The willingness to meet luck wherever it stands, to accept what comes and fish regardless, is the fundamental attribute of die hard anglers, regardless of their region or the species they chase. We fish because we can, because we’re alive, willing and able, and because we mean to beat bad luck just as we did the last time it showed up.
We’re finishing this series with nymphs, wets and the Harvey Pusher Night flies. We discuss rigging and tactics for each of these fly types, where to fish them and how our presentations might differ at night from what we do in the daylight . . .
When you work the Pusher, imagine the wings flexing and pulsing as you hand twist retrieve and pulse the rod tip on a three count. See the fly in your mind’s eye and make it come alive in the dark. Then hold on tight . . .
Fishing captivates us because it provides two of the three things we need to be happy — something to work on and something to look forward to. What’s the third key to happiness? Someone to love. And for the angler, we’d be wise to choose someone who loves us back, enough to care about and listen to our fishing stories.
I’m thankful for all of this . . .
This is the episode you’ve all been waiting for. Tonight, we talk about fishing the top water. And yes, that means mouse patterns — sometimes. We also dig into a fly style that we feel is often more effective, the mouse emerger concept at night. And we talk about fishing streamers after dark . . .
There are a lot of ways to retrieve a long fly after the cast. And that’s really what’s so much fun about the streamer game. Fly anglers might spend hours fretting over the imperfection of a drag free drift on a dry fly or twice as long considering the depth and drift of a nymph, but when the streamer is tied on, it’s a chance to let loose. Nothing else in fly fishing allows for such freedom of presentation. “Everything works sometimes.” No other fly type fits that tenant so well.
But what will trout respond to most? That’s the question. And on many days — most perhaps — the answer is a cross-current strip. Here’s why . . .
Where are the trout, and how are they feeding?
Building flexibility into our plans helps solve these questions. It’s our willingness to adapt, to walk around the bend, to work upstream instead of down or to clip off the top water pattern and rig up for wet flies — that’s what helps answer questions and put trout in the net.
Easily wadeable, quick to clear after a storm, and holding stable temperatures year-round, my home water is the best classroom a trout fisherman could ask for. The trout are eager, but not easy. And that’s a hell of a good combination.
Who among us cleans our waders with enough frequency to maximize the long term durability that we believe we’ve paid for? Very few. So I asked my friends from every prominent wader building company. How should we care for them? Here are their replies . . .
There’s a lot of variety within these two categories. There are many ways to do both. And every fly type may seem to have its best or most effective presentation, drifting or swinging, but when that’s not working, the first and easiest thing to do, before changing the fly type, is to simply change the direction the flies are fished, from swinging to drifting or vice versa . . .
Reviving a trout was once taught as part of the routine. But we don’t hear that so much anymore. Because the idea of playing a trout to the point of exhaustion, so much that you have to help it regain balance and breath, is mostly a thing of the past. And that’s a good thing . . .