Trico Trick (4): When You Can't See Your Fly, Guess! (Or, Learn to Guess Better)

Sometimes while fishing the Trico hatch I lose the fly. I just can’t find it on the water. But I catch a lot of fish by guessing. But it is not just guessing. I try to make somewhat logical guesses.  If you also lose your fly here are a few tricks.

 A well known trick is to use a larger lead fly so that you can spot the bigger and more visible fly. Keep in mind that your second fly, which is smaller and more true to the size of the naturals (but often not visible), will be somewhere in the immediate area of the first fly. I tell my clients, “Ok, follow a pizza pie size piece of water around your first fly, drifting down;  if you see a rise anywhere inside that pizza, strike.”  Or, you can use the first fly like a strike indicator. If it dips under, strike.  But keep in mind, (and this is perhaps a lesser known trick), if your trick of using a larger fly stops working you might have to take it off and only use the smaller fly. Every year toward the end of summer I have noticed that these trout will wise up to the use of a large attractor fly. It literally can scare fish away in the same way that large strike indicators can. So when the fish get tough, I go smaller and use other tricks. 

If after you cast and you can’t find your fly on the water try to guess about where it is “supposed to land” and follow that “piece” of water down with your eyes. Zoom in on a group of bubbles and follow it down.  If you see a rise in that piece of water, then strike. I have had some success asking my clients to look for the leader in mid air before it lands on the water. It seems this helps them better know where to look. It also helps if you shorten your casts!!!!!!! I probably say it a thousand times a season, “Shorten up your cast. Find your fly."  

I have also noticed that when a fish takes the artificial fly from the surface, often the rise makes a “greater disturbance” than the other fish that are taking naturals. I think this might be because the fish senses the leader or the hook and they kind of panic a little bit and make a “greater disturbance”. I just know that often while guiding others (or even fishing myself) and I see this “greater disturbance” , a more dramatic rise, but we cannot actually see the fly,  I will yell, strike, and often a fish is on.

Learn to use a parachute and reach mend cast. I will not take the time here to explain these casts but I am sure you can look them up on the internet. Both of these casts basically involve pulling the leader back at the last second allowing the fly and leader to slowly float down to the surface. With such a landing it is actually quite easy to see the end of your leader and your fly and where it is going to land and therefore it is easier to spot.

If you learn to use these reach mend and parachute casts, not only will you be better able to spot your fly but you will better be able to see how you are achieving a nearly perfect drift so the fish sees the FLY FIRST and not the leader because the leader will be upstream of the fly. These “FLY FIRST” presentations are by far my most effective casts. It is the best trick that I know.