Re: Presentations in slack or low current
Spring 2001 Archive
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Re: Presentations in slack or low current
From: Ken
Date: 05 May 2001
Time: 13:19:35
Remote Name: 207.180.0.8
Comments
The key professional strategy in fishing deep or shallow in current or out of it is twofold: # 1 speed control, how fast or slow you move your fly to get a response, # 2 depth control, being able to know exactly how deep you are fishing and being able to control that depth at will. This principle must be understood and mastered before you will have consistant results when fishing deep. The depth of the water is not the determining factor for results, it is your ability to control the speed and depth your flies will fish in that water no mater what the depth may be. Professional charter boat captains who fish with wire line mark their wire and let out a fixed length of line and control their speed to fish at a predetermined depth. That is speed and depth control. Why do they do this ? Because it is the basic mechanical principle that they can control in order to fish effectivly. Those who do it the best are the best fishermen. They catch the most fish consistently. The second strategy is this: Fish as shallow in the water column as you possibly can to catch fish consistantly. What this means is this. If you are fishing in water twenty feet deep and you can catch fish consistantly by keeping your flies six feet deep. Do not fish deeper for them until you cannot catch them at that depth any longer. Then fish deeper incrementally until you begin to catch fish consistantly again. This is depth control in action. You may have to fish eight feet deeper to catch fish again, which means you may have to alter your tackle and or the speed your flies move through the water to maintain and control the depth your flies are fishing. To fish deep in and of itself is random. To fish deep with control is not random. Random methodology achieves random unrepeatable results. Controled methodology achieve measurable and, because of "measurable", repeatable results. The Line you use to fish with is unimportant; if you can control the depth your flies are fishing with it. The line is a tool for "depth control" not for fishing "Deep". Speed control is a force that comes into play when determining which line to use at this juncture. If the fish want a slow moving fly at ten feet and and the line you are using pulls the fly deeper than the ten foot mark at the retrieve speed that the fish prefer then you are faced with a speed and depth control problem that you will have to solve in order to catch fish consistantly. It's all mechanics at this level of expertise. If the fish want a fast retrieve at ten feet and the line you are using pulls the flies higher than ten feet you have a speed and depth control problem in the other direction. It's a see-saw type of balance problem. Any line that can put he fly where you need it to be, at the depth and speed you want to fish it is the solution. The key is control of the depth and speed. The easiest strategy is work from the surface down incrementaly which you can do easily; not from the bottom up which is possible but unpredictable like pushing a chain rather than pulling it. These control skills are valuable to learn for many reasons the first of which is they will enable you to fish an area with a repeatable system that tells you how deep the fish are holding and where they are and what speed of retrieve they prefer. You can learn how to fish fifteen feet deep with efficency by simply paying attention to incremental results. This will give you more productive fishing time.
Flats - If the fish are spooked by the line than a longer leader is an option. Light lines high line speed and long leaders is an effective combination for flats fishing. Nothing, including long leaders is always the best solution. If the fish want big flies on a flat and they are spooky then light lines and long leaders are not going to help you very much in your first attempts. That is the beauty of fishing, it's the problems we are challenged to solve, one on one, with the fish as the only witness.
I do use my braided butt in still water situations and I do use droppers because it is a good strategy. In shallow water I seldom use anything but a floating line for the simple reason that flies, especially when there are two or three on a leader, sink to the bottom very quickly. My most common problem is keeping the flies high and slow - not getting them down. Again I like to catch the fish as high as I can and then go deeper systematicly. Speed and depth control always leads to a solution even in shallow water which to me is water twelve feet deep or less.
The most common movement for a striper to make when feeding is to move straight up. Not the only movement but the movement they use when feeding a very high percentage of the time. Find that magic depth that they will come up to and fish there until they stop coming. Then change your depth and maintain the speed or change the speed but always try to control these variables and use them rather then a chuck and chance it approach. That is if you want to have consistant results.
Last changed: July 04, 2001
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