Fly Casting & Streamcraft

Fly casting - rivers

Fly casting nurtured in the river environment often leads to the greatest skills, especially for tight, accurate casts.

Casting on the lawn and on open, slow flowing water is a good place to get the feel for a rod and how to get the line to do what you want.

The effects of wind is another challenge to be dealt with, on how it affects the airborne line during the cast and the presentation.

Current strength, direction on a stream or river determines how the fly and the line behave.

Obstacles, trees, floating debris, long grasses, fences, overhanging branches.

Stream craft - rivers

Bank-side and aquatic vegetation, geography, geology are pretty much fixed factors. The climate, water level, temperature, rate of flow are in constant change, which in turn alters things such as dissolved oxygen level, life cycle and abundance of various species of creatures within the habitat.

I learned at the beginning of my fly fishing journey that to stop on arrival at any given stream and watch, move slowly, watch some more, all the while putting gear together, is a much more profitable exercise than just jumping in and throwing a line. Take the time to observe things like the insect life that is present, the trout that are rising, or lack of, the lay of the stream and where the fish are or may be. The approach for arrival at the water, a walking or wading route, a line control strategy for casting (trees, wind, water flow etc.)

It didn’t take too long to dawn on me from what I was seeing, hearing and reading that there are ways to go about things for good results.

As you travel up a river and read the river, fish the river and enjoy the fishing, you notice that there are pockets of water, and sometimes stretches of water with few fish, and there are other areas where fish populations are more abundant. This is down to some of the fine detail of how the whole ecosystem works.

Fly casting - lakes

Fishing from the shoreline of a lake, we need to read the conditions once again. Lake level, wind direction, weed growth, insect activity, evidence of fish present, tails, rises etc. some shore lines have vegetation and sometimes you are actually on the shoreline and kneeling down…shrubs, long grass, rocks etc. need to be considered.

If you venture out into the water the same obstructions may apply as well as the unseen, i.e. potholes, submerged logs.

Cover the fish you see according to what you observe.

If you don’t see anything you would go into a searching method of fishing.

From the boat away from the shore the obstructions are minimal. It’s more about the wind and using it to your advantage, finding the food, finding the fish and figuring out an approach.

Fly casting and streamcraft on rivers and lakes. Knowledge gives you a more rewarding fly fishing experience.