Back to Basics

Loren Williams

Gear heads? Pack rats? Obsessive-compulsive? I think to varying degrees these terms all adequately describe fly fishermen. Let's all admit it: when we got started there was a definite air of black art, zen, voodoo, and telepathy all wrapped up into a one. Perhaps that air still envelops you, perhaps not, but without question fly-fishing is not easy. Heck, fly "casting" is hard enough and that's only one piece of the puzzle! So, in search of shortcuts and quick fixes we read, and buy, and watch. Books, gadgets, DVD's. How's it all working for you?

Beware! Danger lies ahead if you take that path. Okay, maybe not danger but I'm the writer so I can be over-dramatic if I chose. What I really mean is that books, gadgets, and DVD's can all help, but none of them will offer the magic bullet to consistent above-average success in fly fishing. You'll get glimmers and hints of useful suggestions, deeper understanding of the fish (always good), and better ways to do old tasks. These are positive but what you will be doing is getting better at what you've already been doing. More efficient. Not bad, but not Panacea either. In your quest to the next level, I think it may be time to go back to the basics.

Like with most endeavors, true excellence lies in mastering the fundamentals. Once those lines get blurred it becomes very hard to focus on what matters. Bare bones: fly fishing is fishing. Fishing is the act of tricking a fish into taking your offering secured to a hook. Whether or not you catch a fish is irrelevant, cast a fly into the water and you are fly-fishing. "Catching" however, requires the angler to be able to detect when a fish takes the offering secured to a hook, reacting to the take by setting the hook before the fish expels the hook and with enough force to impale the hook into the fish's mouth, and then fight it with enough tenacity to bring it to hand. Each step in this chain builds on the step before ...and guess where it all begins--strike detection!

Notice I left some middle-ground? The part about the fish taking the fly? The angler fishes or catches, the fish do the taking so I guess it is really beyond our control. Of course our presentation and fly choice will have some bearing on how many fish take your fly but I offer that even very poorly presented, poorly tied, poorly chosen flies get taken.

So, fundamental to catching a fish is detecting a strike. No angler has it harder than a fly fisherman. Save for dry fly fishing, anyone who fishes with a fly will be missing a great many takes. I'm not talking about missing the fish, I'm talking about missing the strike itself! As a professional guide who spends nearly 200 days on the water teaching fly anglers I will rank missed takes as the single largest reason for poor success. I can get even the most green fly angler to cast a fly where it will get taken but I cannot see the strike and set the hook for the angler. Even if I try to tell an angler when to set the hook, by the time I see the take, form the words, say the words, have the words get heard, processed and reacted to the fish has long ago spit the fly. Trout (as with most fish) can take and expel a fly in wicked fast time (mad fast time for you youngsters). Take what you think is fast and multiply it by 10 and you are in the ballpark. Fast. Some takes will be incredibly obvious (and many anglers do not see even those) but most will be less that drastic, some little more than suspicions.

I am lucky enough to know and communicate with the nation's finest fly anglers on a regular basis. What all of these anglers have in common is the ability to detect subtle takes. Whether fishing still or moving water, trout can, and will, take a fly in such a way that detecting it is almost impossible. We all read that strike indicators help and they do. But I still think you'll miss about 75% of the takes you get with a floating indicator. I'm not saying this is always the fault of the indicator. To that I will add that there are many forms of strike indicators and certain floating indicators are better than others under prevailing conditions. Furthermore, often in-line submersible indicators will outperform a floating indicator. And then there is rigging, weight, mending, approach, position, moon phase, hatch phase..yada, yada, yada. Here is precisely where we get lead astray (and I've been there and surely am still there in many ways). Nothing else matters if you cannot detect the bite!

Before you read further I will let you know know that I am not going to offer you a fix-all to bite detection. How far you take it and where you go with it will be a personal journey and probably a never- ending evolution of your rigging and skills. There. Stop now if you want. What follows will be a brief synopsis about my thoughts on the subject. As with all my articles it is accurate up the point that I write it all down--as it will surely change in the future. Whatever "it" is.

Bite detection is fundamental to catching, not fishing. But, nothing beyond just fishing can happen without bite detection. Logical, at least to me. Casting is a precursor to fishing. Getting really good at it, which I am not, will make your fishing easier, open up more water under more conditions and it will even get you more bites. But, if you cannot see the bites then you are still just fishing. There are lots of guys out there that just fish. I do feel that casting can get in the way of the catching. I feel this way about many of the accessories we bring into our fishing. Indicators, shot, swivels, droppers, flies, lights, nippers, hemos, waders...it all gets in the way. Yeah, some of it is really necessary but it need not be stuff we dwell upon. Back to basics.

There is a fish in the water. Hopefully you have a good idea of where he is at. You have a fly rod. Strapped to it is a reel that holds some line. You are off to a great start! Tie on a fly (or two or three-choice is yours). Even better, now there is a hook (or two or three) with which to catch the fish that you know is there ...somewhere. This is really all you need to catch the fish. If the fish is deep then you can use a heavier fly or add split shot. If you want you can add on some type of strike indicator. How about the drift..dead? That means I better have some slack. Mend! Windy..dammit! Compound currents, drifting fast..."twitch" was that rock? Is this the right fly? Flip some rocks, look on the water (where is my seine?)..look in the air ...shake some bushes. Is there a fish here?

See how quickly the lines of focus get blurred and shifted? The minute these thoughts creep into mind you will be shifted off your game and you will miss takes. We all miss takes, but I will tell you that as I continue to study this part of fly fishing I learn more and more about how fish takes flies and how many I've missed over the years. And trust me, you will never be "that" good that you do not miss takes.

Back to basics: fly rod, line, leader, fly (or maybe 2 or 3). Anything beyond that has the ability to shift the focus and tilt the odds toward the fish who has but a single objective: to survive.

What you make of this is up to you. I will tell you that I am not saying to ditch the implements of angling that you own and use. Perhaps a better summary is that I encourage you to to realize that catching means detecting bites and that no accessory will do that for you. They may make it easier (or not) but the job is still yours. Get as close as you can and focus!