Up or Down?

[bric2000]

Is it better to work upstream or down?

 

[afishinado]

bric2000 wrote:
Is it better to work upstream or down?

No hard and fast rules, but in general, fish dry flies and nymphs working upstream using a dead drift. While most times it's best to work downstream with streamers and wet flies swinging across the current with wets and stripping streamers.

 

[pcray1231]

yup.

On smaller waters, I rarely use wets or streamers. So I may approach individual holes from upstream if say, the brush forces me to. But my overall direction is upstream, and I approach most holes from downstream. If I park near the bottom, I fish up and then hike back. If I park upstream of the target area, I walk first, then fish back towards the car.

On larger waters, I still fish dries and nymphs, but wet flies and streamers sometimes as well. I generally take a best guess on what I'll be using and then formulate a plan. I usually find myself jumping every which direction anyway. Go down and fish this hole, but after finishing maybe there's a guy in the hole below, so I walk back up and fish that stretch I skipped before, etc.

 

[afishinado]

Good stuff. When I have a limited amount of time or limited amount of water to fish, I may fish upstream with dries and nymphs, turn around, and work the same water downstream with wets or streamers.

 

[csoult]

afishinado wrote:

No hard and fast rules, but in general, fish dry flies and nymphs working upstream using a dead drift. While most times it's best to work downstream with streamers and wet flies swinging across the current with wets and stripping streamers.

Yep, this exactly.