F l y F i s h i n g T r i c k s . c o m

Fly fishing strategy: Where to cast

The swift, gravelly, sandy or rocky stream is the home of the small mouthed bass and there is some similarity between fishing for him and for trout. Both fishes seek cover and food but the bass never hangs poised in fast broken water like the trout. He may dash into the rapids after food, if hungry, but he won't stay there. Of course during a freshet when the fish work up stream they go through the rapids but are seldom taken on flies - maybe because fly fishermen so seldom fish there at such times. When the water is rising the eddies at the edge of swift water often yield well as the fish lie there on the watch for surface food. The bars formed by eddies behind or below obstructions are often favorite hunting places for bass feeding on minnows.

At a normal stage of water a bass will often lie on the down stream side of a boulder in quick water where the current has scooped out a hole in the bed of a stream and here you will often "connect" with a big one. This hole usually shows as a big, dark patch on the stream bed and it is good strategy to first cast up to its edges before floating a fly directly through it.

In the average river most bass will be taken near the shore line. Overhanging banks, trees or bushes that lean over and admire themselves in the reflection of the surface; docks, piers, fallen trees, partially or totally submerged stumps (river men call 'em "dead heads") wing dams, boulders, brush heaps - anything that obstructs the flow offers cover for a feeding fish and never should be passed by the fly fisher without a speculative cast or two.

Stretches where the water runs swift and smooth and almost wader-top high should be fished thoroughly by casting in all directions - the casts radiating from you like the spokes of a wheel from its hub, as suggested by Dr. Henshall. Don't neglect the water immediately above or below a rapid or at the foot of a "shoot"- where the stream narrows and speeds up. Beds of grass, isolated clumps of weeds, sharp turns or where another stream comes in are also likely places. Ordinarily it does not pay to spend much time casting over "deepish," still water. Where a sizable obstruction juts out into the stream look for a bass on the down stream side, just around the corner. Farther in, in the eddy, you will find our friend " Spots," the so-called "pickerel."

Where the stream runs swift along bare or rocky banks drop your fly on the shore and twitch it off into the water - sometimes very effective. Such stretches can also be whipped: making a number of casts and merely permitting the fly to "tick" the water, then finally allowing it to fall and retrieve in the regular way - often sets 'em crazy when they are otherwise indifferent. Where the river suddenly becomes shallow, frequently above or below an island, makes a nice play spot for minnows, a fact well known to hungry bass.

It must be borne in mind that local conditions, especially as regards food, often influence the lurking places of the fish. I know one stream where the most success is had by casting in very shallow swift water in mid-stream, but it is an exception. Where this condition prevails the rapid is in a stream which for the most part is slow and weedy. Small mouthed bass don't like rapids but they like dead, dirty water less. A village fool once found a lost horse for which a large reward was offered. When asked how he did it he replied: "Well I just thought where I would go if I were a horse and I went there and found him." Use the same "simp" sleuthing methods when seeking bass: go where there is food and cover and travel your flies where food would naturally drift.

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