Big Water Tips

[Padraic]

The Can/Can't catch 'em thread had a few good tips for fishing big water. Which is cool, 'cause most of us fish smaller streams most of the time and only get to the bigger waters on special trips. So naturally there are little things that trip us up.

A couple of my favorite Penn's tips were already mentioned; wade up close on the fish and cast short, accurate pitches and find these feeding fish before you start casting.

One I didn't mention yet, lead the fish a bit more. The bigger water is often deeper, so you want to give them the time see and rise to your fly.

So what are your "hard won" lessons for bigger streams?

 

[Acristickid]

Fish the easier spots and keep moving. I sometimes find myself hanging out too long in one spot. Couple casts through and move on. Or perhaps in the case of the Yough; some tougher wading will reward you with more fish.

 

[Allmyne]

Here is one for the group on the lehigh where i have tried to fish it is wide and swallow about 2 feet max for 200 yards. The person next to me (gf) is throwing a spinner hitting some rainbows, me using a nymph with no results. Is it the distance of the cast of the spinner that is catching and lack of my distance? Or just my presentation? Seems when the lehigh is low the fish are hitting the swallow runs very aggresive. The deep holes seem to slow down when the water is flowing low.

 

[vcregular]

Allmyne - re the Lehigh...switch over to a streamer in that case.

Let the fly swing with a very erratic twitch/strip. At times, strip the fly, and feed the line back out...maybe like a foot at a time. Also, when you cast out at a 45% angle downstream, throw a few upstream mends to get the fly down. As it swings, the presentation will rise naturally off the bottom. And finally, just let the fly hang at the end of the swing for a while - - Lehigh trout will sometimes hit a fly dead straight downstream from ya - after it has made it swing :-D Then hang on!

 

[pete41]

I would say the trick to understanding big water is taking into account that trout are like most of us.
We want to be comfortable,well fed and safe.
For them that usually means working the seams when in the feeding mode.The more dominate fish will have the better sights.
The eyes at the head of the pools,the position behind the obstacles[rocks etc.,]that allow them to see the oncoming food and intercept with the least effort.Rainbows often position in the cushioned water ahead of the obstacle.Also undercut banks ,logs,and sweepers also offer the three items .
Time spent on big waters will allow an angler to instinctively zero in on the likely holds of the better fish and avoid wasting time on water that looks good to us but lacks the attributes that the trout look for.

 

[afishinado]

Always contact or visit the local fly shop to find out what’s hatching, what flies are working and where. Also check flow conditions and temperature.

As I mentioned in another thread, try fishing your flies downstream (and wade downstream – it’s easier)

Move to fish different water types and different sections. It’s amazing how many times nothing’s happening in one spot, and the fish are going crazy on another part of the river not far away. When I fish with a buddy, I bring walkie talkies. We usually split up, and cover different water. When someone finds fish, a hatch, or a fly pattern that’s working we call each other. If nothing is happening, we call to meet up and move to another spot.

Prospecting with a dry fly when nothing is rising is a low percentage way to fish on big water. Also fishing with tiny flies is tough, unless you are matching the hatch to active fish. Buggers, big stonefly nymphs, larger GRHE, etc. are all good prospecting flies.

Use streamers to cover a lot of water when searching. If you have follows or short strikes you’ve found active fish. Slow down and fish the area more thoroughly with nymphs or other flies. The most versatile searching fly for me is a wooly bugger. I often fish it like a nymph (dead drifted) and let it swing in the current at the end of the drift, then I strip it back all in one cast, to find out what the fish prefer.

Sink that nymph. Don’t be happy until you begin losing a few flies. Sometimes in faster deeper water using a lot of weight, a strike indicator is a liability. You may want to try highlights spaced out on your leader (strike putty works) and/or a hot butt leader to follow by sight. Also get to the bottom and use your sense of feel to detect the bottom and strikes.

Reading the water to find the prime spots is important. Current seams, behind and in front of obstacles, heads and tails of pools, etc. If you catch fish in one type of water, seek similar areas to fish.

When you do see rises, take your time and try to capture a few insects to match. Many times there is more than one type of insect on the water. Try to determine what they are feeding on. I usually start with an emerger tied behind a visible dry fly. Cover the fish with a some good drifts. No takes, change patterns or type of fly. Don’t just pound the rising fish with every dry fly pattern you have. Often the best way to catch rising fish is with a fly in the film or well below the surface. Don’t forget about soft hackles and caddis pupa flies.

Fish early and late. I can’t tell you the number of times I fished during the day and swore there were no fish in the river, and the last hour all hell breaks loose. Most of my fish are usually caught near dawn and dusk, especially in the summer. You may get some good hatches midday early in the season or on cloudy/rainy day but in the bright sun during the summer midday is a good time for a nap.

 

[pete41]

Re: Big Water Tips

Now if we are talking BIG,say a river not a stream they will often be bowl shaped with very little shore cover and not much easy to spot stream cover.This can be intimating to those not use to it.
The seams I mentioned above may tough to figure out.
A rock the size of a grapefruit or basketball will have seams on both sides and above .This is because the rock deflects the water current much the way the air foils on a car deflects the wind.
This deflector will have the current flow around and over the obstacle leaving a pocket that trout can hold in.Even if the rock is half buried it can provide a very comfortable,safe feeding position for trout.If the water is 20 inches or more deep it can be very hard to spot surface disturbance.
How to fish this.Well if there is a ``hatch'' going on the rising fish can be spotted.If not the fisherman will often wade right through some of the best holding water to cast to what he thinks looks like the best spots.
This will be rocks big enough to be seen or deep looking spots.Those places that just look fishable to US.Ironically they will often have the average fish as they are less comfortable for the fish to feed from requiring more energy than the spots behind the smaller obstructions which allow the trout to take current carried food from either side or above with slight movement.
The nymph fisherman can spend all day to cover a small portion of the stream.This is where an experienced streamer fisherman or wet fly fisherman can have a field day covering much more water holding the better fish.
So when you face this BIG water for the first time remember that most of the best fish IF they are feeding will be in a place that lets them dine safely with the least effort.Those ``barren'' flats may be a gold mine if the water is knee deep with a good current.
Don't make the mistake of wading where you should be fishing if you want to find out why the Delaware or other big waters are famous for big fish.lol


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[afishinado]

Pete wrote:

“the fisherman will often wade right through some of the best holding water to cast to what he thinks looks like the best spots.
This will be rocks big enough to be seen or deep looking spots. Those places that just look fishable to us. Ironically they will often have the average fish as they are less comfortable for the fish to feed from requiring more energy than the spots behind the smaller obstructions which allow the trout to take current carried food from either side or above with slight movement.”


Great point! Sometimes the smaller, unseen obstructions hold the best fish.

When fishing a bigger, visible rock or flow obstruction try this. DON’T FISH THE SLACK WATER BEHIND AN OBSTRUCTION FIRST – IT’S SUICIDE. Behind a big rock the flow forms a V of slack water, which expands wider and wider as the water flows over/around the rock. When fishing downstream (in reverse order when fishing upstream) fish the water directly above the rock first. The flow forms a small pocket of slack water in front of the rock and it will usually hold a good fish. Now fish the near side seam along the V, keeping your fly and tippet on the edge, but still in the fast water. Change you casting position, if need be, to get an angle to fish the seam on the far side the same way. The next sweet spot is the soft spot in the flow, formed well below the rock where the V starts to break up. After fishing all the edges - above, to the sides and at the end of the current break, you can give the water a try directly behind the rock. I call this the suicide cast, since upon landing, your fly will be swept up in the current from the side and drag will set in. Try some slack casts and shorter casts holding the line and leader out of the water if you can get close enough. A lot of people I’ve fished with say they never catch any fish around big rocks or obstructions. After I see them fish them, I know why. The first cast they make is the suicide cast behind rock with the fly dragging through and spooking every fish holding there.

One other thing to remember, the fish are attracted to obstructions to get out of the main current flow, but active fish also are looking to feed. The fish may hold in the slack current but they feed in the seams (where the faster and slack current meet) that is where the insects ride the current and the fish wait on the edge to pick them off.

A visible dry with a small bead head dropper is a great way to fish an obstruction.