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Author Topic: Mental Approach  (Read 2486 times)

Trevor

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Mental Approach
« on: Mar 18, 2004, 08:07 AM »
Hey all, here is an article I wrote a couple years back.   I hope it might serve to provide some of the guys who are newer to the sport with some insight into how to successfully approach the game...

MENTAL APPROACH

  Want to chase trout?  Here is your chance to apply all that biology stuff you thought was useless in high school.  Obviously trout need to eat to survive, so to be consistently successful a basic understanding of the food forms that make up the trout's diet is a definite asset.  Sure you can still catch trout with standard attractor patterns without ever taking consideration of what the fish may be eating, but guaranteed you'll have many more fishless days than the person who takes the time to learn about the aquatic insects, crustations and other critters that inhabit the waters you fish.

    I once approached lakes and streams for trout with the old attitude "if they ain't bitin, they ain't bitin".   I had a few patterns and methods that had done me well in the past, so I stuck to them religiously.  I had lots of good days, but probably more uneventful ones.  I also stuck to the lakes that seemed to produce easily and tended to avoid the ones that presented too much of a challenge.  I scoffed at other flyfisher's theories as I fancied myself an expert.

    I began flyfishing at age four for Atlantic salmon on the Miramichi river in New Brunswick, Canada.  It is rare to ever fish an imitative pattern for Atlantic salmon.  Colorful, gaudy, flashy patterns are what is most often used, as you are trying to "aggravate" the fish into striking, as opposed to attempting to "entice" it into mistaking your presentation for food and eating it, which is the case with trout.  It is claimed an Atlantic salmon heading upstream to spawn, does not feed until after it has spawned and begun it's journey back to sea(Atlantics don't die after spawning).   There are only a handful of methods required to be sucessful when flyfishing Atlantic salmon.  Ninety-nine percent of the time you'll fish a wet fly on the down stream swing allowing the current to impart the movement on the fly.  During extreme low water conditions salmon anglers will often fish a bushy dry to try and tempt reluctant fish.  However the method used is simular to how a trout angler might present a caddis or travelling sedge pattern.  The angler casts his line across stream slightly above the fishes lie.  As the slack comes out of the line a downstream belly forms applying drag to the fly and skating it across the surface and over the unsuspecting salmon.  No upstream mend is required.  Pretty simple eh?

    At certain times of the year the opportunity to fish sea-run brookies would present itself.   Catching these fish was sort of a bonus that usually came incidentally  while fishing Atlantic salmon, and often were caught on bucktails fished on the downstream swing(very little skill required, just get the fly out there).   This was usually in spring during high water periods.   Later in the year as water levels dropped and temperatures increased, brookies would often hold in the main river near areas where cold springs or brooks emtpied in.  These fish could be easily caught on dries,  all you needed was any bushy attractor pattern.  I would also walk small creeks, picking up the odd eight inch brookie on a Royal Wulff or Brown Bug.   Once in a while I would stumble upon a beaver dam containing slightly larger fish.  This was pretty much the extent of my trout fishing experience for the first  18 or so years of my life.  So when I finally moved out west in my early twenties, not only did I have to learn a whole new ball game, I had to unlearn years of habits and flyfishing ideals.  This was the hardest part, realizing I didn't know it all, and regardless of how well my methods worked in the east, in order to be successful here I needed to learn to adapt to my surroundings. 

    So this is what I did, I threw almost everything I knew out the window and taught myself to always approach the game with an open mind.  I now accept the fact that I can always learn more, and I try to draw from other angler's experience.  Whereas before I could fish the same fly at the same depth for hours without success just because it had produced the previous day, I now constantly change my presentation until I find what works.  It really isn't that difficult, as all you're really working with are the depth at which you fish, the speed and type of retrieve, and the fly type.  To some the choices may seem overwhelming, and they can be, even for the experienced fisherman.  However having at least a basic understanding of what the trout are eating can narrow down some of the choices.  For example, you arrive at a lake.  After having been there for several minutes you have not yet spotted a single rise, obviously a dry fly can be eliminated from the equation, although I have taken fish on a dry when nothing was showing, so this may not always hold true.  The point is, the more you know about trout and what they eat, the more guesswork you eliminate.  Rather than trial and error you will begin to make decisions based on observations.  This is when the sport begins to open up new avenues, and offers challenges you never knew existed.  Suddenly all that biology stuff you learned becomes useful, maybe even fun...

    You'll know you're hooked when suddenly you're boring your wife with details of the life cycle of a Chironimid or Dragonfly.  I don't think it's crucial you learn every scientific name of each insect, or how many hairs are on it's butt.  But if you are able to identify the main families of aquatic insects, their feeding habits, their prefered habitat, and their behavior, then you're on you're way to being a more successful flyfisherman.

    I remember one late August day a couple years back.  A buddy and I
were out in our float tubes at a nearby rainbow lake.  It was mid afternoon and there was the odd trout breaking the surface.  I Was fishing a bead head wooly bugger, as I had confidence in it as a searching pattern.  I was hooking a trout every twenty minutes or so.  My partner was doing as well.  I thought the action could be faster.   I knew the trout were probably keyed to something.  There were insects in the air, which at first I assumed to be caddis.  I gave up the wooly bugger and tied on a Goddard Caddis.  I began hooking trout more frequently.  Probably every three or four casts.  My buddy tied on a Quill winged caddis and increased his catch ratio as well.  The trout were smacking the fly very aggressively almost as soon as it hit the water.  Which is typical of trout feeding on adult caddis.   There was a fellow out in a boat nearby who's curiosity got the better of him as he watched us hooking into fish.  He had been on the water about two hours and had two small trout in the boat.  He was switching back and forth from fly to spinning tackle.  When he used the fly rod he would troll a Doc Spratley around the deepest part of the lake.  I suggested he give a caddis imitation a try.  He was reluctant to do so because his now failing Doc Spratley was "catchin like crazy" the previous day.  That's when my attention turned to an adult caddis that had just crash landed on the water beside my tube.  Suddenly it folded it's wings and made a determined dive toward the bottom of the lake with bold strokes of it's oars.  "Holy crap!!!" I yelled to my partner.  "They're backswimmers!!!!!!" Suddenly it was all so clear.  Although it was only August and the backswimmer flights didn't usually occur until about mid September in these parts, it was happening, the hatch was on!!!  My Goddard Caddis had worked because it resembles a backswimmer when it first hits the water.  We tied on backswimmer patterns and flippered our way over to the edge of the reeds.  We positioned ourselves with our backs to the lake and began casting into open spots in the reeds.  We retrieved our flies with short, quick, snaps of the wrists, doing our best to imitate the naturals.   For two hours we literally enjoyed viscious strikes on every cast.  It was absolutely awesome.   The evening air was filled with laughter as trout relentlessly attacked our flies.  Through it all the other fisherman trolled the deep water with a Doc Spratley...fishless.   I could relate to the other guy, having been that way myself such a short time ago.  A lot of guys may have even been content after realizing the caddis was doing the trick, but it was our willingness that day to adapt our methods that led to our success.  I can't stress enough how important this openmindness is to the flyfisher. 

    "If they ain't bitin, they ain't bitin" is no longer in my vocabulary.  I now prefer to fish the more challenging waters.  Always bearing in mind that fish have to eat. Albeit true that fish are more active at certain times, it is my belief that a trout will never refuse a meal that is properly presented.  I don't believe there is a fish that can't be caught, you just need to find what works.  I think "if they ain't bitin, they ain't bitin" is just a translation for "I give up", or  "I just can't figure it out", or "I'm lazy and want to go home".  It's this mental approach to flyfishing for trout that has allowed me to enjoy success on the water.

Trevor



Flyinfortrout

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Re: Mental Approach
« Reply #1 on: Jan 12, 2011, 03:40 PM »
thanks for that ive started for a year and that totally changes my thinking for catching fish!!!!!!!

 



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