Fly Casting: Power and Control
By Louis Cahill
I’m just back from four days fishing for golden dorado at Parana on the Fly Lodge in Argentina.
Dorado fishing is the most demanding fly fishing I know and, days later, I still have the sore muscles to prove it. We target these apex predators with big flies and heavy rods. Success depends on making accurate casts and often at long range. You might make a hundred of these casts before you strike gold. If there are any shortcomings in your casting, dorado will find them.
It’s no small thing to make several hundred casts a day, turning over an eight-inch streamer accurately. Especially when many of those casts are over sixty feet. You need the right balance of power and control to do it consistently. Especially as fatigue sets in. I learned a technique years ago when fishing the salt that makes it all come together. The key is knowing when to focus on the power and when to focus on the control.
One of the most fundamental principals in fly casting is, you can’t make a good forward cast without a good back cast. This is often where anglers start to struggle as they become fatigued. Their back cast becomes anemic and there is no saving the forward cast. This is especially true when wind or large flies complicate the process. The key is to start with a powerful back cast.
By focusing on power in your back cast you insure that you are able to fully load the rod for your forward cast. A loaded rod is where real casting power comes from, so by generating enough power and inertia in your back cast you are setting yourself up for success on you forward cast. Once the line
Read More »Georgia Brook Trout Management is a Dirty Shame
IT’S A SOUTHERN THING AND YOU GOT TO UNDERSTAND.
They are maligned and loathed, as an invasive species, in many of my friends’ home waters but here in Georgia, the brook trout is our only native trout. They once held dominion over the roughly four thousand miles of North Georgia trout water. That was a long time ago. Before rainbow and brown trout were stocked. Before dams were built and forests cut and endless miles of stream developed. Before acid rain, there were brook trout. Anglers just a generation older than me tell stories of plentiful brookies up to sixteen inches in mountain streams. Today, an eight inch fish is something to brag about and the anglers who love them will hike miles through mountain laurel thickets to catch fish half that size.
Native brook trout here in the southeast, what the old timers call “specks”, are a very special fish. Driven south by glaciers during the ice age, these fish were stranded when the world thawed and took their own evolutionary course, adapting to the southern environment and establishing a unique genetic strain, much like the subspecies of cutthroat trout in the west. Think of them as our Yellowstone Cutthroat.
A beautiful southern strain fish.
Although their genetic distinction has been verified, visually identifying the subspecies can be tricky, even for a trained biologist. In my experience the southern fish generally have a lighter, sometimes almost white, background color on their flanks than northern fish. Their green backs are warmer, more olive, in color and they are overall more colorful. These indicators however do not hold true for every individual. Northern strain fish are present here, due to stocking, and are often misidentified. The boundaries of each fish’s habitat are well known and understanding the habitat is the best way to be sure.
Holding on to existence only in the tiny mountain headwaters, its numbers in dramatic decline, the Spec is in trouble. There is no doubt that
Read More »The Pacu Bead
By Louis Cahill
If you are a dry-fly purest, you might want to sit this one out.
Bead fishing in the jungles of Argentina is about as far from fishing a dry fly as you could imagine. It’s not much closer to Alaska bead fishing. It’s one of the most unorthodox and effective methods I’ve ever used to catch a fish. It’s also incredibly fun!
We travel to the jungle for golden dorado, but like many predatory fish, the dorado takes a long siesta during the middle of the day. Rather than pound the water pointlessly, we’ll take a couple of hours to catch some of the exotic species found in these rivers.
The most popular is the pacu. These brawny fish are shaped like trashcan lids and put up a serious fight. They are sometimes called freshwater permit, mostly for their shape, but they are also picky eaters. They are omnivores but one of their chief food sources is actually fruit and nuts that fall from trees lining the river. They have teeth like a human for chewing these tough terrestrials.
So how to you target a fish that eats nuts?
Well, not by wading, I can tell you that! (Sorry, that was too much to resist.) Seriously though, the Argentine guides have developed an ingenious way to imitate this unusual food source. They fish giant beads from the craft store. Beads up to three-quarters of an inch in diameter. They taper the hole on one side of the bead with a
Read More »Choose Fly Color Based on the Flat You’re Fishing
I’ve always thought in the broad scope of things that trout fishing calls for more complex decision making over saltwater fly fishing in terms of what goes into choosing the fly patterns we fish. I think a lot of that comes from the simple fact that conditions can change on an hourly basis on our trout streams and also that there’s hundreds of species of aquatic insects found on many of the trout waters we fly fish. However, the more I fly fish in the saltwater, the more I’ve come to understand how inaccurate this past notion of mine is. In many cases, fly pattern choice is just as important in saltwater fishing as it is in freshwater fishing. And If you want to maximize your success fly fishing in saltwater, you need to pay close attention to your surroundings and the ecosystem your fishing, just like you do on your trout water.
Read More »Wood is Good
Anytime I come across any sort of wood on the water trout fishing, I always take the time to fish around it.
Whether it’s a log jam, isolated root ball, or low overhanging tree, wood offers trout cover and safety which are two very important elements that trout look for when they’re deciding where to position themselves in a river or stream. Wood also in many cases offers current breaks, eddies, and soft seams, that allow trout to feed easily and safely out of the calorie burning swift current. Furthermore, there’s an incredible amount of food that falls off wood cover and hangs out amongst wood, that very often ends up in the stomachs of trout. All of the above make wood prime habitat for trout.
Did I mention that brown trout love to hangout around wood? I can’t tell you how many times I’ve caught nice brown trout around wood, especially when
Read More »Streamer Fishing: Float Your Lane
By Louis Cahill
When you are fishing streamers from a boat, how close should you be to the bank?
Ask a dozen anglers and you may get a dozen answers. The distance that works for me, might not work for you, but I’m going to share some thoughts that might help you decide for yourself where your lane is.
I’m just home from a great week of dorado fishing in Argentina. Dorado fishing is streamer fishing at it’s highest level and it’s incredibly challenging, both physically and mentally. It involves taking lots of long accurate casts. Well, that’s the conventional wisdom. I have my own thoughts about it and the group had some lively conversation on the topic. It really helped me focus in on what I think works. Not just for dorado, but for any streamer fishing.
The key to success is making good, accurate presentations to as many likely holding spots as possible. The more good presentations you make, the more likely you are to find that trophy fish who’s ready to eat. It’s a numbers game but with some qualifiers. They have to be good presentations and they have to be in the right spots. Most, but not all, of those spots are along the bank.
In general, when fishing streamers, you do not need to strip the fly all the way back to the boat. In fact, doing so is detrimental to your cause. There are of course some exceptions, but in those cases it’s worth asking if you are really fishing the bank. The structure of most trout rivers is such that the strike zone is in the first fifteen feet or so next to the bank. Once your fly is moving out of the holding water, it’s time to cast again.
What you want is to work that strike zone as efficiently as possible, hitting as many likely pockets as you can. That means dropping the fly against the bank, making six to ten strips, and hitting the next pocket. For every angler there is
Read More »12 Tips For Hike-In Fly-Fishing
By Louis Cahill
Every angler knows that the further you walk, the better the fishing.
Keep that in mind when I tell you, I recently had some of the best trout fishing of my life in the Andes mountains of Patagonia. That should give you some idea how much we walked. The rewards where big. The rivers we fished were pristine and without a trace of humans, the views and wildlife were stellar and the trout were big and plentiful. That’s worth the walk seven days a week.
I did have to spend some time thinking through my gear and necessities for the trip. Hike in fishing requires a little more preparation, even when you are just day-hiking. Simple stuff you might run back to the truck for can turn into a big deal miles up the trail. Most of this is common sense but I will try to be thorough for the uninitiated.
Here are 12 tips for a day of hike-in fly-fishing.
Boots, Wading vs. Hiking
I’ve broken both my feet several times. Good boots are important to me. I want something that gets good traction, gives me good arch support and good ankle support. Most wading boots make poor hiking boots so, given the choice, I’ll hike in hiking boots and change to wading boots. Sometimes the hiking takes you through the river and then, wading boots are the ticket. It helps to know the trail you’ll be taking.
Whether I’m hiking in them or not, my first choice is the Simms Intruder boots. They are actually pretty good for hiking and they are very lightweight, which is nice if you’re carrying them. A good trick is to carry a plastic bag and stash your hiking boots somewhere out of sight and safe from rain in their bag, while you’re fishing.
Camping towel and dry socks
If you are changing boots, a lightweight camp towel and a fresh pair of dry socks are really nice to have. Even if you are fishing in waders you can end up with wet socks that might cause blisters.
Day pack
A good waterproof backpack is a must have. I use the Fishpond roll top, but the new model with the T-Zip is a nice upgrade. In addition to keeping your gear dry and together, I have used these packs as flotation devices for sketchy river crossings.
Extra pockets
Pockets for frequently used gear let me fish from my backpack, without carrying a fishing pack too. It’s a good idea to pair down your gear to just the essentials. Extra gear is just extra weight to carry. The hiker’s saying, “Ounces make pounds and pounds make pain,” is true.
Rod in the sock
It’s a pain hiking with your rod put together and a tube is just extra weight. A rod sock is usually all you need to keep your rod safe. If I feel like I’m going to need more protection, I have a couple of carbon fiber rod tubes I’ll use for their light weight.
Filter bottle
A good filter bottle is absolutely necessary. Hydration is super important, but carrying water is crazy. Carry an empty bottle and drink from the river. The Katadyn Be Free is the best I’ve used. It weighs nothing and fits in a pocket.
Read More »10 Yellow Sally Fly Patterns That I Love
When I think back on all the times I’ve fished Yellow Sally stonefly hatches over the years, I honestly can’t remember ever having a bad fishing experience.
If I can find them on the water, I usually have no problem getting trout to take my imitations. Yellow Sally stoneflies hatch from coast to coast. Depending on where you live, they usually show up the month of May and in some areas will stick around until the end of August. You’ve got to love an aquatic insect that has a hatch period that lasts not weeks, but months. Even in the dead of terrestrial season, or when other aquatic bug hatches such as caddis or mayflies are in progress, trout will regularly forage on Yellow Sallies if they’re available. For that fact alone, fly anglers should always have a handful of Yellow Sally fly patterns stowed away in the fly box at all times. Trout love them and so should you.
With the gargantuan number of fly patterns out there these days, it can be a challenge at times to pick out the real rock stars amongst all the other players in the fly bins. Below are ten Yellow Sally patterns that I’ve personally fished and had great success with. Four are nymphs and six are dries. My hopes for this post is simply to help point fly anglers in the right direction whether it’s at the vise or at a local fly shop for stocking up on proven Yellow Sally stonefly patterns.
Read More »Fly Fishing Fast Water Chutes for Trout
WHY TROUT LOVE FAST WATER CHUTES
Fast water chutes are great habitat for trout to set up residence around. Most of them provide everything a trout needs to survive, and fly fisherman should take the time to fish them because they almost always hold fish. Fast water chutes provide overhead cover that trout can quickly utilize by swimming into the chute if they feel threatened. The well defined current from the chute also acts as a food conveyor belt, supplying trout with a constant trickle of food 24/7. Furthermore, the turbulent waters created by chutes increase oxygen levels in the surrounding waters, and this is an added bonus and reason for trout to set up shop in and around chutes in streams and rivers. Lastly, chutes generally offer feeding lanes on each side that trout can take advantage of to feed effortlessly. These are the edges of the chute, where the fast and slow water come together and meet. Trout often gravitate towards the edges because it requires less energy to hold there, it’s very close to the conveyor belt of food and extremely close to their fast water overhead cover. Focus on drifting your flies along the edges of the chute first. After you’ve fish the edges, then work your flies through the main current of the chute.
There are multiple ways for anglers to fly fish fast water chutes, but most of the time, I find it most effective to wade to the sides of the chutes, and fly fish perpendicular to them. Doing so, it gives me better control of my drifting flies and improves my line management. Positioning to the side of a chute also improves my stealth, because I’m able to present my flies in front of the trout with just my leader, keeping my fly line out of sight. It also allows me to work with the current when drifting my flies, instead of fighting against it.
Check out the video below that demonstrates how I prefer to fish fast water chutes.
Read More »Alice’s Angle: January
By: Alice Tesar
It’s cold out there and mid-winter fishing is reserved for the intrepid angler.
If you get skunked in January most of us would not return home and say, “eh, it was a great morning standing in mostly frozen water and icicles only formed on half my nose hairs.” Let’s talk about getting into fish without learning too many new tricks so you can be efficient on the water this time of year. If you live in Northwest Colorado you’ve been waking to sub-zero temperatures and the air rises to zero degrees around 9:30 AM. Pick a day when temperatures are warming, say above 15 degrees. As I’ve mentioned before within this series, trout are slow moving in the winter and their metabolisms are slow too causing them to eat less. Consistent with low bug activity they will often look for easy bait fish meals over hatching midges. That’s right, these bitter and cold months are the only times I really enjoy fishing streamers. I’ve been told I’m not normal before.
Why is fishing streamers different in mid-winter than mid-summer? One hyphenated word: dead-drift. Dead-drifting streamers under an indicator can be effective in shallow water and deeper pools throughout the winter. However, I lean toward fishing deeper pools this time of year. If you catch the bottom a few times you’re fishing the correct depth. Deep and slow is key. I prefer olive and copper zonkers, mayers mini leeches, and will often add a trailing copper john or bead head midge. I find that in this set up, a small streamer in a
Read More »