Lots of good knowledge to improve the catching
ratio come from observation. A very important piece of information
comes from watching how the fish are behaving.
Fish have a tiny brain compared to humans.
Most of what they do, and how they do it are not from deductive
reasoning, but from instinct. Fish also must practice conservation
of energy. They cannot swim all over looking for food. The small
amount of nutrition from an insect has to be balanced with the amount
of energy used to get the food. Food comes to them, usually floating
in or on the surface of the water. A fish that is eating nymphs
usually 'catches' them while the nymph is swimming to the surface
of the water to hatch.
You and learn to
tell what a fish is doing, by carefully watching the 'rise form'.
A rise form is the name used to describe the action or manner of
an individual fish as it eats.
The most visible
rise form, and the one in the classic photographs and paintings
is the Caddis Take. Caddis hatch from the water, and lay their eggs
on the water - but they don't really much like the water. So a caddis
on the water doesn't just sit still. It flutters and jumps. The
method fish have developed to eat a caddis is a noisy, flashy, sometimes
even leaping-out-of-the-water take. You can't miss the rise form.
Matching what you have in your fly box may be another story. Always
have caddis in more than one size and color.
Buldging is another
rise form. It is visible as a 'hump' in the water. Sometimes a dorsal
fin or tip of the tail will break the surface of the water, but
usually it is just a hump. Looking similiar to water flowing over
a submerged rock. When Buldging occurs, the fish are either taking
nymphs within the top two inches of the surface, or taking emergers.
After a spinner fall, the dead and dying spinners begin to sink,
and can be taken by trout in the same manner, tho less common than
nymphing or taking emergers.
Last, and my personal
favorite, is the 'sip' or Dry Fly Take. Trout in their holding lane
or patterns, face into the current and 'sip' the insects from the
surface. No flashy takes, the insects are quietly sucked in by the
fish expelling the accompanying water back out through their gills.
Have your fly in the feeding lane, after carefully timing the rises
of the target fish and it will 'sip' you fly in just like the natural.
You can watch it happen! For me, the ultimate in fly fishing.
Sometimes you have
to decide, restrain yourself, not to charge off and jump in the
river. Take the time to observe what is happening. Pick an area,
watch it carefully. There is always something happening. You just
have to learn to see.
Each time you fish you learn something. It
may not seem like a lot, the just keep doing it. Almost like
magic the light goes on! It begins to make sense. With that
comes success.
