The anatomy of a stream

[afishinado]

Pat's post below, from another thread got me thinking about the anatomy of a stream >

Pcray wrote:
Not that it matters,

But a run can be a deep spot in a riffle. I tend to call that a pocket, though. BTW, I love pockets!

But maybe the most common situation for a "run" is at the tail of a riffle/head of a pool. Where the riffle slows some and deepens, but there's still good current. For me such places tend to underwhelm with nymphing. They look great, but I don't do as well as I do in pockets/riffles, or edges of pools or tailouts. Maybe I'm doing something wrong! But they tend to be good during a spinner fall, as fish move up into them out of the pool below, each one trying to get ahead of another fish.

While all streams are different, they are also all the same as hydrology will tell you.

Most common is riffle > run > pool > run > riffle

Pockets are smaller deeper spots found in a riffle. They are often accompanied by and/or caused by obstructions such as rocks in the "riffs".

There are many variations to the flow, like a pool that's a "bend pool". Unique, but the same on most streams > outside of the bend is deeper as the flow of water digs into the bank and the inside is shallower.

As a general rule, I like fishing runs the most > good flow, speed and depth and usually not much variations in current for getting a good drift near or far. It's a place where dry fly fishing can be good as well as nymphing or even throwing wets if your of that ilk; and yes fishing a streamer is not out of the question either.

 

[PennypackFlyer]

I don't really have a preference when it comes to the anatomy aspects. A lot of it for me is determined by where bank fishers have been. I feel these areas won't be as productive due to fish being stressed out, and I will bypass for the most part. I like to get into locations where others, more than likely, have not been to recently or locations that are not so accessible for normal foot traffic. Water temperature more or less determines what I am fishing for.
Sadly to say, most of my fishing is done down in the city area of Phila, so most of my experience is limited to stockies.