Help me understand stream terminology

[nomad_archer]

So I have been reading the Keystone Flyfishing Guide and some terms keep coming up and I just don't know what they mean in practical terms.

High Gradient Stream?
Low Gradient Stream?
Technical Stream?


The technical stream kind of threw me off and intrigued me because the guide book indicated Lititz Run as a technical stream. I spent a lot of time this past summer learning how to FF on Lititz Run and always seemed to catch fish even when I didn't really have a clue. Maybe I was just lucky because I certainly am not that good.

Thanks in advance
- Nomad

 

[Bamboozle]

High gradient stream is a stream with a high or steep grade. Think mountain stream that runs steeply downhill.

Low gradient stream is basically flat

A technical (I find the term humorous) steam is one where if you get skunked, you can say it's because you were fishing a technical stream.

In other words, a tough stream to catch fish on.

 

[pcray1231]

High gradient = falls fast. Lots of fast water. Pocket water, plunge pools, and the like.

Low gradient = not much drop. Slow smooth surface dominates.

Technical stream = lots of food/hatches, low gradient, and fishing pressure all contribute. Means fish are picky, forcing you to distinguish between emergers, duns, spinners, floating nymphs, etc, they will demand a perfect drift and perfectly placed on their nose, and a size 12 March Brown will not sustitute for a size 14 sulpher.

 

[nomad_archer]

Thanks that makes lots of sense.

pcray - the technical description makes sense and may actually apply the Lititz Run. As I have had times where I made drifts through the same run and when I finally got the presentation, drift, depth ect just right I finally caught a fish. It would have been easy to make a few drifts and move on.

 

[Dave_W]

Yes, good definitions.

I think of "technical" as a stream that has a population of trout that are pressured by anglers and that require sophisticated presentations, often involving long casts and small flies, along with some FFing skill.

In other words, technical streams are where one typically wouldn't take a beginner.

"Technical" is a term almost wholly associated with trout fishing. I would say the term is suited to the Florida Keys in the vicinity of Islamorada....but really it's trout fishing jargon.

 

[outsider]

A pretty good example of a low gradient technical stream would be Letort Spring Run.

 

[steveo27]

I think "technical" is the term they use for when you get skunked ;-)

 

[pcray1231]

Yes, the Letort is pretty much the epitome of low gradient and technical.

Your average everyday small mountain brookie stream is typically high gradient and non-technical. Fish are aggressive and will go clear across a pool to hit a cigarette butt. But show another part of non-technical fishing. They are spooky.

Think of it this way. Technical fish are cautious and lazy. They don't spook easily, but they are hard to talk into eating. Everything has to be just so, and then, eh, alright, I'll mouth it and see what's up. Non technical fish are spastic. They'll shoot across 20 ft of water in the blink of an eye to investigate a twig, only to get spooked by their own shadow and shoot into a hiding spot where they'll stay for a full day scared out of their wits.

These are of course extremes of a continuum. Most streams are in between.

 

[JeffK]

High and low gradient are clear, technical terms, but I really don't like the word "technical" in referring to trout streams. I seems a little snotty to me. I guess technical means the trout are hard to catch, but in real life each "technical" stream seems a little different. All tend to be clear and lower gradient so the fish are spooky and one needs to stalk. The fish may focus on different bugs - sulphurs, tricos, midges are common. Sometimes they don't care. Some of the larger rivers one needs to cast far (and accurate) and some smaller ones need a soft cast (and accurate).

In the end, the regulars on any given "technical" stream figure it out, but those skills may or may not be applicable anywhere else. However, learning more skills never hurts. A guy in July on the Letort may do well sneaking up on soft turf and casting tight to a willow with a tiny beetle, while up on the Delaware the guy catching the fish might be making 60' reach casts out of a drift boat with sulphur emergers. A person on the San Juan better be good at tiny midge fishing. All these anglers have skills, but may take a while to learn each others home waters.

 

[pcray1231]

There is a clear difference in fish behavior in different streams though. Thus it needs a term to describe. I don't necessarily think "technical" means harder to catch. But your focus on what it takes to catch are different.

I would view Penn's Creek as a technical stream. They aren't spooky, you can basically walk on them. I've caught fish within a rod reach. But there are tons of hatches. Half the time the fish just ain't eating, and the going is tough. But when they do strap on the feed bag, they get focused. They are eating this stage of this bug, and that's that. The fish up in that riffle might be doing something different. And just when you figure them out, the situation changes and they're on something else. The challenge is not in being sneaky or anything like that. It's in understanding what is happening. And putting yourself at the right place at the right time with the right tactics.

That's technical fishing. The hard part is understanding what you must do in order to catch fish. Once known, actually doing it isn't so hard.

On the other hand, go to some mountain brook trout stream. It is not technical. Put a fly, any fly, within 5 feet of an unspooked fish and it'll eat it on the first cast, even if there's some drag. At any time of day, and largely regardless of conditions. But that's not to say there's no challenge, it's just a different challenge. Getting a fly to an unspooked fish is the issue. They are ultra spooky, even a shadow will send them under a rock for hours, and the game is up. So you gotta keep your distance. But that ain't easy cause there's a rhododendron behind you, and a low hanging bush between you and the fish. Figuring out what you need to do ain't hard, but actually doing it can be.

 

[Chaz]

Anything over a 5% gradient in PA is a high gradient stream, everything else is low gradient. While 5% isn't all that steep , think of driving on the Turnpike vs. driving over blue Mt. of the Allegheny Front. Even the big hills on the East West TP aren't more than 3.5%. A drive up over the Allegheny Front is probably as much as 6 or 7%. 1% being a 1 foot rise for every 100 feet traveled. So 6% is 6 feet up for 100 feet traveled. For instance the steepest gradient I've ever seen on a road is the road over the Allegheny Front at Ricketts Glen SP. It is 18%.

As for technical streams, think difficult, with tough trout, usually browns, and lots of different currents. That's not to say a technical stream can't be a high gradient stream, some of those streams are technical streams too. But mostly technical refers to relatively flat water, or low gradient.

A particular Pocono Stream falls into both categories, it's fairly steep, and it has a lot of difficult lies and currents. Eddies and riffles dominate and long slow pools present their own problems. The important thing is that you'll nearly always catch fish there, if you don't put your shadow over the fish in gin clear water.

 

[Mike_Emanuele]

Go fish a stream labeled "technical" and you will quickly learn why its labeled as such haha

 

[troutfanatic]

down here in de good ol' south, technical means casting further than 20 feet in a rhododendron orchard with a trickle running through it.

 

[csoult]

Technical = people have a hard time catching fish there