Angler Literacy: Reading Water, Fish and Conditions.

Angler Literacy

"Reading water." "Reading fish." "Reading conditions."

We toss these terms around like some sort of sports balls, but do we ever really take the time to investigate what they mean? What concerns me most about our sport these days is whether the wealth of information is truly getting conveyed. Are these terms used so often that their meanings have been lost? Are you a literate angler? Let me take some time to disect at least what I mean when I use these terms. I'm fairly sure that my definitions are in-line with most others that I respect. Maybe they'll help you in your walk up the learning curve.

Reading water

Ahh! The biggie. What exactly does the act of "water reading" entail, and of what value is it to us as anglers?

In my concise, concrete, and "highly accurate" (wink-wink) words, reading water is a learned skill that enables the angler to view the water's surface, color, and velocity in order to understand the underlying contour, depth, and velocity.

Someday soon I'll pen an entire article on reading water, but for now I'll only touch in the actual skill briefly.

The benefit in being able to stand on the bank and look across the river's surface is three-fold. First, it assists you in safe navigation. If you can determine where obstructions lie, where deep channels are hidden, and where the water slows, you'll be able to safely and quickly navigate.

Second, by being able to see that structure you can make educated guesses as to where the fish will be based on the time of day and time of year. Obviously that requires some knowledge about the behavior and habits of the fish you are seeking, but it's still a definite advantage. Lastly, once you can view structure from the surface, you can begin to understand hydraulics. By understanding hydraulics, you will begin to understand how food gets presented, how fish feel "comfort zones", and how currents compound drag.

These will all be building blocks and the more experienced you get, the more these factors are accounted for subconsciously. That will make you more effective and more efficient.

Reading fish

What the heck does this one mean? In my opinion an angler's ability to read the "mood" or "attitude" of the fish is secondary only to being able to read the water.

Fish are not static beings, they are very dynamic. Their moods change frequently and it pays dividends to be able to read them accurately.

Now, every species is different--and I'll make no attempt to give a course on fish psychology at this time. What I will attempt to do is assert that the angler who watches every detail will be able to figure out hints about the attitude of the species he is chasing...at that time, and he'll unerstand that tomorrow is a new day.

Reading fish requires a blend of reading water and reading conditions. You need to be able to understand water types to realize if the fish are presenting a pattern based on them (water types). Are all fish coming from riffles or deep pools? From under foliage or simply along the bank? Maybe the salmon are only taking flies when under the cover of some whitewater. If you cannot read water than making these types of connections are impossible.

Furthermore, when fishing to rising trout, the type of water the fish are working will tell you about the hatch they are feeding on. Long slow stretches are indicitive of spinners or midges, where duns seem to get taken more often in riffles where they hatch.

Lastly, for tributary salmon anglers, reading the fish is crucial to success. If you cannot tell between active and sullen individuals and where to find them, then your efforts are largely wasted. And if you can read the river bed by looking at the water's surface then you can view the "roadmap" the fish will use to navigate.

Reading conditions

OK, so I'm cheating here. I don't love to type so I've dumped all the other stuff into this category.

The estute angler will learn to read water, read the fish he's targeting and read the conditions. So what do I mean by "conditions?"

Conditions are all of the external climactic, barometric, meteorlogic, humanistic and individualistic factors at play during your fishing time. As I mentioned in my "Presentation" article, very good anglers understand that the most minute details can effect their success. Decisions like the amount of coffee you have in the moring will have a bearing on your day's outing. The degree to which these factors effect your fishing are hard to measure, and they'll vary from person to person.

Yes, wind, weather and barometer will effect the fish and their mood to some degree, but these things usually effect the anglers more measurably. For example, if you know that high winds and rain will likely keep others inside, it may behoove you to get on the water to capitalize on that lack of pressure. I'm sure if you take the time, you can see how these small details that are overlooked by so many have played a role in your angling from time to time. Perhaps if these details start influencing your descisions instead of merely presenting themsleves as incidentals you may begin to capitalize on them.

To conclude, being a literate angler will allow you to put together the pieces of the fishing puzzle much more quickly than ninetly percent of your bretheren can. Reading water, reading fish, and reading conditions are all skills needed if you hope to be successful on a consistent basis. These words are tossed around a good deal and I'm sure many folks do not have a good grasp of their meanings. I hope that after reading this article you have a clearer vision about what these terms refer to and how you may become more proficient at using them as tools.