do not have to be feeding “selectively” to be focusing on or keying in on a particular insect. Most of the time they are feeding they are focusing on one or no more than a very few insects. Call it opportunistic feeding if you like. Regardless of how you label it, they are going to feed mostly on the insect or insects that are most abundant and easiest to acquire at the time and place. 6. You are always better off using specific imitations to imitate the behavior of the insects or other food the trout are most likely eating at the time and place. Unless a substantial hatch is underway (to repeat the most important point again) this would most likely be the food that is most plentiful and easiest for the trout to acquire.
Hiding from the Trout If the 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. The above link to the same previous article 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 today, 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, let’s 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 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 their food comes to them in a downstream direction. Aquatic insects in a current seam is 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 small fast water freestone streams, 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. 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 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 glares 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. 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 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.
Let’s 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 to 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 trout from their rear, and pull it off without the spooking the trout. The effects of the blind spot to their rear became obvious.
I have tried moving up on trout in spring creeks about every way I could think off. I worked on a DVD on fly fishing spring creeks 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. 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 do 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 trout and what you cannot get away with. You must stalk trout to catch them. You do not blind cast because you can see everything in the water. In one scene I was moving closer and closer to a large trout casting all the time with the camera looking over my shoulder.
Silver Creek Idaho is 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 cannot 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.
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 – Wading
Wading can help you catch more trout in the small 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. 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, 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. 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.
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 must 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 your 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 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.
Tips on Fishing Hatches
Although there are a few insects that hatch during the Fall and Winter, most of them take place during the Spring and Summer months of the year. Of course, this varies greatly with the section of the country you fish. It is a fact that many anglers don’t really know how to go about fishing hatches, or for that matter, what is important about them. This article isn’t going into any detail, or any specific aquatic insects. It is intended to point out just a few basic tips about how to go about fishing the hatches. 1. Why Hatches Are Important When an aquatic insect hatches, it must come out of its hiding place – from underneath a rock, crevices between rocks, out of a grass or moss bed, or in some cases, a burrow. To hatch, meaning emerge into an adult insect, it must develop its wing pad and either accent to the surface, or crawl out of the water to emerge. It becomes directly exposed to the trout, or a sitting duck, you might say. The insects are very easy for the trout to acquire during the hatch. It may have to dry its wings to fly off the water. 2. What Flies Should You Have During Hatches? You should have flies that imitate all stages of life that trout eat of all the aquatic insects that may hatch while you are on the water. For mayflies, that includes nymphs, emergers, duns and spinners. For stoneflies, that includes nymphs and adults. For caddisflies, that includes larva, pupa, and adults. For midges, that includes larva, pupa, and adults. 3. When To Fish Nymphs or Dry Flies (Below water or on the surface) I’m often asked, when to fish a nymph, or larva, or dry fly during a hatch. It depends somewhat on the insect, but in general, you should fish a mayfly or stonefly nymph, or a caddisfly or midge larvae during the morning hours, and a dry fly to imitate the mayfly dun, adult stonefly, or adult caddis or midge, during the afternoons. Early in the season, most of them hatch during the warmest part of the day. During the mid to late afternoon, most mayfly spinners return to the water to mate, deposit eggs and die. Caddisflies and Stoneflies usually deposit their eggs from the middle to late in the day. 4. What Fly Should You Fish First? It depends on the time you start fishing, but always the one that imitates the most plentiful and available insect at the time. In the case of multiple hatches, and there is often more than one insect that may hatch the day you fish, and assuming you start in the morning, fish the nymph or larva of that insect, or in the case when other types of foods are plentiful and more available, such as terrestrial insects, crustaceans, or baitfish, fish imitations of that food. If you are not sure which food or insects are most available for a given stream and time, you can always email or call us at Perfect Fly, and we can help you. 5. Where Should You Fish the Stream? Some trout streams are ninety miles or longer. Most all are at least five to ten miles. Whatever insects are hatching at the time, rest assured they are not hatching in the same place on the stream. They are usually hatching only in a small section of a stream ranging from a few hundred yards to maybe as much as five miles. In cases where the elevation of the stream changes a lot, they usually start at the lowest elevation and move upstream each day, remaining in one section for only a very few days. 6. The Type of Water Is Also Important Different types of aquatic insects hatch in different types of water. Burrower, crawler, and swimming mayflies live and hatch in slow to moderate water. Clinger mayflies live and hatch in fast water. Stoneflies mostly all live and hatch in fast water. Caddisflies hatch in different types of water depending on the species. When you are fishing a stream and a certain insect is hatching, spend your time only in the type of water that insect lives and hatches in. There is much more you should know about hatches, but hopefully, these tips will help make your next trip more productive. Each of our Perfect Flies has a page of information under the info link on our website on how, when and where to fish them. If you are planning a trip and don’t know what insects are hatching at the time you will be fishing, send us an email, or call us and we will be glad to help you.
The more your fly resembles the appearance and behavior of the most plentiful and available food the trout are eating at the time you are fishing, the easier it will be for you to fool the trout into taking your fly for the real thing. You’ll probably read and hear that the presentation of the fly is far more important than the fly itself. It’s a talking point some anglers frequently use as a cover up for their lack
of knowledge about the aquatic insects in the streams of the Smoky Mountains. To say the presentation of a fly is more important than the fly itself is like saying the engines of an airplane are more important than its wings. When trout in are wild are stream-bred trout, it means they are not stocked trout that were raised in a hatchery on fish food pellets. One reason they survive as well as they do is they are extremely skillful at avoiding predators. The trout are as nervous as a long tail cat in a nursing home room full of rocking chairs. They survive their entire life by eating the food that’s in the streams they live in but only when their pea size brains signal, they are safe from being eaten by one of their own predators.
If you want to be successful in catching them, you better make certain your fly is the only thing they see. If they see you, your shiny fly reel, or even the shadow of your fly rod waving through the air, you can forget about catching them. Just the sight or sound of your fly line hitting the water is enough to send them fleeing for the nearest cover. Since the fly represents what the trout are trying to eat and since it’s the only thing the trout should be able to see to avoid spooking them before they are hooked, don’t you think it’s rather important? Furthermore, doesn’t it make sense the fly should resemble the same thing the trout are eating?
Get used to hearing that trout feed opportunistically, a tongue twisting statement often used by bug challenged anglers to lessen the importance of the fly. It is a true statement because it can be said that trout feed opportunistically, everywhere
they exist. In a technical sense, all fish are opportunistic feeders. That simply
means if it’s available, they may eat more than one single item of food. This
particular one word oversimplification of how trout feed can create big problems for those that misunderstand it. The fact trout feed opportunistically is often misinterpreted to mean the trout will eat whatever happens to come along and that the particular fly you use isn’t important.
Selective feeding is another little understood fly-fishing term that’s often interpreted to mean just the opposite of opportunistic feeding. Trout are said to be feeding selectively when it’s preferring one insect over another. In a purely technical sense, if a trout ate a hundred Little Yellow stonefly nymphs and just one Light Cahill mayfly nymph, it could be said the trout was feeding opportunistically. From the same technical standpoint, the trout would not be feeding entirely selectively because it ate more than one insect. If selective feeding is used in a more meaningful sense it would imply that even though trout may not focus entirely on one insect, the great majority of what they eat is always the one that’s most plentiful and easiest for them to acquire. If a trout is feeding near or on the surface in a certain area, feeding lane or zone of water, and both a Light Cahill dun and a Blue-winged Olive dun happened to be drift downstream, side-by-side within that zone, the trout may very well eat either one of the insects. If it could react quickly enough it may even eat both. It may not feed selectively in the sense it would choose one insect over the other. The problem with this hypothetical scenario is that it’s unrealistic. Such a scenario rarely exists. During the times trout are lined up in a particular lane, line or zone of water feeding on the surface in a fast water riffle or run, they are there because of a concentration of food. This food almost always consists of one and only one insect. It’s rare that two or more different aquatic insects are hatching at the same time and are getting caught up in the fast water current seams together.
For example, Light Cahills are clinger nymphs that prefer fast water and Blue-winged Olives are swimming nymphs that prefer slow to moderate flows. They neither live nor hatch in the same areas of the streams. They rarely get caught in the same currents and almost never at the same time. Even though much of the water in the high gradient streams is fast flowing water, less than a third of all aquatic insects that exist in such streams hatch in areas where they can easily get caught in the fast water. Most of them can emerge and fly away from slow or moderate areas of flow.
About a third of the aquatic insects, including some mayflies, several
caddisflies and all stoneflies, don’t hatch in the water. They crawl out on the banks to hatch. Trout focus on eating them when they crawl out of their normal hiding spots beneath the rocks to the banks. Those hatching insects that do get caught in fast water are almost always clinger mayflies. Although they move from their normal fast water habitat to the nearest slower flowing water to emerge, many get caught in the seams between the slow and fast water and channeled downstream in the fast water.This feeding zone, area or lane I’m referring to, whether it is in fast, moderate or slow areas of water, also relates to depth. It includes the surface and the column of water from the surface to the bottom as well as the bottom itself. Although you may envision various nymphs, larvae and other food drifting downstream at random, whether accidentally or in a behavioral drift, such a situation very rarely exists. Aquatic insect nymphs and larvae don’t survive drifting freely downstream. On numerous occasions, during the two years period we had a special permit to catch and photograph insects in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, we placed special designed aquatic insect drift nets in several different streams of the park for hours at a time only to discover an empty net. If you sit on the bank of a fast water stream in the Smokies staring into the water looking for insects drifting downstream, get ready to fall asleep before you spot the first one. Except during a hatch, there’s almost never enough free drifting nymphs, larvae, terrestrial insects, or any other form of food in the fast water at any one time to warrant trout holding in the faster currents to feed. When trout are feeding in certain areas, zones
or lanes, they are almost always feeding on one insect that’s hatching in
quantities sufficient to warrant the trout being there holding in the fast water
feeding on them. Anytime there’s lots of food drifting downstream in fast water current, you can bet you last dollar there’s a hatch underway. Trout won’t hold in fast current waiting on random bits of food to drift downstream. If they did, they will expend more energy than they could replenish. The exact location of whatever is most available and most plentiful for the trout to eat in a stream at any given time varies greatly. The different aquatic insects live, feed, hatch, mate and fall dead in different sections and depths of the streams depending on the species of aquatic insect. Even if the trout aren’t being one-hundred percent selective as to the food they are eating, they are certainly being selective as to exactly where in the stream they are looking for food. Selective feeding is nature’s way of letting the trout feed efficiently. This allows them to use less energy and take in more food. The trout are feeding in similar areas of the stream, focusing on eating what’s most plentiful and available for them to eat using a minimum amount of effort. It’s necessary for their survival. If trout expend more energy than the food they take in can replenish, they will soon die. Trout will only get into a certain fast water feeding zone, line or lane and hold there only when there’s a substantial amount of food coming their way. If there’s an adequate amount of food coming down the same feeding lane, the trout won’t move to another area of water or seek another depth to feed. Again, in such cases, it’s almost always one and only one insect.
Why do certain generic flies that mimic several insects of the same size and general shade of color sometimes work quite well in the fast water and why do attractor flies that don’t necessarily match anything often work in the fast water? For example, trout will sometimes take a gray body Parachute Adams dry fly when yellow Light Cahills are hatching. The answer lies in timing. First of all, a trout has only a fraction of a second to examine a fly in fast water. Secondly, the trout has only a small window of vision when it is feeding near the surface. The trout is only able to see a distorted image of part of the fly that’s above the surface and only for a split second. Even then you will often see flashes where trout detect something that’s unnatural and rejected the fly at the last split second.
Even when an insect is hatching and becoming caught up in the fast water runs and riffles and trout are feeding on them, which had you rather have tied on – a fly that imitated the hatching insect, or one that imitated something that wasn’t even present? Or had you rather have a generic fly that imitates a little of everything as opposed to a fly that’s imitating the insect that’s hatching. Even in fast water situations such as I just described, you will find better, more realistic imitations of the naturals results in a higher percentage of hookups.
What about those other two-thirds of the insects that either emerge or crawl out of the water to hatch from the slow to moderate sections of the pocket water streams? In those cases the trout are able to get a very good look at your fly. In those situations, I think you will find that an imitation that closely resembles the appearance and behavior of the natural will greatly increase your odds of success.
Please don’t refer to this solely as “matching the hatch”. It involves much more than that. It’s also matching the 99.9 percent of the aquatic life in the streams that hasn‘t yet hatched. It should also mean “matching the egg layers”. It should even include “matching the dead”, or the mayfly spinners and other aquatic and terrestrial insects that fall into the streams and die. Don’t forget the other trout foods. Call that “matching the sculpin and minnows” if you like. Instead of improperly calling everything “matching the hatch“, just call it “matching the naturals“. Even better, just think of it as matching the food the trout eat with a fly that closely resembles that particular food‘s appearance and behavior. Don’t think I’m attempting to undermine the importance of presentation, or that I’m even contending that the fly is more important than the way it’s presented. That’s not my intension at all but do keep this in mind. The first and foremost important key to presentation is knowing “where” in the streams the insects live and hatch. Remember, although the trout may not be feeding selectively, eating one and only one insect, they are always selective in exactly where they feed. They feed where the insects are most plentiful and easiest to acquire and that often isn’t in the fast water where the trout are easier to fool.
If you’re not satisfied with mediocre success, or you do okay and you want to improve to the point you will be able to consistently catch trout, I suggest you start by learning all you can about the food they eat to survive on. If you have been fishing using the traditional generic and attractor flies like the Royal Wulff, Parachute Adams, Hares Ear nymphs and other generic and attractor flies, and you’re not achieving the all the success that you desire, you certainly should consider switching to more realistic imitations of the insects and other foods the trout eat.
Our hottest selling product: Flies and Stream – Species Fly Selections
We have our own line of products for fly fishing including our own fly patterns as well as our own line of fly rods, fly reels, fly lines, leaders and tippets, vest and packs, and many other fly fishing items, but our number one selling products are our fly selections for different streams and locations throughout the nation and/or different species of fish. The selections can cover a specific time interval, season or complete year. The selections can match any dollar budget amount you desire or our standard good, better, or best selections. There are specific fly selections for certain species of fish such as Great Lake Steelhead, for example.
Tips on Fishing Tailwaters During Late Winter-Early Spring Months
Why Use Perfect Flies
Aquatic Insects – Imitating Black Flies
Perfect Fly Selections
Euro/Czech Style Nymph Fishing
A recently popular fly fishing method but one that has been around for years and one that goes by many different names is most recently called Euro or sometimes Czech nymphing. In recent years, it has become popular enough that rod manufacturers are selling Euro Nymphing Fly Rods. There are Euro nymph leader and special rigging and even Euro nymphs.
The entire concept is nothing more than making short presentations using a tight-line fishing method often using a section of colored line called a sighter, weighted nymphs and means of which suspends your flies off the bottom and putting you into direct contact improving strike detection. Typically, one uses a long, very light and sensitive 2 to 4 weight fly rod with two or more flies spaced several inches apart. I’m not trying to be funny, but from a presentation standpoint, it is very similar to fishing with a cane pole.
Many trout anglers use a method of presenting flies to trout they call high stick nymphing which is the same technique. I have used the high-stick method for several years now, but like most other anglers I know, place the flies directly on the tippet as opposed to using short dropper tippets off the main tippet. The method allows one to present the flies in a precise area quickly as opposed to making an overhand or roll cast and allowing the flies to drift with the current and/or be retrieved to the targeted area one thinks fish are holding. An angler can get a fly in a certain target zone or area quickly, which results in covering more places or targeted areas in less time.
Years ago, when I was fishing the BASS pro circuit, Dave Gliebe, a California angler, became highly recognized for a method he called Flippin. It was simply a method of presenting bass lures vertically. The cast is made by presenting the lure with an underhanded swing cast whereas the lure is dropped vertically at a precise point. For example, when bass are holding underneath a log or lily pads, one can present a lure in a vertical manner precisely and quickly thereby covering more target zones in less time. It was and still is a very effective method. When the technique caught on, special longer and somewhat stiffer rods were designed and built to make “flipping” easier. The method was used by another California bass angler named Gary Kline, a very successful angler I have had the opportunity to fish with twice during major BASS tournament including one he won on Lake Powell Arizona. The flipping method quickly became popular and is still used today by many bass anglers.
Most rigs include a section of line called a sighter. A Sighter is a section of high visible line, usually made of monofilament, that is tied between a short section of leader or sometimes directly to the fly line, and 3 to 5 feet of tippet. It makes it much easier to control the depth of the flies because you can see exactly how much line is below the sighter. For example, you may fish with the sighter only inches above the water or with it a foot or two above the water based on the depth of the water you are fishing. Nymphs can’t swim so they are always on or very near the bottom and you should keep your bottom fly very near the bottom. The overall length of the leader and tippet should be about the same length as the rod you are using. Normally, rods from ten to twelve feet long are used that range in sizes from a 2 weight to a 4 weight.
We will soon be selling our own brand of Euro/Czech, High-sticking fly rods in 3 and 4 weights at a length of 10 feet 6 inches to 11 feet. We will also soon be selling our own brand of rigging for Euro/Czeck style leaders and tippets. We will have these items in stock by this Spring. Like all of our own brand products, they will be of high quality at much better prices than other similar product because we won’t have any middlemen to increase the cost to our customers.
Euro style nymphs all have weighted head and none of the generic patterns I have seen look much like real mayfly nymphs. Real nymphs don’t have bead heads and the different species of them look as different and in many cases more different from each other than mayfly duns. I like the concept of what many call Euro or Czech nymphing which is practically the same as high sticking with tandem rigged nymphs. It can be very effective. But there is yet another problem with the Euro stye nymphs. They have fixed weights and in deep water they can be slow sinking. Depending on the current, slack or strong, they may or may not have the right amount of weight to drift behind the tippet as intended. In slack water, they may not get separated from the tippet and you would have two tippets hanging almost together. In fast deeper water, they would string out but may not have near enough weight to sink. The system works much better where you add the right amount of weight using slit shot, leaded or non-leaded types. That allows you to adjust the flies to the depth and speed of the water.
We will soon be selling generic Euro style nymphs just for those who insist but I won’t recommend them over our Perfect Fly nymphs which look like the real things and are named after the real things. Also, I prefer to use a mayfly emerger, or a caddisfly or midge pupa fly for the upper flies. Nymphs stay on or very near the bottom. They can’t swim.
Tips on Fishing Tailwaters During Late Winter-Early Spring Months
Tailwaters, the types that releases water from the bottom of a lake, offer a big advantage to anglers during very cold weather. They offer warmer water to fish. If the lake is deep enough to have a thermocline, the temperature of the water released from a bottom discharge average about 39 degrees F., regardless of the air temperature. If the air temperature is much lower than 39 degrees F., the water will gradually get colder the further you are fishing downstream of the discharge. Of course, if it is much warmer than 39 degrees F., the water will gradually get warmer the further downstream you fish. My tip is, if the air temperature is below forty degrees, fish the upper part of the tailwater the near the dam the better. The water will usually be warmer.
Always, the big factor in fly fishing tailwaters to consider the strength and amount of the discharges from the dam. It can vary from too strong and high to wade to too low and slow to drift. Tailwater almost always require one to check on the amount of the discharges at the time they plan on fishing the stream. In many cases the company or government authority controlling the releases from the dam provides very good information as the times and amount of water being discharged which determines the depth of water and in other cases except from first hand reports from others, good information isn’t available. You need to learn or know the best discharge rates and water depths for both wading and floating the river including the points at which the stream is too low or too high to fish for wading and/or drifting.
Another difference in freestone streams and tailwaters is hatches may vary according to the section of water due to the varying temperatures of the discharges due to different distances from the discharge. In warm weather, the water at the discharges near the dam is always colder than the water gets a good distance below the dam. In cold weather, just the opposite can be the case. The water can be colder the further you fish downstream from the discharges. This may result in the need to fish different flies to imitate different insects, depending on your location in a tailwater.
During the winter months, you can just about always count on midges being one of the main foods you will need to imitate. Midges have three stages of life-the larvae, pupae and adults and you need to be able to imitate each stage. One reason they are so important is the fact there is usually a lot less food for the trout to eat during the winter months. We usually recommend fishing the larva and pupa imitations rigged in tandem with the pupa fly about 16 to 20 inches above the larva fly. The reason is that the midge pupa is the stage of life that accents from the bottom to the surface of the water.
Other important foods you should be able to imitate in many if not most tailwaters during the winter months are leeches, sculpin, various baitfish, aquatic worms, black flies, winter stoneflies, and blue-winged olive mayflies. There are many others depending on the particular tailwater.
Why Use “Perfect Flies”
The short and simple answer is you will catch more fish, but we realize that is a big, bold, and blunt statement. It’s also one that deserves far more justification. A much better short and simple answer is Perfect Flies resemble the real foods fish eat much better than any other flies on the market; however, that statement also deserves more justification.
First, consider what I think is a plain and simple fact about artificial fishing flies. The more a fly looks and behaves like the food the fish are eating at the time and place one is fishing, the higher their odds of success. Perfect Flies meet those criteria better than any commercially available trout flies. Once knowledgeable fly anglers have closely examined and preferably used Perfect Flies, they rarely if ever, disagree with that statement.
Let’s closely examine what I just called a simple fact about artificial fishing flies. I repeat, the more a fly looks and behaves like the food the fish are eating at the time and place one is fishing, the higher their odds of success. Fish see both an artificial fly and the real foods they imitate under an infinitesimal number of lighting and background situations. To make that simple, fish see both flies and the real foods they imitate very poorly or very well, depending on many things such as the distance the fish is from the fly or real food, the background (bottom, bank, weeds, sky, etc.), the speed of the fly or real food; the speed of the water; the color of the water; and many other factors. In simple terms, they get something between a good look at the fly or real food, or a quick, poor glimpse of it. It is possible for a fish to try to eat that fly or real food item under any of those possible variations. This results in anglers being able to catch fish using flies that doesn’t look much like any of the natural foods in the water it lives in at times. It also results in an angler not being able to fool a fish with a fly that doesn’t closely resemble the natural food it is feeding on. In other words, an angler may be successful in catching a fish under either of these two conditions. It simply becomes a matter of how often and how many fish can be fooled with the fly, or an angler’s odds of success. It doesn’t take a Rhodes Scholar or a Las Vegas bookie to determine which situation would have the highest odds of success.
I had known from years of fishing experience for many different species of fish in many parts of the world the way you catch any fish from a panfish to a marlin is to first determine what is the most plentiful and available food the fish were feeding on and then to either use that food for bait, alive or dead, or to use an artificial imitation of it. I’ll admit that process became more complicated when I started fly fishing exclusively and especially for trout due to the large number and types of food the fish rely on for survival. Quite frankly, that just made it more challenging and interesting for me.
I had produced videos on fishing for several years, including many on the subject of saltwater fishing that have sold more than any others world-wide. I thought I could accomplish the same thing fly fishing for trout. Later, I discovered there were many more problems with doing that than I anticipated. Angie and I quickly became frustrated in attempting to produce instructional videos on trout fishing when attempting to show close-up video of the real foods in the water in streams throughout the nation and how to match those foods with flies. We discovered that we couldn’t find flies on the market at the time that closely resembled most of the real foods and insects that trout feed on. Out of the hundreds of flies we purchased from different sources across the nation, very few actually looked like the real things they were supposed to imitate. Many of them didn’t even acknowledge what they were designed and tied to imitate. Many of them were called “pretty flies” that were never even intended to imitate any natural food fish eat. Yet another problem was that most of the flies on the market then and now are dry flies that are supposed to imitate adult stages of life of insects, even though most of the food fish eat are eaten below the surface of the water. We finally gave up on producing most of the programs we set out to produce because we couldn’t show video or pictures of flies that came close to imitating most the real foods that we were acquiring video and photos of from streams across the nation.
We realized that we had acquired video and photos of the real foods nationwide and that one way to solve the problem was simply a matter of getting good fly tiers to come up with patterns that closely matched those pictures and video. As you may expect, that too became a big problem that took a few years, but one we eventually solved that eventually resulted in what we called Perfect Flies.
If you haven’t used Perfect Flies, please check them out. We also sell the generic patterns, but we do not recommend them over our patterns, not because they are our patterns but rather because they are much better imitations of the real foods fish eat. By the way, they are named after the real foods they imitate as opposed to many generic patterns the names of which do not even indicate what they are supposed to imitate.
The common two-winged biting black fly is not generally recognized as an important trout food but that shouldn’t be the case. They can be very important in many trout streams, especially some tailwaters. Black Flies are true flies of the Simuliidae family. In some cases where scientific studies have been made, the black fly turned out to be the major source of food for trout. Of course, that isn’t commonly the case, but it is common for many trout streams to have good populations of the insect and wherever that is the case, they rightly should be considered important. We developed and sell Perfect Fly imitations of the Black fly larva, pupa, and adult stages of life.
We acquired samples of the real things from the South Holston River in northeastern Tennessee, a very good tailwater trout stream. We and many of our customers have used them successfully throughout various trout streams from coast to coast. Black fly larvae live in colonies, sticking to rocks in riffles. They filter plankton from the water. Colonies can be found in very fast water.
The naturals are small. We offer imitations in hook sizes 18 and 20. Black flies are also called buffalo gnats, turkey gnats and many other names. The larvae of the black flies require a lot of oxygen, and you will only find them in trout streams with faster moving water. They can’t survive in warmer water or polluted waters.
We have many different Fly Selections that help anglers determine what to use at various locations and times of the year.
Custom Fly Selections: Our most popular type of fly selections are our custom selections that anglers can acquire for specific stream locations and times. They can be purchased for a short or a long trip to any of hundreds of trout streams within the United States at any time of the season. This type of selection allows one the opportunity to set a budget he or she is comfortable with, or to choose what we call our Good, Better, or Best selections. They can select to get flies only, or to have them come with a suitable fly box. We will put the flies in the box and provide a map or plan of the box to indicate the name of the fly, or if one chooses to use their own fly box, we label the flies so one knows the names of the flies. If requested by the customer, we will make notes as to what time of the day and any specific conditions to fish each of the different patterns. The names of all Perfect Flies identify the food or aquatic insect and the stage of life that the fly imitates.
Year-round Fly Selections for various sections of the United States: The selections are as follows:
Central Rock Mountain Streams of Colorado, Utah and Nevada
Mid-Atlantic Streams of Kentucky, Ohio, Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia
Mid-West and Great Lake Streams of Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, and Wisconsin
New England Streams of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont
Northeastern Streams of New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Pennsylvania
California Streams
Pacific Northwestern Streams of Oregon, and Washington
Southeastern Streams of Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina and Tennessee
Southern Rocky Mountain Streams of Arizona, and New Mexico and
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Yellowstone National Park
Specific Types of Fly Selections: These are for selections of certain types of flies for various species of fish.
Angie Marsh fishing Little River which is on the Tennessee Side of the park. 
Hazel Creek which is on the North Carolina side of the park. 
The Firehole River is one of the best as well as most unusual trout streams there is. Many would argue that the Madison River would be the top stream to fish on the Western Side of the park and it is a very good one but it’s limited inside the park boundaries with miles of very good water outside the park. The warm water from geysers provide a longer season that the pure freestone streams inside the park. It can get a little too warm during mid summer but even then, its uppermost reaches offer very good opportunity. It is usually the first stream anglers plan to fish on the opening day of a new season because the water is usually warm enough to provide good hatches and good dry fly fishing opportunity. 
The Lamar River is my favorite stream in the Yellowstone National Park. It is in the upper eastern section of the park and one of the last streams in the park to get into a good condition to fish. Most of the trout are cutthroats but the other species of trout are also there. It is 44 miles long and the largest tributary to the Yellowstone River. 
