Fly Fishing in High Water

Written by Cameron Larsen


A long, long time ago, I remember waking up at 3 a.m., on a Saturday. I say waking up, although I don't think I ever went to sleep. It was opening day eve, as good as Christmas eve, in my seven year old way of thinking. Our destination was more than three hours away, torepparttar land of huge trout, and lots of them. Silently, inrepparttar 132940 light ofrepparttar 132941 moon, my Dad and I climbeed in his Ford Falcon and began are ardous three hour journey torepparttar 132942 land of Big Fish.

Thta magical mysterious place was, acrossrepparttar 132943 Cascade Mountains atrepparttar 132944 legendary Deschutes River. Home of montser trout. I dozed somewhat onrepparttar 132945 drive over, waking up to donuts and hot chocolate, as we rambled throughrepparttar 132946 forest. At last, we descended onrepparttar 132947 flat juniper country ofrepparttar 132948 'East side', and finally began our twisting descent downrepparttar 132949 canyon torepparttar 132950 mighty river. With my dog, I pressed my nose torepparttar 132951 window glass, drooling with anticpation. As we crossed over, I didn't noticerepparttar 132952 off-color water orrepparttar 132953 river spilling here and there over it's natural banks. But I did notice my Dad's groan. We stopped, stretched our legs, usedrepparttar 132954 bushes, and then I heard my Dad say, 'blown out.' I was curious and inquired, and learnedrepparttar 132955 river was 'blown out', flooded, too high to fish. Each exclamation ofrepparttar 132956 river more seriuos thanrepparttar 132957 last. Until, I realized fishing wasn't going to happen today. As bad as life gets at seven, as bad as no Santa Claus. We threw rocks intorepparttar 132958 roaring mess, walked around some more, I learned about rock formations, local flora, and then we were off, back to home.

Today I live two blocks from that legendary river, and have learned a thing or two about high water fishing. I have had success here and on other rivers using some very simple techniques.

Where to find fish:

Ifrepparttar 132959 current is raging, fish don't really want to be out in it anymore than fly fishers do. They tend to hole up, in slower water, and luckily for us closer to shore. Look for pockets and pools, close in that will provide likely water. Riffles that are normally too shallow, will provide a feeding lane in high water. The nice thing is wading is not required ifrepparttar 132960 fish are lying close torepparttar 132961 bank. A word of caution here, high water wading can be extremly dangerous. Water is murky and visibility can be nil, underwater footing can change dramatically. Even if fishing familiar water,repparttar 132962 under water terrain could have changed since last fished. A wading staff can help, but fishing fromrepparttar 132963 bank is better yet.

Fish behavior:

As mentioned above, fish don't want to be inrepparttar 132964 heavy current anymore than you do. But they don't stop feeding. Onrepparttar 132965 contrary, spring run off brings with itrepparttar 132966 speeding of fish's metabolism, and likewise their desire to eat. Although rising fish are much less likely, fish eat up to 90% of their diet sub-surface anyway. So unless there are peculiarities to your particular river, prepare for sub-surface fishing. This can be disappointing to some diehard dry fly fisher's. But because fish are close in, you may not have such easy access to large fish again,repparttar 132967 entire year.

Angler's Attention

Written by Cameron Larsen


There is something that I have called 'angler's attention'. It is developed after you have been fishing, and in this article we will be concerning ourselves with fly fishing, for years and years. You can usually tell those that have it and those that don't. Quickly rigging up your fly rod, and racing to a likely fishing spot, solely concerned about yourself and your gear, are telltale signs of someone not possessing angler's attention.

I spent many years, especially when I didn't have much time to fish, ignoring angler's attention. If I could steal away even an hour or two, racing down torepparttar river I would go. In a virtual panic, scouring out my favorite fishing spots, then cursing to myself, when they were taken. Frantically I would find a spot to fish, splash out there, and heave out my line. Fishing, at last, my heart would race, I would setrepparttar 132939 hook on any minute bump, and then have to untangle my line from a tree lurking behind me. Never paying attention torepparttar 132940 fly I was using, there wasn't time to change it, wheter my tippet was proper, what was happening onrepparttar 132941 water, nothing ofrepparttar 132942 sort. Just get me torepparttar 132943 water, and let me wet my line.

Maturity probably plays as much a part in developing 'angler's attention' as anythin. Although I have seen many young angler's very deliberately observing and then selecting their approach. Besides natural aging what really changed things for me, was actually observing a fellow fly fisher. Actually it was more observing him, observing me. I was fishing a small stretch of fairly remote river. Although this particular spot became 'discovered' sometime inrepparttar 132944 90's, it is still relatively pressure free after mid-June. Happily csting to rising fish, I happened to spot a gentleman stading onrepparttar 132945 bank watching me fish. He was quite a bit older then me atrepparttar 132946 time, but his presence somewhat annoyed me. Feeling watched, I gave it another five minutes or so, then headed in.

The next thirty minutes or so were spent discussing fly fishing with this gentleman in ways I had never thought of before. The knowledge this man possessed and franklyrepparttar 132947 lack of urgency to wet his fly were astonishing. He seemed quite as content to stand and talk about fly fishing as he was to actually be out doing it. He discussed with me clouds and mayfly hatches,repparttar 132948 current time ofrepparttar 132949 Callibeatis hatch,repparttar 132950 onset ofrepparttar 132951 Giant Stonefly hatch based on elevation, water flow, and air temperature,repparttar 132952 need to have your fly drift naturally. The benefit of watchingrepparttar 132953 naturals onrepparttar 132954 water,repparttar 132955 effect of line drag, etc, etc.

After I had finished my lunch, did he finish talking. And then asked if I wanted to give it another try, motioning out torepparttar 132956 water. I told him to go ahead, it must be his turn, and he said there was room for two. He was definitely a talented caster, one ofrepparttar 132957 best I had ever seen, gracefully placing his dry fly expertly inrepparttar 132958 feeding lanes, onrepparttar 132959 edges of deep pools, and right below large rocks that were all favorite holding places for trout. Stopping whenrepparttar 132960 hatch slowed and beginning again whenrepparttar 132961 hatch began.

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