Last week’s article about my favorite small stream leader was popular enough to bring a bunch of questions to my inbox about casting a fly rod in tight quarters.

I have plans for a full series on small stream work, eventually covering all the gear, the tactics and the romanticism of these sacred blue lines.

But for now, let me highlight a few points that are specific to fly casting in the woods. Here are twelve tips for delivering a fly into waters that are heavily canopied, with greedy branches, ready to grab your fly and make life difficult. The best small stream fishing happens in these places. We call it brush fishing.

Learn it Here, and Cast Anywhere

Learning to cast a fly on small streams forces an angler into proper form. There is no forgiveness, and every error comes with consequences.

But the reward is there. Small streams demand real accuracy. We learn to punch the fly under limbs and around tree stumps. And we learn to finish the cast with intentional placement of the leader, most often with slack, sometimes laying the line over a log, rock or gravel bar.

Small stream trout are often forgiving, but the environments are not. The brush demands our full attention and excellent form.

Let’s get to that . . .

The Perfect Cast

Ten and two, right? Crisp stops in between two points and acceleration in between those points.

Put more juice in the cast, and you’ll succeed in the brush. Speed builds tight loops, and if you want to execute a cast into that narrow opening between the mountain laurel and the timber, a tight loop is the only way.

There’s nothing special about the cast — it’s just a good one. Look around, know your space and use it. In nearly every spot on the creek, there’s enough casting room to make a delivery.

If there isn’t, skip that spot, and walk upstream.

The Right Fly Rod

Four and five weight rods are my choice for fishing the brush, because they help build line speed. I like them from seven to nine feet long.

Making a thirty foot cast through an eight-foot-wide tunnel into the shady corner to catch a wild brook trout isn’t easy. But it’s easier with a rod that loads and releases quickly.

I don’t care for two or three weight rods on small streams. And I don’t like slow action. If a small stream meanders through a wide open valley, you might get away with a lighter action rod. But my best small streams run through forests.

I’ve heard it suggested to choose a two weight rod so the fight will be more fun. Let’s be honest, we’re not targeting small stream trout for the fight. Fool ‘em, set the hook, and get ‘em released.

That said, not all small streams are full of tiddlers either, and when I know some truly large fish are residents, I do not want to show up to that fight with a two weight. When that Whiskey pulls into the nearby brush pile, I need strength. And I need it now.

However, fighting fish is a side note to rod selection. And I want a rod that easily builds line speed and tight loops, enough to push around a #10 or #12 Royal Wulff.

Let’s get to the flies . . .

Fish Dry Flies

I spend ninety percent of my time on small streams with a dry fly. It’s what I love. The trout are usually willing enough, given the right conditions, and I prospect with a dry fly as I hike upstream.

The tips for this article are about casting. And I suggest spending time perfecting your small stream approach with a single dry on the end of the line.

Why? Because it teaches you everything, and because it keeps things simple. A dry fly casting stroke is the baseline for a fly fishing cast, and it should be nearly perfect before moving into other disciplines, especially in the challenging conditions of a small stream.

Streamers, wets and nymphs all produce in small waters too. And fishing each of them requires some adjustment to the baseline cast that come easily if you’ve already laid the foundation.

Get the dry fly cast down first. Because there’s also a certain joy experienced from the purity of fishing a dry fly in these waters. Leave the dropper nymph off too, because it changes too many things. . . especially your pinpoint accuracy.

Bow and Arrow . . . Meh

I suspect I’ll take a little heat for this, but I see the Bow and Arrow cast as mostly a gimmick. It is absolutely useful in a small set of situations. But I use it less than a half-dozen times on every outing — often not at all.

The Bow and Arrow cast is cool. It really is. But it takes a few moments to set up. After you make the cast, you usually have nowhere to set the hook (or that’s where your backcast would have been anyway).

Small stream drift time is a few meager seconds before drag sets in. Then you have to spend those moments again, preparing your next Bow and Arrow for a few more seconds of drift.

It’s a good cast to have in your quiver (like that?), but the Bow and Arrow is largely impractical. Use it sparingly.

Instead, get creative with your backcast . . .

Corner Cast, The Short Changer and More

Dismiss the notion that your backcast must be 180 degrees from the forward cast. Liberate yourself, and look at another world of possibilities.

With enough line speed, you can punch a cast in a completely different direction from the plane of your backcast. This is the supreme advantage of fly line, and by learning this on small waters, you’ll end up using it every day on every water.

Think about the corner cast.

VIDEO: Troutbitten | The Corner Cast — Why Rounding the Corner Might Be Easier than a Roll Cast

Casting up to 90 degrees away from the trajectory of your backcast frees up your options.

Another trick is to short change your backcast. Don’t allow it to stretch out back there, because you don’t have the room. Send the line into the air behind you, wherever there’s enough space, then come forward before the rod fully loads. It’s a bit like an aerial roll cast. It feels a little different, and without enough speed it won’t work. But by freeing your mind from the constraints of the 180 degree rule of fly casting, brush fishing becomes a lot of fun.

Do the Dead Drift

Trout in small streams are eager. We all say this. And on the best days, it’s true. But every brush fisherman knows there are plenty of days where the fishing can seem downright technical.

So aim for great dead drifts to the dry fly. Cast and create slack in the air. Don’t accept drag. Get the fly drag free and with the current. Provide slack in the right places. Just like the cast, the playing field is tougher here. The windows are smaller and the dead drift time is shorter.

Cast a Lot

Precisely because the drift time is shorter, I make more casts on small streams.

Once the fly drags, I’m gone. Pick up and cast again. Learn the pre-cast pickup, so the leader doesn’t rip off the surface.

Cast more. Catch more.

VIDEO: Troutbitten | The Pre-Cast Pickup

Keep Moving

Small streams have a lot of level breaks. That’s great, because it’s easy to screw up one level by sticking a fly in the tree or spooking trout with an errant cast.

So use each level break as a new beginning. Give up on spots sooner. Small stream fishing is not for camping out. It’s for hiking and seeing the next thing. Let your curiosity for what’s around the bend take you there. I often cover one to three miles in a day of small stream fishing.

VIDEO: Troutbitten | Reading Water in Levels, Lanes and Seams

Yes, the Leader

All of this stuff about casting is predicated on having the right tools for the job. I covered the rod above, but your leader is the most important element in the system.

Here is my favorite small stream leader . . .

READ: Troutbitten | Favorite Small Stream Leader — Formula, Reasons and Stories

It’s seven feet, built for punching flies around accurately, but also built to land with slack to the dry, if you plan for it that way.

Some small streams are more open, so I often adjust the tippet to twice the length, if it will also suit the dry fly. If the small stream is even more open, I simply use my favorite Harvey Dry Fly leader.

But that’s the exception. Most small streams worth fishing are no wider than a two-car driveway and often much narrower. The creeks are skinny in the summer, and the hardest part of the game is getting a cast to the fish without first spooking them.

The right leader helps you do that.

Be Brave

With all the right tools of rod, line, and leader, with all the knowledge about casting options, and with serious dedication to line speed, you need just one more thing.

Guts. Courage. Fortitude.

A willingness to fail.

Take your shots. That’s the only way toward a real education on small streams. Make the casts you think you can’t make. Eventually, instinct takes over and the fly goes into tighter targets than you ever thought possible.

Warm up to the toughest spots, though. Make a few casts to the side of the log and the limbs before making that money cast. These practice-casts, performed as though you’re shooting under the limbs already, are great training, and they often catch fish too..

Once you have confidence from a few warm-up casts to the side of your target, make that tight quarters shot.

One more tip . . .

Know Thy Rod Tip

Good casting is all about feeling the rod tip and knowing exactly where it is in space.

Through the rod grip, feel what the tip is doing, through the cork. Know where it is by looking up once in a while.

Whatever the rod tip does translates through the leader and to the fly (provided there’s enough line speed).So if you know where your rod tip is, and you can control its course, small stream fishing opens up in a whole new way.

Fish hard, friends.

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READ: Troutbitten | Category | Fly Casting

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