Trout, Trout Flies and Panfish
By Michael Hatfield
As I’m writing this, the thermometer in Richmond has been hovering in the mid 90’s and I can’t tell you the last time I felt a raindrop. Many of our mountain streams are usually running very low this time of year so I tend to give the trout a break and stay closer to home and spend these warm evenings fishing for panfish in a reservoir close to my house. Even though I love to catch crappie and bluegill any time of the year, I use these evenings to fine tune some of my trout tactics for the upcoming fall and winter.
A situation we all encounter when trout fishing is that where the trout strikes at your fly but misses or refuses to take it. In this situation you need to have a delicate pickup and immediate laydown of your fly in the fish’s feeding zone without spooking the fish. Since bluegills are very abundant and will strike at just about any dry fly that resembles an insect, I use them to work on this delicate presentation technique. Cast to where you think the bluegills are and if present, they will probably strike within seconds. When the fish strikes, just set the hook lightly, don’t yank the line so hard you send the fish into orbit. A “strip strike” is typically all that is needed to set the hook. If the fish “strikes short”, lift your fly and line delicately off the water and present it right back where the strike came from. This delicate pick up and lay down is the action you need to use on a stream when a trout misses your fly. You can do this all evening with bluegills and besides having a great time catching fish, you will see improvement in hook-ups when you get back on your favorite trout stream. There is one slight difference you need to remember when making this presentation on a stream. Pay very close attention to where the strike came from. When you make the follow-up presentation on the stream you will need to take into consideration the current and deliver your fly just a bit upstream of where the strike occurred. In pocketwater, a fish will usually go right back to their holding position after striking a fly or insect. In a larger pool, the fish generally drifts down stream a bit after making a strike.
In addition to topwater dry fly strikes, subsurface nymphing techniques can be practiced as well. Once again, just about any nymph within the water column will draw the attention of bluegills and crappie. I like to use small muddler minnows or any fly with a bit of marabou on it. Using floating line and a weighted fly, I will cast to the likely fish holding areas and begin retrieving slowly. I watch the end of my floating line for any odd movement signaling a strike. As soon as you see the tip stop, or notice movement, set the hook. Even though there probably won’t be any current in the lake or pond you are fishing, by paying closer attention to the line’s movement, you will be developing a keener eye and sense of the strike for when you return to moving water.
Usually on these evenings I am fishing from the shore and to challenge my casting, I will put myself in some of the most difficult places possible to cast. I may back up to a bush or tree so I will have to make a steeple cast or I may put myself in a position where my backcast only has a small opening in the brush. The only limit here is your imagination and how much you want to be challenged. By putting yourself in these different casting situations you will learn to be more aware of your surrounds, improve your casting accuracy and in the long run end up with fewer hook-ups in the trees and bushes.
These exercises may seem a bit elementary at first but if you spend a few evenings executing them I am sure you will see improvements in your casting and fishing success this fall when you hit the streams.
Michael Hatfield lives in Richmond, VA and is a member of the Shelbyville Rod Company’s Pro Staff. You can reach him through his website at www.threehatsflyfishing.com