redietz
Well-known member
Am I the only person that fishes away from the starting point and then fishes back to the starting point? It means that I spend equal time fishing in each direction. How can it be otherwise?
Yes, I honor the "downstream yields to upsteam" rule, just because it's the convention, much like driving on right side of the road. I don't believe there was ever a practical reason for the convention, though -- somebody is going muddy the other person's water regardless of who yields. I think the convention got started when 19th century "gentlemen" (meaning the leisured class who had time to wait out a hatch) fished dry flies upstream and expected the peasantry to yield.
There are many advantage to fishing downstream, and only a few to fishing upstream. Trout have nearly 360 degree vision; you can't really sneak up on then any better from below that from above. I always seem to spook more fish while fishing upstream. Fishing down allows a fly-before-line presentation, and usually involves less false casting - both advantages in not giving yourself away. It allows dry flies to be skittered, and wet flies to have a vertical motion.
The main advantages to fishing upstream is the fact that you don't muddy the water you're about to fish -- this is a tremendous advantage in streams with silty bottoms. It's offset that fishing downstream can create a "chum line"by dislodging invertebrates (not that doing so deliberately is at all sporting, but it happens).
Yes, you pull the hook into the mouth of a fishing while fishing upstream, but that requires action on your part. A fish is much more likely to hook itself fishing downstream. And I wish that fish never got deep hooked while fishing down -- I've probably killed several in the two weeks that were gut hooked on a swung wet. (This is more about direction of presentation, though, than direction of movement -- as is the fact that it's easier to get a dead drift presenting upstream.)
Yes, I honor the "downstream yields to upsteam" rule, just because it's the convention, much like driving on right side of the road. I don't believe there was ever a practical reason for the convention, though -- somebody is going muddy the other person's water regardless of who yields. I think the convention got started when 19th century "gentlemen" (meaning the leisured class who had time to wait out a hatch) fished dry flies upstream and expected the peasantry to yield.
There are many advantage to fishing downstream, and only a few to fishing upstream. Trout have nearly 360 degree vision; you can't really sneak up on then any better from below that from above. I always seem to spook more fish while fishing upstream. Fishing down allows a fly-before-line presentation, and usually involves less false casting - both advantages in not giving yourself away. It allows dry flies to be skittered, and wet flies to have a vertical motion.
The main advantages to fishing upstream is the fact that you don't muddy the water you're about to fish -- this is a tremendous advantage in streams with silty bottoms. It's offset that fishing downstream can create a "chum line"by dislodging invertebrates (not that doing so deliberately is at all sporting, but it happens).
Yes, you pull the hook into the mouth of a fishing while fishing upstream, but that requires action on your part. A fish is much more likely to hook itself fishing downstream. And I wish that fish never got deep hooked while fishing down -- I've probably killed several in the two weeks that were gut hooked on a swung wet. (This is more about direction of presentation, though, than direction of movement -- as is the fact that it's easier to get a dead drift presenting upstream.)
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