I became infatuated with fly fishing at an early age. Every moment of free time was spent on the water or voraciously devouring every book or magazine article I could find on the subject. I religiously followed the advice and recommendations of every ‘expert’ to a T. My LL Bean fly vest, as a result, weighed 50 pounds and contained every fly pattern, tool and leader material known to man.
Each summer my family spent a few days in Colorado which afforded me the opportunity to apply all of the trout fishing knowledge I had soaked up over the past year. Taking a page from the various how-to articles, I’d scour the water and bushes for any sign of insect activity and select a fly to match the size and color of the naturals. Though I always had some success, I had the nagging suspicion that everyone else was doing the exact same thing – fishing the same flies…and having the same mixed results. Sometime around 1990 I read an article in Fly Fisherman Magazine that would forever change my approach to fly fishing. The article discussed fishing terrestrials and contained a lot of great advice on fly patterns as well as where and how to fish them. The most intriguing part of the article, and the part that has stuck in my mind for a few decades, was the paragraph that suggested doing something out of the ordinary – even when the experts (and logic) tell you otherwise.
A few weeks ago, I found myself in the company of good friends re-exploring some trout water that I hadn’t fished in decades. The stream was just as I remembered it – crystal clear, running lazily through a spectacular valley – and teeming with fish. The only difference was that in the years since I had last visited, this once unknown trout stream had been discovered. As I made my way down to a particularly good looking hole on our first morning of fishing, a steady flow of anglers passed by looking for an open stretch of water. In fifteen minutes I saw more anglers than I had seen in a week’s worth of fishing a few years back! There were a few bugs on the water – caddis, green drakes and yellow sallies – and a number of fish showed themselves in predictable places. My flies, while well-presented and a good match to the naturals, floated through each run without raising an eyebrow (or fish). By the time we stopped for lunch, I had managed only a single fish. My friends, all accomplished anglers, reported similar results. Lots of casts, lots of refusals and only a handful of fish between us. Despite our lack of success, we decided to give it another shot that afternoon.
After lunch I chose a stretch with a long, deep trough against an overgrown, boulder-strewn bank – perfect holding water for a nice trout! I worked the bank very thoroughly with the traditional flies that ‘should have been working’ and failed to move a fish. In my frustration, I was reminded of the advice from the article I read many years before. I dug into my box and tied on something out of the ordinary, a big foamy terrestrial of my own design. My fly choice was outlandish given the naturals that were on the water, but certainly something that would make an opportunistic trout stand up and take notice. More importantly, the fly was something the fish hadn’t seen before…and something that the other match-the-hatch anglers would not be fishing.
The results were instantaneous. Three feet into my drift on the next cast, a fat, healthy rainbow turned downstream and engulfed my fly so aggressively that I nearly missed hooking him in my surprise. A short distance upstream, a large brown darted out from an undercut bank and slammed my fly. The action continued all afternoon as fish propelled themselves out of the water and bent over backward for our flies. A slow day of fishing turned into an afternoon that none of us will ever forget.
The next time you find yourself on the water and the traditional approach and patterns aren’t working, don’t be afraid to experiment and try something unconventional. If all the blue wing olives on the water are #18, try fishing one in #16 or in a different color to draw attention to your fly. Or choose something completely different than what conventional wisdom suggests. The results just might open your eyes and change the way you think.
Brandon Powers
theflybin.com
brandon@theflybin.com