Fish & Fly - 00/03 - One fly behind

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One Fly Behind

Our March 2003 contribution from Terry Lawton

Although this article is based on Terry Lawton's last day of the 2002 season, his problem can happen at anytime during the season. He describes how he felt that he was always one fly, or stage, behind what the fish were feeding on.

My troubles started when I did not take enough account of what the rise forms of the feeding fish were telling me. Trout rise in very different ways depending on what they are feeding on and also the depth at which they are feeding. The rise of a trout taking a nymph is quite different from a fish sipping-in a dun floating downstream.

Weighted and bead-head nymphs -
which can also be weighted - are
ideal for fishing deep or getting your
fly down quickly in fast water

Nymphing fish can often be seen rising and falling in the wter as they intercept nymphs at different depths. And when they are feeding just sub-surface, you will often see a fish's dorsal fin as it its back breaks through the surface. Whereas the classic rise to a floating fly hardly needs describing and cannot be mistaken, sub-surface rise forms are far more subtle. Vincent Marinaro's classic book, In The Ring of The Rise, is one of the best works on this aspect of trout fishing although I do find his writing rather heavy going.

I started fishing a nice wide pool where there one or two fish were moving upstream picking off nymphs. But other fish were not moving so much and those that did were then dropping back, it was difficult to wade upstream to keep them within reasonable casting range without frightening the more static feeders. Casting ccuracy was at a premium and this was not helped by strong wind blowing over my right shoulder. I persevered because this spot can be very profitable and some years ago I caught my first near pounder here in even worse conditions.

The traditional Pheasant-Tail nymph
is excellent when fish are feeding
high in the water on nymphs making
their way to the surface to hatch

The first fly that I tried was a copper-head GRHE nymph which I thought would be ideal as it would sink quickly and so help me get down to the depth at which I thought the fish were feeding. But they were not feeding as deep as I thought. I then tried a proper Sawyer-style Pheasant tail nymph tied with copper wire only and which, having less weight, would not fish so deep. Unfortunately that was not to the fish's liking either.

Then I decided that an emerger would be the answer as the fish seemed to be feeding very near the surface. But that floated too high! So I changed to one with a much lower profile. But by now the fish were taking the odd dun as they floated serenly downstream. Now I decided that by the time I caught up with what they were feeding on, the hatch would be over. Eventually I put on an F fly and got an offer. But, as I feared, that was the end of the hatch of these little dark duns which I have always assumed are iron blue duns, Baetis Niger to give them their Latin name.

CDC emerger patterns can be very
effective when fish are feeding on
hatching insects in the surface film

So, where did I go wrong? I don't think it was a lack of observation and fishing blindly and mechanically. I am sure that the problem was that I did not take into account and act on what I could see happening. Perhaps if I had spent a bit more time watching rather than changing fly patterns, I would have "caught up" with the fish.

I experienced similar problems fishing for grayling at Tjuonajokk, Sweden, last Agust, when ther fish started to change from feeding on nymphs - midge pupa? - to emergers and hatching Knots or little black mosquitoes. My problem there was due to my ignorance and lack of experience of what was likely to happen. Also grayling rise in a very different way from trout - or at least thes grayling did. They rise in a much more up and down, splashy fashion as they tend to swim deeper in the water than trout.

Another very effective CDC pattern
is the F Fly. This was the one fly
that caught fish

Even when I realised that I should have changed from nymphs to either an emerger or a dry fly, because the naturals and thus artificials were so tiny, it was still very difficult to catch the fish even though they were rising freely everywhere. Fast, broken water made it difficult to see a tiny size 20 fly and there were so many insects on the water that the chances of a grayling taking my fly were pretty small. But they were being caught by other anglers not that far away. Very frustrating.

Late season fishing can be very rewarding, particularly when the conditions are not that good. Another October, some years ago, fish were rising all over the river. And more fish than I had ever seen rising at the same time on that stretch of the river. A very strong wind made life really difficult. I had to pack-up as darkness approached and because my hands were too cold to carry on fishing. I am still waiting to see a repeat of such a fantastic rise. I have also had some very good late season fishing on days of changeable weather which can produce excellent hatches of iron blues if the wind gets up and there is, perhaps, a drop in the temperature. It's a fine sight when you do get a good hatch of these little flies and an F Fly seems to me to be a first class imitation.