How do you decide to fish a new river?

[Silver Creek]

One of the most difficult decisions for a new fly fisher to learn is how to fish a totally new river. If you had a complete beginner at your side, how would you explain your approach to a totally new river? How do you decide where to fish and how to fish?

[AaronJasper]

Good one...

I make it a habit to tell the customers that we are going to start with what ever tactic is going to be best for the situation and take it from there. If there are a ton of fish on the surface, we will fish dries and emergers, or even a nymph in the film. If the water is high and off color, we will nymph with large nymphs and possibly streamer fish. If there are no fish rising and conditions are good we will most likely nymph a riffle and or a section of pocket water. What I try to tell clients and new people is that you have to learn techniques at the same time. It's a bad idea to think, this year all i'm going to do is strike indicator nymph or only use streamers. If you ate not adaptive with your techniques you will be a "one trick pony" and miss out on fishing opportunities. So many guys, even "expert" anglers only do one thing and when a different situation arises they are SOL because they are not well versed in many different tactics.

For beginners, I also show them what the prime holding water looks like and how to approach it. I know most people always say look around before wading out to the good spot but I like to tell new comers to get on out there and do your thing! In other words get out there and catch some fish!

[Mantis]

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[LopatNympher]

I like to look at the water and look for spots similar to places that I've had success in the past.

[JUICE]

I like to watch where Aaron is fishing and what he is doing, then tell him to get the hell out of there and go to another spot and then copy him! Trick is doing it fast before he catches most of the fish in the beat he is fishing.

Honestly, sound's silly, but sometimes watching others who are having success on the stream, figuring out what they are doing and then copycatting isn't a bad approach. The key is to learn from it, remember it for next time. (Water was high and off color, aaron was fishing bright nymphs under and indicator along the edges) Remember the situation and tactic used and then apply it to a similar one when you are on your own.

[Silver Creek]

Most newbies don't spend nearly the amount of time they should just looking. Time off 60 seconds, its a long time. So only a couple of minutes is needed to scout a new river.

The name of this site is Trout Predator. Fly fishers are hunters. You don't see deer hunters walk into the woods and fire shots blindly hoping to hit a deer. So be a hunter and scout the river.

The first thing I will do when on a new river is to observe it for a couple of minutes staying well away from the edge and hunched down. I'm looking for rises near the banks and for sippers, those quiet rises that are hard to see unless you look very closely. Don't only look at the water but also look through the water to see if you can see fish. I want not only to see adult fish but fingerling trout to see how healthy the fishery is.

Then I do two things that most fly fishers do not do. I shake the bushes to see what has been hatching. The second thing I do is turn over rocks.

When most folks turn over rocks, they are only looking for what insects are in the water. Just as important to me is the density of insects, the invertebrate biomass that is in the river. This tells me how fertile the river is and even if I don't see any fish, I have an idea of how many fish are in the river.

Fish density is important because it will change where the fish will be. In a fertile river, the fish will be distributed across the river form bank to bank. But in a infertile fishery, you may need to spot fish just like they do in New Zealand where the trout are few but large.

When fishing the lies in an infertile fishery, the trout will be only in the very best lies that bring in the most food. Often times these will be near the center of the river where water flow is the highest. Higher water flows in these rivers = the greater chance of food being in that water. So the quiet areas near the banks that hold fish in fertile rivers may hold few fish in infertile rivers because the slower flows don't bring in much food. If you don't check out fertility, you will be more likely to fish areas that hold no fish.

Low food density also tells me that the fish will be feeding opportunistically and that the fish will move a longer distance to take the fly. Both of these can affect how we will fish. Rich biomass fisheries allow selectivity and means that I may need to be more precise in my imitations.

Shaking the bushes allows me to be more selective in fly choice. If I find a lot of insects I get an idea of what has hatched and may be hatching in a while, So I get a head start in choosing flies.

I should note that turning over rocks may tell me how rich the river is, but it can also mislead you if you sample in a different area than you fish. For example, if you sample in a riffle but then fish those imitations in quiet water, those insects in the riffle may not be present in the quiet water. So sample where you plan to fish.

After you sample the bushes and the water, you need to decide where you are going to fish. Newbies can sometimes approach the prime lies incorrectly. For every fly fisher, there is a single best position from which they should cast. Often times this choice is automatic, but in some cases there are several points from which you can cast to the fish. You need to preplan your approach and position yourself according to your personal wading and casting ability. This is an individual choice. Just because Aaron stands in a certain place, does not necessary mean you should stand in that place.

[JUICE]

What an awesome response. I will try some of this next time I am on river. Thank you so much for taking the time to share your approach.

[Mantis]

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[Silver Creek]

Thanks for the kind comments. I do appreciate it. Here's another beginner tip to help you locate trout.

Trout depend on cold water. When you sample the insects, you automatically sample the water temperature. That gives you an idea whether the water temperature is appropriate for trout. Trout can survive in temps from just under 35 degrees to 75 degrees but they prefer temps about 50 to 65 degrees for optimum feeding.

While scouting freestone rivers, I look at bank side vegetation for hints of springs that flow in, at, or under the river's edge. There will be vegetation changes in these areas with plants such as watercress, ferns, liverworts and abundant mosses that require year round moisture to survive. Look for these areas in the spring when flows are abundant. In the summer, as the water warms up, trout will tend to congregate at areas that still have flows. Look for areas of green when the banks turn brown.

This is not important in tailgaters or spring creeks that have consistent flows and temperatures, but in freestone rivers it has helped me to locate fish in late summer based on what I found in spring.

In one of the rivers I fish, I noticed a small spring creek that was flowing into the river in the early season when the vegetation and leaves were were still sparse. In late summer, the mouth of this spring was hidden up by summer vegetation. Although I could not visibly see any flow, the fish were all located on that side of the river, downstream from the spring. I took water temperatures about 50 ft below the spring. The water on the side of the spring was 5 degrees cooler than the water on the other side of the river. It was 65 vs 70 degrees. It made the difference between success and failure.

I learned this trick from our DNR stream improvement techs. I've walked rivers with them while they plan how they will narrow the river. They mark all the spring flows to make sure that they will not be cut off from the narrowed and deepened channel. If you look for them, you will find these spring flows.

[AaronJasper]

It's amazing how being observant can make such a huge difference in catch rates. I have fished with people who are good fishermen and overlook things constantly and if they were able to take notice of certain water types or create a pattern for holding lies, read the water a little better or even be more confident, they would be much more successful. These guys surely have the skill to get those fish, but for some reason they pass it up. I even passed one of these subtle spots up last year. I got out of the stream, repositioned myself and fished true little cushion and pulled the 28 inch trout out of the Farmington. That was a valuable lesson and one that is extremely elementary! Put that fly everywhere. Make sure it fishes it's way through all of the holding water. I made the near fatal error of not fishing that lie. So to a beginner or even an expert, you might have passed up that fish of lifetime because you simply overlooked a lie because you said to yourself, "there can't be one there!"