In the mood to swing?

Hopefully, we're past the super-hot and super-dry weather for a while. We're getting some rain, and the overnight lows are in the 60's, and that usually means the bite's getting ready to improve. BUT it also means we may be getting into a time period when swinging flies downstream just might be a ton of fun.

If you are among my past fly fishing students, then you're likely familiar with my "ninja fly fishing technique." There's really nothing about it that is "ninja," other than the fact that I like calling it that. It's also not earth-shattering in its content. Essentially, I'm just trying to hit a variety of techniques on every cast, and it's a great way for a beginner to get into some fish.  Here's how it works:  (1) cast a nymph under an indicator upstream; (2) mend your line, raise your rod tip, and/or pick up slack with your line hand to maintain a clean dead drift; (3) at the end of the drift, allow the fly to swing across the current; (4) allow the fly to hang in the current for a moment or two; (5) strip the fly back toward you for 2 or 3 feet; (6) if needed, take one quiet step upstream; (7) water-load your cast back upstream.  Lather, rinse, repeat. 

Example of "the ninja technique" in action

With this technique, you're nymphing, swinging a wet fly, and also throwing in a touch of streamer fishing. If you don't get a hit on the drift, you'll often get a hit as the fly first begins its acceleration around the swing or after you reach the hanging-in-the-current part of the presentation. The weakness of the ninja technique is that you don't get a bunch of hits DURING the swing itself. While using the ninja technique, if I'm mostly getting downstream hits rather than dead-drift hits, I'll usually try a pure swing presentation for a while. If they're receptive, then I'm telling you, the swing's the thing. First, I'm going to tell you why. Then I'm going to tell you how. 

Imagine you're a trout hanging out in a crystal clear stream. As little bits of stuff drift by, you give it a glance. If it looks like food, you eat it. Pretty simple, right? Now imagine that the rains come, and now there are tons of little bits of things drifting by, and most of it is not food. The debris includes specks of dead leaves, bits of algae that have broken free from the stream bed, seed pods blown free from streamside vegetation, and so on. How easy is it for you to look at everything to figure out what's food and what's not? Seeing the issue? There's so much static, it's darn near impossible to feed efficiently. Now add to that the possibility of a faster current and murkier water. How does a trout adapt to this scenario? Simple. Since the debris and a typical drifting bug are too similar to quickly tell apart, a trout has to change the parameters of what he's looking for. If you're a hardcore nymph fisherman, you might have decent luck by simply switching flies to something that is easier to pick out of the static -- a huge black nymph tied with flash and rubber legs, for example. But if the trout has stopped looking at drifting food altogether, this won't help you.

At some point, the trout will instead look for food-sized items that are moving differently than the inedible debris. Any movement at all will snap that fly out of the background static. This should bring to mind a couple of options. One would be to twitch that nymph on the drift. That could work. Twitches can also startle the fish.  Give it a try anyway. See what you think. Another idea would be to strip a streamer. If they're not looking for bugs, maybe they'll grab a minnow or crayfish. Possibly! Could be fun. Give it a shot. The third option is to switch your technique to a wet-fly style swing.

Again, imagine you're that trout, and the debris and current have picked up the pace. You're trying to find something to eat, but the volume to debris drifting straight at your face is making it impossible.  But what if you saw some movement out of the corner of your eye? You glance over and see something that looks buggy moving from the streambed on your left toward the surface on your right. It sticks out like a sore thumb. You know it's not debris. It looks edible, and it's moving in a predictable path. You'd eat it, right? Of course, you would. That's the beauty of the swing.

The reason you won't get many hits during the swing when you're using my ninja technique is because there's too much of a bend in the line at the end of the drift. Our primary focus is the dead drift of the nymph, so we throw the fly upstream with a mend. When the fly reaches the end of the drift and swings across, the bend in the line forces the fly to accelerate downstream very quickly, and then it whip-cracks around that bend. This movement is just too sudden to interest a fish.  You'll need to focus your efforts on developing a more gentle and predictable swing.

Instead of wading and casting upstream, turn around. You'll be moving downstream and casting across the current at a downstream angle instead. Finish your cast with your rod held high, so you can drop the rod tip and give the fly some slack.  If you're using enough weight -- and if you've never done this before, it's a safe bet you won't be -- as you slowly drop your rod tip, the fly will sink. This is a balancing act. You don't want any tension between the rod and the fly because tension pulls the fly up. You also don't want any real slack, because you want to maintain some level of physical contact with the fly. As the fly sinks, slowly lead it across the current with your rod tip.  It's important to understand that I'm not suggesting you PULL it across the current. Throughout the drift, your challenge is to maintain that no-drag-no-slack thing. 

Early in the swing, a bite will look and feel like you've snagged a flexible tree limb. If you see that, just give it a touch of tension toward your side of the river to see if it pulls back. Later in the swing, a bite will feel like a bite. The trout will approach from behind, grab the fly and turn away with it. You'll feel that thump or tension, and there will be no doubt.

Any fly will work, but flies that incorporate components that move or appear to move seem to work best. Flimsy hackle, marabou, CDC, rubber legs, or flies tied with flash all fall into this category. If the water is off-color, darker colors will give it starker contrast and make it easier to see. Woolly buggers, emergers, soft hackles, big nymphs with legs and marabou tails... you get the idea. Get creative.

Last thought: the next time you're fishing dries during a hatch and not getting any action, try this technique with an emerger. And you're welcome!

Ok, I lied. Here's the real last thought. Don't forget that we're booking up for next year's Alaska trip -- I'm hopeful that we'll have enough interest to book two weeks. Obviously travel is never truly cheap, but this is seriously cheap for a week of fly-fishing in Alaska -- and you can make payments! Details are located here:  https://goo.gl/FomXnE

AFFORDABLE ALASKA!

River Update -- transitioning into summer

We’re having a transition in feeding behavior, which tends to prompt me to write up a river update. Before we jump into it, one quick pitch.

I’m sure most of you are already aware I take a group to Prince of Wales Island, Alaska, every summer. I’m currently booking for next summer’s trip (2017). It’s $2000 per person, which includes the float plane from Ketchikan to the Island, lodging, access to one of three Ford pickups for exploring the island, and instruction and guidance from yours truly for the week. If that sounds interesting, be sure to let me know. HOWEVER, something new has just occurred. The lodge owner had three weeks worth of booked guests drop out on him at the last second, and he’s asked me to spread the word that we can put together a short-notice trip for THIS summer. That is really unheard of. So if any of you would like to go to Alaska NEXT MONTH, let me know ASAP. Like, I mean right now!  Ok, enough of that. Let's get to it.

The last month or so of fishing has definitely been interesting and a bit unpredictable, but things are starting to finally take on a typical summertime pattern, so I thought I'd take a few minutes to break it down for everyone.

In the spring, when the river levels are fluctuating and oxygen levels are high, we tend to see the trout migrate upstream into crowded conditions. They're feeling good, they're acting competitive with each other, and they feed pretty aggressively. Part of the reason is the decrease in available food, relatively speaking. More fish use more resources, so they don't have the luxury of feeding lazily. It reminds me of my local Chinese buffet. At 11:00 a.m. I can pick and choose what I want, because there's only a few of us there. At 12:20, you grab what you can, because the place is packed, and they keep running out of general chicken. In other words, the fishing is usually pretty fantastic, because beggars can't be choosers. A bit later in the season, suddenly, the action seems to stop on a lot of our rivers. Most folks simply chalk that up to summertime, and they're not wrong, but it's more complicated than that.

Late spring and early summer brings evening hatches, and some of those bugs are pretty big. Depending on your river, the volume of bugs can also be surprising. So we have heavy feeding on emerging insects that starts at twilight and continues well into the darkness. When the sun comes up, the trout are simply not as hungry for breakfast as they were the week before, so the morning bite is notably slower. By the time they actually get hungry, the natural bug activity has slowed down. That sets up an interesting event: a late day bite on pretty much any big fly. It's during this time when I'll tend to hit the rivers midday and fish until dark. The bite will often be best at the outset on big meaty attractors, since we have hungry fish but not much food available to them: glo-bugs, Y2K's, stoneflies, and woolies in size 8 drifted like a nymph, and occasionally a big foam grasshopper or Chernobyl Ant plopped on slow smooth stretches. As evening gets closer and the natural bug activity begins to pick up, you'll often need to switch to a fly that more closely resembles the typical trout prey.

This behavior pattern usually continues until the big evening hatches come to an end. Then we have a period of relative stability. The bugs tend to be active during the times when the sun is off the water, meaning morning and evening twilight, of course, but also off and on throughout the day in those areas in deep shade. Even in late morning and early afternoon, you can walk past fishing spots in full sun and fish the ones in shade and find actively feeding fish. It's during this pattern that I'll guide clients based on their skill level. If a client has sharp skills, I'll take them out in the morning, so we can get into fish right away during the morning bite, and as things slow down, we'll find those shady spots. If a client is a beginner or is rusty, we'll start early in the afternoon looking at those shady spots, so he can shake off the cobwebs and sharpen his skills as the bite improves into the evening. All-in-all, it's a pretty nice system.

Well, the pattern has officially changed. You might think that the late fishing trips end when it starts getting wicked hot in the afternoons. That's partially correct. The real kicker seems to be when it stays warm overnight. If it gets up into the 90's in the afternoon, but we're still seeing 60's at night, the late trips still tend to work out well. When overnight lows stay up in the 70's, however, the afternoon fishing results begin to worsen.

Warmer water sheds oxygen, so the fish find it tougher to breathe and also to feed. They won't move nearly as far to intercept food, so your fly placement has to be very precise. In addition, water levels are typically low and clear this time of year, and sudden movements and sounds tend to spook these fish already nervous about being so exposed. Not to mention lower slower flows do not add oxygen to the water though the normal churning you'd see at higher levels.

With cooler overnight lows, the rivers start the day in better shape and oxygen levels don't degrade enough during the day to really stop the bite. With warmer overnight lows, the rivers start the day in mediocre shape at best, making the morning hours perhaps the only time a trout can really feed well before midday oxygen depletion knocks him out.

Since fish are cold-blooded, warmer water means faster metabolism and greater hunger. This means we have late-day hungry trout without the ability to effectively hunt, and that CAN mean we have ravenously feeding fish at sunrise. It also means a late-day (hungry) trout CAN be caught with a great big fly drifted right to his snout, a big hopper dropped in his cone of vision, or even a slowly swung streamer tickling his nose. Some of my biggest fish have been caught that way. And, yes, while it stresses the fish, it's okay to catch those fish in warmer conditions. Just net them quickly and take plenty of time reviving them below some riffles, when the oxygen levels are higher.

So, to summarize this river update into an easy bite-sized recommendation: fish early and fish big. As a back-up plan, if the big flies aren't working, add a pheasant tail or scud or something similar as a trailer fly to double-check for selectivity. That's going to be a rarity though.  And before you give up and go home later in the day, plop a grasshopper in some fishy looking spots on your way out. Could be fun!

Hope that helps. See you at the Chinese buffet!