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januar 28, 2020 7 min read
by Dave Southall
When I first started fly fishing I’d arrive at the river or Lake early in the morning & fish till dusk. Furthermore, on my arrival I’d immediately start fishing, believing that unless my fly was in the water there was no chance of catching a fish. My fishing was mechanical & without much thought in those long gone days: I followed the recipes for success that I read in the fishing literature without any real understanding of what I was doing or why I was doing it. Nowadays, in my old age, I fish much shorter hours, usually no more than 4 hour sessions & even whilst at the river or lake I spend much of my time watching & waiting for signs that will tell me what to do. I love my friend Stuart Croft’s sayings, “ You’ve got to let the river invite you in & let nature tell you what to do”.
Many years of experience have taught me when best to time my visits & what tactics to adopt to hopefully optimize my chances of catching the trout & grayling that are my usual quarry. I don’t always get it right but I certainly reduce the odds against failure. So let’s consider a few examples starting at the beginning of the trout season.
Once at the water at what should be the optimum time of day & year for a particular hatch or fall of insects or when conditions are right in some other way it is then sensible to spend some time watching the river or lake. Whilst there are general trends that help us to predict what might happen, such as a hatch of Large Dark Olives around midday in April, there is no guarantee that this will happen: nature is not totally predictable. Many times I have gone to the river with a preconceived game plan only to find that I have had to drastically change my game. Time spent watching what is happening is never wasted. Check out what foods are vulnerable by looking at what is hatching, what insects are in flight & what is trapped in spiders webs (be aware that insects that have aquatic larvae & that those that are in flight or trapped in webs will have emerged earlier, so look for ones that are still alive). Carefully watch the rises of fish; gentle rises suggest something relatively inert is being preyed upon (aphids or other terrestrials trapped in the surface film, spent blue-winged olive spinners, midge pupae prior to emergence, etc.); vigorous rises suggest something that might escape is being predated (sedge pupae swimming in or just below the surface, olive duns about to take off, small fish, corixas, etc.). It is always worth sieving the surface with a fine mesh net to see what is available & check out the bankside vegetation for tiny 5mm long Agapetus adults. “LET NATURE TELL YOU WHAT TO DO!!!!!!”.
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