Awareness of your shadow on the water

[Magnet]

This time of year, your shadow over the water is something to pay attention to.Its nice to have the sun at your back so you can see what you are doing, but this convenience may come at the expense of a reduced catch rate. If you watch AJ fish on a late fall afternoon, you will notice him making an effort to avoid this, I was just wondering how important shadow projection is? Does the significance of ones own shadow override getting into the best position to fish a particlar pool? Also, if you have limited options as far as positioning, what are some stratigies you employ to still take fish there?

[Adam]

Magnet-

This was a point of conversation on Sunday morning when I was fishing with a friend on a small WTMA. I always try to keep the sun in my face on the small streams if possible. On bigger rivers, sometimes it is just not feasible. Things I have been caught doing...lining myself up with a tree to take advantage of the trees shadow over the water. I have knelt in water or banks, sat on rocks in the middle of the river to reduce profile, etc.

[TroutAholic]

I think there is a definite advantage to having the sun at your back (fighter pilots, at least in the old days before planes had radar, always preferred to approach thier targets with the sun behind them), but certainly not if it projects your shadow anywhere near the water you are fishing. A bird flying over feeding fish can put them down, imagine how the fish will react to a large shadow moving over their water. I am sure that if fish see any unusual movement, whether it is a shadow on the water or your profile against the sky, they will stop feeding and head for cover.

I too, will use shadows from trees, etc. to mask my approach, crouch, get on my knees, whatever it takes to keep both my profile and my shadow from alerting the fish to my presence. I also wade very slowly, not just to keep from disturbing the water but also to prevent small rocks from grinding together under my feet, sound travels very well under water.

Also, I almost always fish upstream (both casting upstream and working my way upstream) when nymphing. This way I am approaching the fish from their blind spot, since they face into the current, and the current helps minimize any disturbances made in the water.

Steve

[AaronJasper]

Steve,

How are you and Flash doing? Did you guys get out to PA yet?

I will add one fact here for discussion...

Sometimes, depending on the angle of the sun, your shadow can be cast up to and over 30 feet onto the water. What would you do to eliminate spooking the fish?

[TroutAholic]

Hey Aaron,

Flash and I are both doing okay. No, we never did make a trip to PA, I hope to get out there next year.

Steve

[Silver Creek]

I think shadows are very important. They always are, but it depends on where the fish are and how they are feeding. I think we spook a lot of fish especially when we are just fishing the water rather than fishing to a particular fish.

In the fall, I want to fish from below the fish. Even if the sun is at my back, I can see my shadow and I can cast beyond it. But remember to keep the rod low because it casts a shadow as well. The water is lower in the fall, and it is much easier to spook the fish especially when approaching from above the fish. Generally, the only time I will approach from above is if I know I cannot get a cast in from below. Remember that when approaching from above the fish in low water, there is a much, much greater possibility of spooking the fish when you need to retrieve and pick up the line for the next cast.

When you are upstream, all the silt that is disturbed during wading goes downstream to the fish. Fish will spook without you ever knowing it. Low water, downstream silt, and fly line pick up all favor an upstream approach over the position of your shadow.

Just as important as a shadow is the 10° line. This is line under which the images in the trout's window are distorted and compressed. At 25 feet from the edge of the window, you and your rod need to stay below 5.5 feet keep from being recognized.

[AaronJasper]

Silver Creek,

So you are saying that me being short actually helps me out?!?! That's one of the first times that I heard that being short is a good thing! Is there a formula for the closer distances? That's an interesting tidblit. I usually knell down and crawl quite frequently. I was fishing Spring Creek in the fall when it was really low. I was crawling throug mud and such. I even had the rod in my mouth. I was able to get very close to fish in some very skinny water. I was also wearing camo so I am sure that helped. I mean, it was a lot of work to keep my shadow off the water, but I must say that it was well worth it... even though it was exhausting!

[Davyfly]

No question of doubt your shadow may well spook fish, and so will same caused by your fly line, leader and at times surface fished flies, believe it or not.

Always a good bet to keep a low profile when fishing waters that trout have a greater level of visibility above the water surface, when fishing fast turbulent water not so much a issue.

Fish an detect movement from a great height above them, l do not buy much of what l have read related to what a fish is able to see.

Let me relate this.
I had parked up roadside to look down to the river which was in fact the South Platte, l was at least 40ft or more above those fish which were at the time taking BWO, l was at the time in a position down stream from those fish, as l moved up stream to ward them they spooked and went down.
Now bear in mind these fish were concentrated with a upstream vision to the naturals floating down to them.
This really shocked me. To prove l was the issue l backed off downstream and waited till those fish resumed to feed which they did, again as l walked back upstream they again spooked and went down.

I have had similar experiences when watching fish from bridges above streams.

These were fish l could see, the majority of fish we spook we never see
as issues of light angle, water surface movement distort our visions.
Further they see us before we have a chance to accliamtise out eyesight to see them.

The best FF l know are very cautious anglers who approach a water in a way that is very different to the majority.

DW

[Silver Creek]

[quote author=AaronJasper link=topic=3825.msg29634#msg29634 date=1259793113]
Silver Creek,

So you are saying that me being short actually helps me out?!?! That's one of the first times that I heard that being short is a good thing! Is there a formula for the closer distances? That's an interesting tidblit.
[/quote]

The application is simple but the explanation is complicated.

To apply the principle, I use the rule of 6. The rule of 3 determines tippet size to fly size by dividing the hook size by 3 to get tippet size. Similarly, divide your distance from the outer edge of the trout's window by 6 to find how far above the water you can be before being seen. If you are 18 feet way, you need to be lower than 3 feet, at 24 ft, you need to be lower than 4 feet and so on. Simple

The explanation is that when light enters or leaves a water/air barrier it will bend. The next time you are walking next to a clear pool, stick your fly rod into the water and it will look bent at the point at which it enters the water.

Light bends so that when we look at an object in water it will look further away and shallower than it really is. So when you see a trout it is really closer and deeper than it looks to you. That is the bending of light as it leaves the water to your eyes.

When the fish is looking at us through it surface window, light entering the water also bends such that, the light that enters at a narrower angle is bend more. Only the light entering at 90 degrees (directly overhead) to the water surface is not bend. This means that the light that enters from objects at a low angle to the water surface is compressed and distorted. Only when the entry angle is greater than 10 degrees can the object be seen relatively clearly. This is why we need to stay below 10 degrees.

How then does this lead to the rule of 6? It is plain geometry.

Consider the right angle triangle in the illustration below. Suppose the closest edge of the fish's window is at point (a). Angle h-d is 10°. Distance from the window edge is the length of side (d) and the height of the 10 degree line is length of side (h). The tangent of 10° is h/d = 0.1763 so the height you need to stay under is h = (0.1763 ) x d(the distance from the edge of the window). It so happens that the tangent of 10° is about 1/6 or 1.667. Dividing (d) by 6 gives you (h) = the rule of 6.

Notice also in the illustration below that the position of the flying mayfly is shifted closer to the vertical by the refraction of light by the water.

[AaronJasper]

Very nice diagram and explanation. I will look at how the shadow is bent this weekend. So if shadow looks to be 30 feet, it could only be 20-25 feet when it reaches the bottom. And the only time that it is straight is if something passes directly overhead like a fly line or an indicator... Correct?