Selecting The Best Fly

You stumble your way down a dirt path careful not to trip over exposed roots. You can hear the water below but the stream is not yet visible. When you found this spot e-scouting you had no idea what sort of conditions this trickle of water had cut over the eons of its flow but as you break the trees you can see a promising riffle with some exposed boulders forming perfect eddies. You computer couldn’t have painted this picture in ones and zeros. Only Mother Nature and Father Time hold such brushes. 

The assundry of flies most anglers have on their person at any given time is staggering. Just as in the world of mechanics or carpentry there is the correct tool for the job. Just like tools flies come in styles, patterns, and sizes. You, in time, will have “Go-to’s” and other flies that never see the water. There will be specific patterns for specific stretches of river or bodies of water. What always works is matching the hatch. This leads to the right tool for the right job. 

The saying, ‘if all you have is a hammer then everything is a nail’, is true in fishing as well. If you open your fly box convinced you’ll be fishing a dry fly such as an Adam’s, you’ll never catch the trout that could be sucking in Stone Flies near the bottom. 

By most opinions, the most fish are caught subsurface on a Nymph. Nymphing isn’t as fun as fishing a Dry or a Streamer, until they don’t produce and a Nymph does. When walking down the trail to the water, if you looked at my rod you would normally see a Nymph with an Indicator on my line. I will wait to see the water conditions to add shot if needed. I start with a Nymph because of its ability to cover water and that I believe Nymphs produce the most fish. Some of my favorite Nymphs are a Zebra Midge, Hare’s Ear, Bead Head Pheasant Tail, and a Stone Fly. Flip over some rocks and you’ll see nymphs clinging to them or in the area they just were. Find the fly you have that most closely imitates that size, shape and color.

Dry Flies shine a bit later in the season for the most part. If I know there is a hatch happening I will have a dry tied on to start. Remember hatches happen under certain time and weather conditions, so if you can base fishing times around them you will have a good reason to tie on a dry fly. I will also immediately use a dry fly if I have witnessed even one fish come to take a fly or any other insect off the surface. When you witness any sort of the dry fly triggers, again take note of the hatch or what the fish seem to be taking from the surface. Imitate that with your fly. If you look in my dry box you’d see a lot of sizes of a few flies. I use a lot of Parachute Adams, Blue Wing Olive, and my favorite Elk Hair Caddis. The latter will catch fish when stripped across a riffle like no other fly I have ever seen. Catching fish on a dry is a lot of fun so I take every opportunity to do so. 

I tied these Zebra Midges, this is a great general purpose fly and it’s one of the few I tie on to start the trip.

Streamers are the fly that go against my general rule of thumb in fly fishing: less is more. With Dry Flies and Nymphs I start small and then move up in size. When throwing a Streamer I start with a hardy size bait and then move smaller if need be. Because I am targeting fish feeding on minnows, worms, and leeches, with Streamers I will often throw a big size like #4 or #2 so that the meal seems substantial. When fishing pools with Prime Lies I will often have a streamer tied on. I want a big fly to get deep down near the bottom, to catch those big trout that love that sort of area. If the water is known to have Brown Trout I will also throw a Streamer before anything else as Browns are known to be veracious carnivores. Woolie Booger, Egg Sucking Leeches, Freshwater Clousers, Jig Buggers, and Muddler Minows make up the majority of my Streamer selection. Many anglers would argue the Woolie Booger is the most versatile fly that has ever been tied- I would have a tough time arguing otherwise. You can weight with shot or get some sink tip line to maximize your Streamer fishing abilities. Your fly box is incomplete without a fair number of Streamers. 

If you pick up a fly fishing magazine you will see the pages littered with photographs of fly boxes in the hand of the anglers and guides. The boxes will have a gratuitous number of flies and imitations bursting out of them. Some guides would sink if they fell in the water due to the weight of their fly boxes. This is fun, but not needed. If you want to be an effective fly angler, simply follow a list like this, fill your box with multiple sizes of a few select flies and go catch fish. Less is more and size matters more than color. No two bugs are exactly alike in nature, but if they are born of the same hatch they will vary less in physical size and shape than in hue. Hopefully this just saved you a few bucks and a lot of time and aggravation. 

Reading Water and Finding Fish

When you first looked at a river and the idea of learning to fly fish came to you, you were reading water. You were looking at the water and picturing your back cast coming forward and landing upstream of that friction-rounded boulder. You knew not that you had made a judgement of where a fish should be, just that it seemed right. 

When I think of reading water I do it like this. If I lived in a place where there were cheeseburgers flying through the air in a unidirectional manner where would I stand? That would change as my mood and level of interest changed. If I were hungry I would stand in one spot, if I were not I would stand in a different area altogether. Welcome to the world of reading a river. 

Tout will be in a lie. Lie is a fancy word for a spot. There are feeding lies, holding lies, shelter lies, and prime lies. Trout spend the most time in holding lies. These are breaks in current that offer some protection from predators where the fish can rest. Feeding lies are areas where a fish might be able to sit and grab a bunch of passing morsels that may get pinched down into a concentrated area. Shelter Lies seem obvious by the name, these lies are used to protect the fish from predators. They are normally used only if the fish is forced to abandon its holding or feeding lie. If a steady stream of food is added to a Shelter lie it is classified as a Prime Lie. 

Go to a river and look at it and picture yourself under the surface, where would you go if you wanted one of those cheeseburgers flying past?

Let’s add hydrodynamics into the mix, imagine the cheeseburgers have to follow the way water goes around objects. Now you can picture what the fish have going. Behind certain objects will be an eddy or a still spot in the water. Think of an eddy as a “free space”- the fish get food within reach and a good bit of break from the current. An eddy will make a greater or less than shape on the backside of the object. Whether it is greater or less is dependent on the direction of water flow. 

There are pools, deep open places in the water. Pools can have big boulders but normally a consistent hard bottom. Pools normally tail out into some sort of riffle. Riffles are generally not too deep- one to four feet with lots of smaller stones on the bottom. Riffles can quickly turn into runs as they get a bit deeper and wider. 

Essentially from here all the rest of the water on the river is referred to as flats. Flats generally don’t hold fish. A river can also make pools in its bends because the water is forced to turn so it digs that section deeper over time and so don’t mistake those for flats. Anywhere that looks “too fast” for a fish to swim probably is not a great spot, but just outside of that is. 

Remember you won't always want cheeseburgers. Other times you want two or three. My advice is try and look for the place that looks like the cheeseburgers would be the easiest to grab and cast to that first. Those will be the easiest fish to catch. Then continue on using the grabbing a cheeseburger method to break down the water. The hardest place to grab a cheeseburger often holds the biggest fish, but you decide what in your day of fishing will make you happiest. 

Pounding the Ground to Fill the Freezer.

Can I tell you a secret? I know this might be hard to believe, You can kill deer from the ground with a bow without a blind. Let’s face it, we all know it can be done. We see the guys on The Hunting Public and Whitetail Adrenaline do it successfully while videoing. I’m here to tell you, big bucks aside, if you want to fill a freezer there is a great chance pounding the ground has advantages over aerial assault. We have long accepted that hunting has become an elevated only proposition. I say the hell with that. Gird your loins and sneak like Cochise, get to hunting not just ambushing. 

I spend a lot of my time in a Trophyline Treesaddle in the fall. I think that this system gives me a huge advantage when it comes to hunting whitetails. Sometimes though, I get to a spot and decide that the shooting lanes are more conducive to a shot from eye level. Wind and back cover will also push me down to the ground. Occasionally, when I have history with an area and I have been picked off out of a tree I will often put the ol under brush rush on ‘em. 

Back cover and finicky winds will also make me take the ways of our ancestors and come down out of the trees. Back cover is key. It is way more important than cover in front of you. On the ground if the wind shifts you can too. With all of that there is no better way to scout for hours and then set up for closing time. 

Most of my outdoor activities are broken down into systems and hunting from the ground is no different. That being said I will just decide to put my saddle platform on a tree like a tree seat at a low level and just tuck in if I get to a place and decide not to climb. I did that a few years ago and was able to take a doe at 12 yards with a well placed arrow. 

Note the climbing sticks on the tree in the background. I decided to hunt from the ground once I saw the lack of shooting lanes to the pinch point I wanted to target.

In most instances I will be rocking a ghillie suit. In my opinion ghillie suits trumps 3d or leafy suits when it comes to hunting from the ground in most cases. I trim my bow arm jute short, I also trim around both my cheeks and chin so I can anchor my bow properly. It is tough to find a suit that is specifically made for bowhunting. The thing about the ghillie suit is it allows you to blend in by breaking up your human outline. I love the confidence feeling invisible brings to my ground game when I’m in the suit. I don’t consider it essential but I do think its ideal. 

Tucked into a root ball during a snow, ghillie suits are much warmer than clinging to a tree in cold weather.

You should have a small stool of some sort. I have used an Ameristep Swivel Stool for years. I love the ability to swivel without extraneous motion. I also like the adjustable legs. It packs up small and is very light for what it is. Any stool will work but that particular stool is my go to. I have also used a basic camo dove stool with a pouch on the bottom side. I like that because I can carry a drink and snack in it. 

Also on the list of items you should have is a bow hanger of some sort. I use a Hawk bow hanger that is attached with rubber ties. If you’re on private land an E-Z hanger or simple hook will work. I like to wear face paint when hunting from the ground. I feel I cannot anchor my bow as quickly with a facemask. One more thing, I sight my single pin in for 26 yards, from the ground I am good to 35 with that setup. 

‘

In the end I ended up going to a tree to set up my saddle, and decided to sit on the ground for a better shot. I took that doe at 12 yards no ghillie, no face paint.  the next night as I sat through a steady snow in a root ball near an apple orchard I knew the doe had no idea that I was there. I looked like a brush pile in my ghillie. Unfortunately, I blew an easy shot by rushing. That’s two deer in two days, with a bow from the ground, on public land. Thankfully, I connected the next day with a rifle…from the ground. 

Full freezer with venison all taken from ground sets over a week worth of hunting.

Fly Casting 101

Casting A Fly Rod 

As you lift your rod tip towards the clouds your line starts its progression of breaking water tension inch by inch. From low tip and total contact to a tip high waiting to feel the line splay out behind you. The rod will “load” as the line is parallel to the water, then with the back cast seemingly pulling at the very fly you want to place at distance in front of you, the forward stroke begins. If this half has gone perfectly the forward cast is all but done. Push the tip forward with a slightly stiff arm and break your wrist over as you feel the weight of the line pull in front of you. When done correctly, with timing and line control, your fly will land like a milkweed seed as it finds a final destination. When any part of this goes awry, chances are you’ll end up with a pile of neon line and tippet with a fly tangled in somewhere all in a ball in front of you. 

The how to cast a fly is basic in its simplest form. This is what we are about to cover. There are, for all intents and purposes, two casts that you need to know. One is the Overhead Cast and the other is the Roll Cast. There are many other casts but these two will get you through most of the situations you may encounter fly fishing. To practice these, the best way is to try and do them in an open place with still water, like a pond with not a lot of trees or cover around it. Lay the Line out on the water. Water tension on the fly line makes the rod easier to “load” which leads to less false casting. 

The Overhead Cast is explained as the basic cast everyone pictures. Assuming the rod is in your right hand pull line off of the reel with your left hand. Grip the rod on the handle with your fingers around the grip and your thumb pointed down the “spine” of the rod. As you bring the rod back behind you your line will follow the motion. You are casting the line not the fly. For a novice angler look at your rod tip. You should stop your “backcast” when your arm is at 90 degrees and your rod tip just past that. When you’re in this position watch for your line to straighten all the way out behind you. When this happens you should feel the total weight of the line in the rod. Understanding feeling this “load” will come with practice. When you want the line to go farther in front you have to repeat this process multiple times without the line touching the water again, pulling more line off the reel and feeding it up with your left hand gradually. That left hand will pull the line down as you back cast and feed line forward as you cast forward. When you are satisfied that there is enough line out to equal the distance you want your fly to go, only then do you break your arm over all the way pointing your thumb at the intended landing zone all while loosening your grip on the line with the left hand. Where your thumb points is where the fly should go. This process is slower than you would expect. The amount of your arm that should move is often explained as this: pretend there is a book gripped under your arm between the inside of your bicep/tricep and your ribs. Now perform a backcast and forward cast and do not drop the book. 

Big fish, flies and water is where the overhead cast shines. All of these conditions were present for this Steelhead.

The Roll Cast is arguably the most useful and underrated cast in fly fishing- master this cast. With the line in front of you on the water, lift your rod tip up towards the sky. As you do this motion the fly line will begin to make a bow or loop heading behind you. When the fly line crosses behind the vertical rod and makes a D with the straight part of the D being your rod and the line making up the curved part impart the same forward stroke you would during the overhead cast. The line will follow the loop and lay out in a straight presentation. It is a very simple cast but can be used in a lot of situations.

So that was the “How,” so now is the “Why”. You would use an Overhead cast for any sort of casting presentation that is at a distance greater than say twenty feet. This is the basic fly fishing cast. When you first pictured yourself fly fishing this is the cast you picture yourself doing. We used this to target cover, beaks or eddies. This cast is often used to present big flies like Streamers and very small flies like tiny Dry Flies because in either case putting yourself at a greater distance from the fish is beneficial. When in doubt you can most likely use an overhand cast to drop the fly where you want it. 

Small flies, small streams and precision are what the roll cast is all about. Like these size 16 Zebra Midges the author tied.

The Roll Cast is to fly fishing as the putter is to golf. Precise, accurate and repeatable. The Roll Cast is used to present Nymphs or Emergers quite a bit. It can be used very effectively at sub-twenty foot distances. Small streams can be picked apart with roll casts from one position. This form of casting is also great for repeating drifts. Remember that often when a trout is in a “Feeding Lie” if that fish moves, generally another will move into that same spot. So if you catch fish number one, number two might be a rinse and repeat away. Roll Casts are also very helpful when there are a lot of overhanging branches and the like around you. This cast happens almost entirely in front of the angler. 

Take your rod to some still water and give these a try. Once you feel like you get it right as much as you do it wrong, go find the streams in your area. Even we still end up with a ball of neon and tippet with a fly buried in there somewhere. 

The end goal of a lot of my fly fishing adventures. I enjoy taking a few home for the pan.

Sanding a Pattern Down, Hand Crafting the Art of Consistently Catching a Limit of Bass.

Sanding a Pattern Down, Hand Crafting the Art of Consistently Catching a Limit of Bass.

I’ve noticed a pattern with my fishing style. Typically one that starts fast and then fine tunes. I’m very much a 60 grit fisherman(power fisherman) but I tend to let the fish talk me into 220 grit (finesse fishing) - Jim Fredenburg (friend and amazing angler) 

I would argue that I have spent more time on the water with my dear friend Jim than all other people I have ever spent time on the water with….added together. We started fishing together as teenagers and continued on through our thirties. We have seen our personal bests in Small Mouth, Northern Pike and probably a few more that I'm missing. When we were young Jim always had a knack for boating the biggest fish of the day. By the time we walked back to the car on still wobbly sea legs he would have generally caught fewer fish but much bigger fish. 

Time moved on and so did our lives. Jim made an amazing life for himself, I couldn’t be any happier or proud of a friend than I am of and for him. We still get together as often as possible to shoot a spinnerbait or nymph out there. We live in different states, so as does everything with aging, that has become harder. 

A funny thing I noticed when Jim and I started fishing together again after a few years of not. He had converted to one heck of a limit fisherman. He could catch more fish and bigger fish than me. He had advanced. Years apart had been our Two roads diverged in a yellow wood. I had been in North Carolina, my fishing had gotten a bit of a Southern Drawl. Jim, staying in New York had really honed in on his way to catch fish consistently.  We would go out together and he would promptly dismantle both the cover the fish were in and my ego. It was truly humbling. 

Jim is also one of the handiest people I know, a true man's man. So, when I asked him for a top five or ten baits he goes to he instead gave me the apt comparison to starting any sort of finishing process and going down to the detail work. It is how he hand crafts a limit of fish. 

1.Spinnerbaits( P60 grit) 

• Can be fished fast or slow.

• Ability to cover a lot of water quickly.

2. Crankbait (80 grit)

• The Ability to cover water in both span and depth.

• You can feel your way through cover, structure and bottom composition.

3. Soft Plastic Jerkbait (120 grit)

• Can be used to cover water BUT can be fished incredibly slowly. 

4. Jigs/Tubes (180 grit) 

• When he’s found the fish or the pattern these baits tend to land bigger fish. 

• You can be more precise when fishing structure and cover with these baits.

5. Dropshot (220 grit)

• When you dropshot correctly it can be fished fairly shallow to extremely deep.

• This rig allows you to keep the bait in front of the fish for as long as it takes. 

I know he left some of his favorites out of this list. One of those baits or patterns is frog fishing. Jim is an outstanding frog fisherman. I think this example is absent because Jim is a natural angler. Meaning when he sees the conditions that bring him to the path of throwing a frog he throws a frog. I know given a new body of water that he goes to this numbered sandpaper system to catch fish. 

Let’s look at the system for what it is. It is personal. A soft plastic jerkbait is a great way to catch fish. If I were to make a sandpaper system there is no way that this bait would make my list. Yet, Jim knows what he is good at and comfortable with. If we look at it from an outside perspective it’s not just about the baits, it's about having a system. Jim can limit and cull because he has a system. 

Our tool boxes both include spinnerbaits, crankbaits, jigs and dropshots in them, we even use them for the same jobs but my tool box leans heavily on a stickbait. The other thing I have seen Jim do exceedingly well is to progress through his system when striking out. Nothing on a spinnerbait, time for a crankbait and so on all the way to dropshot. 

Remember that Bob Vila refinishes house differently than Richard Rawlings refinishes a car, their tool boxes differ greatly. We should all be looking at our fishing like Jim does, a system, a tool box. So, take a look at your box and decide on a system. Take your strengths and base the system on those, inject new techniques when opportunities present themselves. Find your P40 and your 220 but don’t forget that on occasion you need to have some wood putty or bondo. If you’re reading this I'm assuming your project has a frame and probably a body, now get to that finishing work.