FLY FISHING

Those who fish on a regular basis know there are just five rules of fishing, which if followed, will aid them in catching more fish and enjoying the activity of fishing. These rules can be adjusted to any type of fishing and to any species of fish, but in order to have a successful outing, they should be followed. They are not to confused with "Laws" of fishing, which MUST be followed (laws are, after all, much more concrete). These five rules are explained in other documents for saltwater, river and trout fishing. Here I will try to define the rules in terms of fly fishing.

1. Fish where they are, not where they ain't: There is a vast amount of water you will encounter while fishing and all of it will tend to look the same to you. Most of this water will not hold fish on a regular basis and much of the remaining water will hold fish only of a certain type and only at certain times.

For example, trout in a river or stream tend to hold in cut banks, under cover, in front of or behind rocks and many other areas which will offer them protection from predators for much of the day. But when they feed, during a hatch, they will move out into the riffles where the majority of the food will be found. When certain types of salmon move into the rivers, these trout will be forced out of their preferred water and will seek out the two to three foot pockets. The salmon will move into their preferred water, and though they do not feed, they will sometimes strike at flies placed in their sight zone. Chinook salmon have a tendency to hold at the bottom of the deeper holes. Coho salmon, given a choice, will also hold in these holes, but if there are large numbers Chinook and Coho in the same water, the Coho will be forced to hold in the tail outs of the deep water.

Pink salmon hold in all levels of water but prefer to be in the deeper holes until they are ready to make their move to the next hole. They will hold in riffles at the top of the holes where they become more aggressive and will take flies readily.

Chum salmon hold in the two to four foot water close to the beach and take weighted flies present on a floating line or any fly on a sinking line. Steelhead will seek out the three to six foot slots with some cover from the swirling water overhead.

This is just a brief summary of where fish hold in rivers. Learning fish behavior as well as times of the year that fish come into the rivers requires a great amount of study as well as some skill at "reading" water. If you fish lakes for trout, you must also understand the habits these fish have.

2. Match the hatch: With most fishing, this rule means to find out what the fish will strike and give it ti them. In fly fishing you sometimes have to be much more specific. The majority of a fish's life is spent eating. When they emerge from the egg, nature gives them an environment full of food and the tools to gather this food. In the case of salmon, they feed to reach the ocean where they fatten up for their spawning runs. Resident trout feed to survive so they can also spawn sometime in the future. Most lake locked trout will never have an opportunity to spawn so they just feed until they are either eaten by a larger predator or die of old age. Either way, the majority of their food is naturally found in the lakes and streams.

Much of the time fish are not specific at what they will eat, so matching the hatch can be as simple as presenting something that looks like food. Many of the more successful flies do not resemble anything found in the water, they just have certain characteristics of something fish may eat. At times, especially when there is a particular hatch going on, fish will become very particular and you must match almost exactly what they are feeding on.

Page 1