Waiting At Deckers; But Rewarded 8/17/2013

taitai

Often fly fishing is about waiting and that seems to be the case at Deckers lately. One just has to pay their dues and keep working the river. But when you do hook a fish your are often rewarded with a  healthy fish of good size. "It is all in the waiting". 

August Trico Hatches On the South Platte River: Trying to Fool Seasoned Finicky Trout

T.S Eliot starts his poem “The Waste Land” with these words, “April is the cruelest month, mixing memory with desire”.

If I wrote this poem about fly fishing the South Platte I might say that August is the cruelest month. August has often been a tough time of year to fish. The fish have been fished over by the summer crowds, the spring crowds and even the late winter crowds. The fish have grown wary and ultra selective. We might think back of memories of easy fish caught in the winter and spring time on nymphs and we look ahead with desire for the cooler and less crowed  months of Autumn.

Late summer is trico time. In fact it is predominantly trico time, therefore the fish seem to really key in on this one bug. Again, this results in ultra selectivity. I have found that during August the effectiveness of nymphing (which for many is far easier than dry fly fishing) diminishes significantly. I can show up on the river bright and early and think I am going to catch all kinds of fish on nymphs only to be disappointed. Over the years, during the month of August, I am fond saying, “It seems that these fish are just sitting around waiting for the big trico spinner fall”.  And that may indeed be the case. The fish become conditioned to this daily ritual and so it seems they wait for it to happen. When it happens the fish go crazy earning a living by feeding on hundreds and hundreds of tiny tricos.  It is the one significant time frame, the window of opportunity, for us to catch the fish off guard. And for the most part we have to fish dry flies. The fish are looking up.

So, what is the fly fisher to do?  I would suggest that we “play their game”.  I would go to the river rigged with two dry fly rods with different combinations of dry flies and wait for it to happen. There is nothing wrong with standing on the edge of the river and just looking around for bugs and rising fish. Just watch and wait. Don’t nymph fish. You will just postpone the event by putting the fish down.  

There are many different types of trico imitations. I don’t think the exact imitation is all that important. As long as it is small, floats and is presented properly (and hopefully you can see it) you can fool trout. The best techniques seem to involve reach mend casts and parachute casts where by you present the “fly first” to the fish.  These casts take some practice.

When the hatch and spinner fall is over, I would go home and take a nap. Give the fish a rest. August can be a bit cruel on the fish as well.

So, while August may be a bit cruel it is a great time for fly fishers to take afternoon naps.

Glorious Trico Hatches On The South Platte River: Not Caring To Catch

"Teach us to care and to not care"  T.S Eliot

I know the fishing and the trico hatch is glorious when my clients are standing  in the river and looking around in awe at all the bugs shimmering in the air and all the fish rising all over the water. And they just stand there for a moment.  Mesmerized.  Perhaps, several minutes.

Sometimes then something wonderful happens as we are watching this glorious natural phenomenon.  It seems that the fly fishers do not care as much to actually catch the fish.  They don’t care about counting fish landed. Oh, don’t get me wrong, depending on the person, most folks want to catch some fish. But after a while, what seems most  important is to just be a part of it all and do more watching.  And while we are looking around of course we are often  still trying to drift our little imitations among the naturals, using our best technique and tricks, to get a rise out of a trout. We might  hook a fish, let it run  and then let it shake the hook free. This process of making the presentation, watching the fish rise to the fly,  seems to offer enough satisfaction.

I often tell my clients that for me, 99% of it is to simply make a nice cast with one of my own hand tied flies, get a great drift,  watch the fish rise and then momentarily hook the fish. I often ask, “Do we really need to land the fish”?

And the answer I always have inside me is, “Not during such a glorious hatch and rise of fish. It is enough to be part of it all and to have fooled a fish". 

These two young boys below who were first time fly fishers were lucky enough to land fish but at the same time did not seem to care about the ones that got away. It was enough. They were a part of it all.

Fly Fishing Within the Kingdom: Who Am I?

Jesus said that the kingdom of God is within. Perhaps we can think of this teaching as also meaning that when we allow the kingdom of God to manifest it self within us, that we are then living in the kingdom.

So, what would it be like to fly fish within the kingdom of God? What would I be like?  Who would I be?

While I know in many ways I would still be “me” I also tend to think I would be “more”. Over the years I have been vaguely aware that there is a more whole “me” somewhere. This is someone who is not injured, angry, impatient and jaded.

I often think of this “me” as the one who sometimes walks beside me, but I do not see. This is the one I most often forget and yet sometimes visit.  Some might call this “other” a spiritual twin, a child of God, the inner beloved, or the true divine self of God being within. This is the one who walks in the kingdom of God, and even now, on occasion, walks beside me.  

Words and names and places and time frames do not matter. 

I just know that when I allow this “other” to manifest within me that I find myself being more kind to other fly fishers on the river. I find myself being more patient and helpful. I make room for people on the river.  I walk where I would normally not walk to give a fly away. I share what I know with others. I am more forgiving of the mistakes and mishaps of others. I can better remain calm and silent when I or my client breaks a big fish off.  This is the one who remains thankful,  joyful and hopeful.  

Who is this? 

I usually can’t see him but sometimes I visit with him briefly.

I never got his name.

Yet it somehow helps me to know he is there. It helps me to know that “I” at least on occasion, can walk an extra mile, forgive gently, and remain quiet and calm. It helps me to know that this other one, this one that is both “me” and not me, sometimes walks in the kingdom of God as he should.

Soon, I hope to fish with him again and watch him. I think it is important that I can still see him on occasion. I hope I should never lose sight of him.

The poem by Juan Jimenez titled, “I Am Not I”, describes this “other” precisely:

    I am not I.

    I am this one

    walking beside me whom I do not see,

    whom at times I manage to visit,

    and whom at other times I forget;

    who remains calm and silent while I talk,

    and forgives, gently, when I hate,

    who walks where I am not,

    who will remain standing when I die.

More Trico Tricks for the South Platte River. I Can't Find the Fly!

I am re-posting  these trico tricks from  last summer for those of you who may  have just joined the dialogue on how to better fish trico dry flies.

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.

Great Dry Fly Fishing at Deckers; Tricos, PMD's

Dry fly fishing is usually a more challenging way to fish, or, at least on the South Platte River where the fish sip in tiny insects in the 18-24 hook size range. Folks who have been fishing the river like myself for decades often develop little tricks to help them.  My clients and I  found great dry fly fishing today at Deckers on Trico's and PMD's.  The fish were still rising at 2:15 pm when we left. It is a beautiful thing to see a fish rise to a dry fly.

More Trico Tricks for the South Platte River: Using Peripheral Vision

In my last post I briefly touched on the need for the fly fisher to rest the rising fish in a run for a few minutes by simply casting to other fish in the immediate area. This seems to be effective because it allows the fish to get back into their rhythm of feeding on the natural tricos. And so when you cast to the other fish and or come back to the original fish you can sometimes trick them into taking your artificial Trico by catching them "off guard". So, the short rest period allows the fish to eat natural after natural. I picture the fish almost thinking, "Yum, yum, yum;..... Yum, yum, yum", with each rise. By allowing  the fish to feed, you are sort of lulling it to sleep. The fish will slip out of that  hypersensitive state of awareness of possible danger from all your casting. 

I think one of the best ways to do this is to try to see the bigger picture while fishing. I  try to use my peripheral vision to pick up other  fish that are rising outside of the main run I might be fishing. Out of the corner of my eye, I might catch a glimpse of a surface disturbance upstream or downstream or across or somewhat behind me. I may even hear a gulp. I try to pay attention to these cues and cast to these other fish for a few minutes before going back to the main run.. 

Beginner fly fishers sometimes have a difficult time paying attention to the big picture as they can get so focused on a limited piece of water. I guess we could say it is quite easy to be “short sighted”.  It can be difficult to see the “other” fish in the area because one can be so focused on a few fish in one drift line. Try to remember even a seemingly “small” section of river is quite large and can hold many fish in all kinds of unlikely places.

Use all of your vision. Look around. Even while you have one eye on the drift of your trico try to have another eye looking around for other rising fish.  The river you are fishing, the world, and certainly life is all quite large. There are more fish than the immediate run you are fishing.

 I think of a line of poetry from William Blake, “If the windows of our perception were cleansed everything would appear as it is, infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things thro’ narrow chinks of his cavern”.

Maybe it is similar to trying to “see” God looking through the narrow chinks of our caverns. It is far too limited and short-sighted.