Reviewing the Basics – Flies
Often times fly fishing anglers will make the comment that it is not the particular fly that is important but rather it is the presentation that is important and it is true that if the fly is not presented correctly, you will not catch trout. In fact, it doesn’t mater what fly you are using if all of the basic things you should do while fly fishing for trout are not practiced.
For example, if you wade carelessly by kicking the rocks, splashing the water or leaving a big wake it will not matter what fly you use. If your fly does not drift drag free and leaves a wake you are not going to enjoy much success in catching trout.
Also, if you do all the basic fly fishing practices correctly then the fly may not make much difference if you are fishing for stocked trout or even wild trout in fast flowing water where the trout does not have time to examine the fly. In these cases the flies are not as important and you may just get along fine with a couple of basic generic flies such as the Parachute Adams dry fly and the Hairs Ear Nymph. In fact changing to any number of attractor flies or generic flies will not make much difference in your success. If you change to another generic fly, and note a few more catches, I would submit that the sudden success would be due to other factors rather than the fly itself. The reason is that the attractor or generic flies are an approximate version of much of the trout’s diet and that will fool the hatchery bred trout and even occasionally wild trout in fast moving water.
It would appear that I am suggesting only two flies for your fly box and that is true if you are happy fishing only for stocked trout where they are released or if you only want to fish in fast moving waters, or especially if you are content in being a mediocre fly fisherman.
If you are not happy being a mediocre angler, then it will be necessary to learn about what the trout are eating and then how to imitate what they are eating. Using specific imitations of the specific foods that they are eating will greatly multiply your success rate and again if the fly is presented properly. Doing this will elevate you from the mediocre ranks and allow you to catch trout in any kind of water including the smooth waters of the larger rivers where anglers often rely on excuses to explain their lack of fish. You will also derive some satisfaction in knowing that you are catching trout based on your knowledge and cunning rather than on pure luck. In future blogs, I will elaborate more on the subject of flies.