Wading or floating, up top with dry flies or underneath with wets, you can fool a trout on just about any fly. And experience teaches the frequent angler how the presentation of a fly trumps the specifics of the pattern by a wide margin.

We have a better chance at catching a bunch of trout on the wrong fly and a great presentation than we do of catching a single trout on the right fly with  the wrong presentation. Bad fishing is bad fishing, and no frequency of swapping flies can change that.

But assuming that your technique reaches the bar for a trout’s approval, then fly selection absolutely does matter. That said, almost everything else matters more. Here’s what I mean . . .

“What” Is Not First

Across fly fishing circles and in parking lot discussions, the enduring question remains:

“What were they taking?”

Row upon row of nymphs mounted into foam slots, boxes of hackled dries bouncing in squared-off cubicles and married by size, piles of large streamers waiting their turn for action — what adorns the hook is the focus for fly fishers.

The obsession over what we tie to the end of the line is fair. And it matters. But the longer I fish for trout, the more I lean toward solving different tangents of the mystery. There are better questions to ask first. Fly selection is surely significant, but a host of other considerations are more crucial.

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Scraps

Who Are “They?”

The concept that groups of trout are under the water, existing and making the same choices, is an important one. Surely there are outliers, and we aim to catch those fish too. But day after day, we strive to crack the mystery about what most of the trout are doing. We fish hard, not to luck into a fish, but to find the routines of most trout.

It’s true — groups of trout feed in the same places and in the same ways.

Trout like to do what their friends are doing, and there’s no denying that catching a few trout helps lead us to the promise of catching a few more. One trout is an accident. It’s just as likely that you found a maverick as it is that a single fish can teach you the habits of the rest. Two fish is a coincidence, but three starts to show a trend. And at a half dozen fish, there’s enough data about who, what, where, when and why to build the pieces of a puzzle.

To the die-hard angler, adaptation and adjustment to what we discover is one of the great joys of fly fishing for trout.

So as you add a few fish to the bag, here are some questions to ask.

The Best Questions

Where Are They Feeding?

Somedays, trout reveal themselves by feeding on top, and they make the answer to this question easy. But for most of our time on the water, we must search deeper.

Scanning the river below might lead to clues about the trout’s feeding behavior. We can see flashes or fish tilting in the strike zone to intercept a nymph. Or we might notice one trout after another spook from the shallow side as we wade upstream. Usually though, finding feeding fish requires an open mind and some willingness to fish many different water types.

READ: Troutbitten | Find Feeding Fish

Where to start is best decided by considering the next question . . .

What’s the Water Temperature?

If one thing matters most, this is probably it. To find feeding fish, consider the water temp.

Your own habits change a lot based on the air temperature, right? Your daily life shifts whether it’s snowing at twenty-five degrees or it’s sweltering hot at ninety. Trout are no different. So expect them to respond to water temperature, whether that be the gradual changes of seasons or the quicker dip of a cold front. Trout respond to the temps. So be aware of it.

Devin Olsen does a wonderful job of breaking down trout feeding behaviors and their responses to water temperatures in his book, Tactical Fly Fishing. (Look to Chapter Four.)

Where is the Sunlight?

I believe that sunlight, its angle and intensity, is the most overlooked element, by a wide margin. Give me cloudy days, please. Keep that sun behind the curtains. But when I must fish with the ball of fire above, I’m attentive to the angles.

Trout feed better with the sun behind them — downstream and out of their eyes. And I’ll choose water that permits this, especially early and late in the season, with lower sun angles occurring all day long.

Shade is no mystery. Trout feel more exposed in direct light, so if it’s available, the best fish often choose shady lies.

What about direct sun in the winter? Does it warm the fish enough to feed? Sometimes. But I’ll still choose cloudy days over sunny, given the choice.

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Photo by Austin Dando

What is the Food Source?

Well, if you knew the answer to this one, you’d already have the perfect fly tied on. Amirite?

A lot of information can be gained before you even arrive at new water. This limestoner is ripe with cress bugs. That tailwater is heavily stocked with five-inch rainbow fingerlings. Prepare, and be ready to adjust.

Turning rocks, seining the flow, shaking tree branches and watching for leggy streamside insects trapped in spiderwebs makes professors out of students. You really don’t have to guess much. The answers are there.

Where is the Food Source?

Once you know a little about what trout are eating it’s time to understand where that food source is most common.

Carpenter ants are falling in at the brushy banks, and trout are lined up in the skinny stuff. Grannom Caddis are thick in the air — swarms of them in biblical numbers — but trout rises are splashy and infrequent, because the real feeding is in the riffles and runs, where the nymphs have lived for a year and are now emerging.

Finding feeding fish often correlates with determining the easiest meal. Put yourself in the middle of that banquet, and start fishing.

Photo by Austin Dando

At What Level are they Feeding?

Sometimes our finned friends are glued to the riverbed, so much that the only way to catch a trout is to slow the drift by touching and rolling the flies repeatedly. Other times, they’re feeding in the strike zone — the slower cushion of water near the bottom where most activity in a river takes place. Or maybe fish are feeding mid-current, chasing hapless mayflies in their emergence. And if you’re lucky, they’re providing unmistakable targets with gentle rises to a spinner fall in soft tailouts and inside cuts.

Aside from the obvious surface eats and the occasional flash of feeding behavior from underneath, the best way to find the preferred feeding level is to pay attention. Every time a trout responds to your presentation, note the level. Did a trout eat your tag nymph that was riding mid-column? Or did it hit your sculpin fished on a Touch-and-Go? All of this is invaluable data about where to expect the next fish.

Where Are the Prime Lies?

Where trout are feeding and what they’re feeding on comes to light by considering the previous questions. And with just a handful of fish to the net, the best locations — the prime lies — become apparent.

Trout catching happens in patches. And wherever you catch more than a couple, consider it prime. Wherever you find the biggest fish of the day, consider that prime, and fish more water like it. Then plan your approach accordingly, giving the most attention to the fishiest water and less attention to the secondary stuff.

Look closer. Consider the details. Refine your vision from macro to micro. With enough data, you learn to see not just the good spots — but the prime spots.

READ: Troutbitten | Super-Prime Lies and Big Trout — The Spots Within the Spots

The soft outside edge of that bubbly seam looks perfect, because you caught a pair of trout in the last one downstream twenty minutes ago. So you give this one the same attention — maybe more. And when trout don’t eat in this prime seam, you change something before moving on. They’ve rejected a pure dead drift, so you try a crossover technique before leaving the seam. Three fish and ten minutes later, your suspicion is confirmed. Now look for the next prime lie just like it.

Photo by Austin Dando

And Yes. . . What Fly Are They Taking?

Finally, it’s time to consider the pattern. I think the fly is so often given peak significance because it seems like the first choice we make. And many anglers make that decision at the tailgate, before even hitting the water.

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It’s true, you won’t catch a fish without the hook. So we make the initial choice based on a hunch, on history or a hatch chart. Then we cross our fingers and start casting.

Trust that first choice. Focus on the other questions before changing the fly. And then, sure, choose another fly. Note the response from trout. Are they eating it or just hitting it? Are they refusing your dry after taking a good look? Are they slamming your streamer but leaving you slack-lined after a strip set?

Consider the size first, because that matters most. Then think about the form and profile, the flash and sparkle.

There are days when trout prefer a silver bead head over a copper one. And if you encounter enough trout, you start to see those preferences.

Stay open minded about fly selection, and change for a reason. Have a theory and test it, rather than randomly choosing the next pattern. And then sometimes, just trust your instinct.

En Masse

Day after day, I’m on the water, and I witness undeniable trends. Trout take on habits that are sometimes predictable, so much that many of the questions above are already answered.

But most days, the mystery is reinstalled and refreshed anew. So much changes in a trout’s world each day that our expectations may not match the situation.

However, by trusting the designs of nature, and knowing that large groups of trout collectively make the same decisions, we search for clues and find the answers because we know they are there for discovery.

Keep asking questions. And fish hard, friends.

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Enjoy the day.
Domenick Swentosky
T R O U T B I T T E N
domenick@troutbitten.com