We’re back for another article in The East and The West series! In the first post of the series, we covered some of the things we have in common in our angling practices, as well as the differences in the waters that we learned on. If you haven’t had a chance to read that article yet, we recommend going back and reading through it, as it’s relevant to our next topic - tactics. You can find a link for the article below…
Having briefly described the waters we fish, we wanted to talk about how we go about fishing our favorite sections. From setting up for the first cast and stealth, to the parts of the streams we target and how we present the fly - this article is meant to give a brief rundown on the difference in our tactics. Let’s begin!
Small Stream Tactics
As Amanda works her way into the water, and plans her first move, she is taking note of her surroundings. “I definitely am looking around to make sure I can cast, and hookset.” She goes on to say that there are plenty of times where she sees a spot where she could make a cast and place the fly into eyeshot of a fish, but even if she were able to set the hook, there’s not a clear path or area where she would be able to successfully bring the fish to the net without the line getting tangled up. Along with that, she also takes into consideration her own safety in being able to land a fish.
As mentioned in the last article in the series, stealth plays a big role in these waters that Amanda fishes. “You can’t be unstealthy and catch a brook trout,” she adds, talking about how she takes the time to observe the water and watch for trout and bug activity.
Keeping stealth at the forefront of her mind, Amanda likes to move and cover as much water as she can while out fishing, most often fishing her way upstream. She positions herself where she feels is a safe place to be able to cast from without scaring away any fish. Without the luxury of being selective in how she gets to target where she casts from in relation to where she’s casting to, Amanda takes advantage of aerial mending and other techniques to be able to deliver the fly from different angles.
When it comes to specific water characteristics that Amanda focuses her efforts, her preference lies in small riffles and runs. Being that the creeks are small in terms of width, she doesn’t spend very much time fishing in one spot. Without many places for fish to hide, she feels that a few casts allows her to cover the majority of spots where a brookie could be holding.
Amanda’s progression when clearing a section starts with casting near to far, and from top to bottom. “I like to cast to where I’m going to land a fish, then I’ll work my way out. Then work deeper down in the water.” As she does this, she tends to start with a gentle landing of the fly before progressing to a more vigorous plop into the water. The presentation of her simple black and brown sakasa kebari isn’t focused as much on animation as it is on depth. This is where she uses her line control skills to keep it closer to the surface, or let the fly sink into the riffles. While the majority of her focus is in the top part of the water column, she will cast in a way that puts the line down-current from the fly, allowing the water to pull the line and fly under when she wants to target fish lower in a run.
River Tactics
With the swift flows channeled through the boulders that litter the riverbed, Martin likes to scan the rocky banks for spots that offer a stable point to be able to cast to multiple lies strewn about the river. “I don’t have much tree cover to worry about, but the slippery rocks can make wading difficult. I like to be able to cast to as many pockets and eddies as I can from one spot.” Much like Amanda, Martin also looks for sections where he’ll be able to land a fish, but this often means down river and outside of the main current.
With all the commotion from the water splashing against the rocks and the tumbling riffles, stealth is a little different on the river. Most of the time, Martin positions himself behind boulders, or the broken surface film caused by the currents to hide his presence alongside the banks.
Many stretches of the river Martin fishes are nestled in canyons and ravines. This allows for easy scouting of a given stretch of water before fishing them. “I prefer to move along the banks when I can, it’s just easier to do and much less exhausting.” he says, adding that “I much rather fish upstream, but it just depends how the access is.” Depending on the stretch that Martin is fishing, he changes his line or the angle he casts to in relation to his position on the river, with a lot of casts either cross stream to about a quarter upstream.
“Riffles and pocket water is where I focus most of my time,” says Martin. Opposite to the creeks where Amanda is able to drift a fly a few times and cover any potential lies, the river takes a slightly different approach. There are often plenty of spots where a rainbow trout may be holding, but the focus tends to be on whichever characteristic they seem to be gravitating toward that day. Oftentimes, a handful of drifts through the riffles - or a couple 3-4 second holds in a swirling eddie are enough to garner a strike. With that being said, the speed that a section gets fished is dependent on how many spots there are to cast to.
When clearing a section, Martin also uses the near to far, and top to bottom approach. He doesn’t always cast to the near bank being that it can be pretty shallow without any holding spots, but there are some sections where the river flows down through levels of pools, and this is where he employs more of a fanning progression in where he targets his casts. In regards to how he presents the fly, the dead drift is the first presentation offered, then followed by pon pon in pocket water, and leisenring lift when fishing riffles. Much like Amanda, most of his focus is in the top part of the column, but also prefers to keep the fly just below the surface. “I feel that when the fly is resting on top of the water, you tend to get a lot of missed strikes.” Where his approach differs from Amanda is in how he gets the kebari to sink. He does it the opposite way, where he casts so that the line lands upcurrent from the fly, but places the fly in a spot where a tumbling current will pull it under.
We’ve now covered the types of waters we fish, and a brief overview of how we go about fishing them. With so many factors and little nuances, we decided to talk about our tactics in broad strokes. The next, and final article in the series will cover some of the gear that we find helps us on the different waters we fish. Until then, be sure to check out the recent articles outside of the series, as some of them are tied into topics covered in these past few posts.
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