Position

[hoytmedic]

This may seem ridiculous, but what is the best stream position to have when fishing spooky fish. Upstream from the fish trying to stay hidden and letting slack in your line to drift to the fish, or down stream behind the fish casting over it and letting it drift back to you? Thanks in advance!

 

[Fishidiot]

Medic,
Welcome to PAFF. Very broadly speaking, it's best to be downstream from fish casting to a point above them and allowing your fly to drift to them. This is largely because trout always face into the current which means they are almost always facing in an upstream direction.

 

[afishinado]

hoytmedic wrote:
This may seem ridiculous, but what is the best stream position to have when fishing spooky fish. Upstream from the fish trying to stay hidden and letting slack in your line to drift to the fish, or down stream behind the fish casting over it and letting it drift back to you? Thanks in advance!

Most times fishing upstream is best, but for spooky fish, it is important to cast at an angle (not directly upstream) as not to have you line and leader land on top of the fish. At some point when you achieve more casting proficiency, a reach mend or a curve cast can be executed to achieve the same.

At times, because of obstructions or wading limitations, it may be necessary to approach a fish from upstream. Since fish face upstream, you are more likely to be visible to the fish. In addition, it is usually more difficult to get a drag-free float with your fly when fishing downstream. The up-side to fishing DS is the fly appears to fish before the leader and line, but most often that approach is Plan B. HTH.

 

[TimMurphy]

Dear hoytmedic,

You didn't mention if you are fishing dryflies, nymphs, wetflies, or streamers. Different flies require somewhat different approaches.

With dryflies and nymphs what fishidiot and afish said works very well. Try to cast at an angle quartering the fish and area of stream you are targeting so that your line and leader connection don't pass over the fish.

If you are working a section of stream and sort of prospecting don't just cast into the middle of a run. Work the edge of it closest to you and gradually cast farther out until you work your way to the far edge.

With wetflies and streamers you often want to swing the fly quartering downstream across the area where the fish are holding.

Retrieve the fly through the holding area in a way that mimics the motions of the natural bait you are imitating. EX, a streamer will normally work best with longer strips and pauses to attract the fishes attention. Wetflies work best with shorter strips to mimic a fly struggling to break out of it's nymphal stage and take flight.

Hope this helps.

Regards,

Tim Murphy

 

[pete41]

Most times we are just kidding ourselves anyway.
Light refraction[sp?] allows them to see us before we see them[unless they are holding right under the surface] and almost impossible to not cause un-natural vibrations.
However they have to feed and get use to humans which results in trout on heavily fished waters such as the Paradise and places like Henrys Fork in Idaho being easier to approach than less heavily fished waters.
Catching them is something else as they could probably tell you who's tie it was.lol

 

[hoytmedic]

This answers my question. Thanks everyone very much!