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 On a recent trip to Rhodes, fly fishing the small streams in the area, I had the pleasure of a day out with a few guys who had not done much stream fishing before. During my days out with them, I realized some of the areas that they could concentrate on to increase their catch-rate and realized how easy it was to improve their experience on the river.
Here are ten quick tips to take you to that next level. It’s quite easy and by following a few simple rules, anybody can have a stellar day without trying too hard.
• Get casting instruction! Many people believe they are decent casters and pretty good at mending, etc, but can never cast a full line. However, learning to cast a full line will teach you about line dynamics and line control. Once you have that down, learn how to mend at 60 feet, mend in your presentation, hinge in any direction, roll pick-up, switch cast a full line, you name it, puddle, wiggle, tuck, slack-line… but the important bit is that you need to do it at will and without thinking about it. You need to see the cast, set it up and deliver.
e.g. - I was trying to understand why someone could not get the fly over a fish and why that fish wouldn’t eat, until I cast at it and realized that I was hinge’ing right to get the fly into the zone, and adding a little slack into the leader, first drift it came up and ate, 18 inch fish out of a stream you can step across.
- Also, and I say this all the time, Stop False Casting. Learn how to shoot line, we’re not out there to cast, we’re out there fishing. I see it all the time, a fish hard on the feed, but one false cast even close to the fish and it is gone.
• Learn when to mend! That’s it, learn where and when to mend.
e.g. - I watched 3 guys throw mends to while the fly was in the zone, instead of letting the fly drift that extra foot before it started to drag, not that their mends where poor, but because it was small stream fishing they pulled the fly right out of the zone before the fish even had a chance to see it. Either mend early or late, but never when it is in the fish’s window.
• Stop, wait, look and learn! Don’t go rushing into your beat, stop at the first pool, find a comfortable spot and watch the water for 10 to 15 minutes, watch for anything different, 9 out of 10 times, the fish will give themselves away. Then learn from it and store it in the memory bank.
e.g. - In one particular beat, the fish generally hold at the heads of the pools, but on my last trip the water was a little higher, so I did my normal thing, sat down for 10 minutes, had a sip of whiskey and a snack bar and watched the water. The guy I was fishing with wanted to jump in, saying, “They’re always at the heads…” then a 19 inch fish sipped an emerger just at the tail of the pool. 
• Understand your flies. Not just about where they sit in or on the water, but about how they cast and present. Dry’s are notorious for “popping” when you lift them off the water to cast, “the sound of fish spooking”, but some do it more often, others throw plenty of spray, others twist tippet, etc... Some bead-heads plop quite loudly and others make a big splash, some nymphs fall though the ware faster than others.
e.g. - Sometimes you need a small fly to fall fast with little noise, and without this you have no chance of getting the fly close to the fish…
• Get the right gear! I say it to many people, “You’re spending R20k on a 14 day trip, don’t break your feet on day one, just because you skimped on your boots.”
- Good Boots, wear them in and avoid blisters. I’m not saying get the ultimate boots, just good boots that suite the conditions you will encounter most often.
- Good Fleece and Rain Jacket, avoid getting a cold or flu because you got caught in a rain shower. Again, not the ultimate, just what will suite your conditions.
- Good Quick Dry Shirt, they protect you from the sun and when it’s cold, they wick moister away.
- Good Pants or Waders, strong enough to handle the brush, but light enough not to hamper you.
- Comfortable Pack or Vest, understand your destination and the requirements to carry extra kit, or fly boxes, or food and water, or clothing, or camera, etc…
- Comfortable Hat, it’s going to be on your head all day, make sure you like it and that it is practical, like an oiled one for the rain or super light one for the tropics.
• Take a guide. Having heard so many guys say they learnt more from a guide in one day than they learnt in 5 years of fishing by themselves.
e.g. - We met a guy in Walkerbouts who was there with his wife; he had fished a couple of the beats around town, but never been up to any of the top beats. We needed a 4-wheel-drive vehicle, he had one, so we offered that he take us to a tucked away beat. At the end of the day, he explained that he had had his eyes opened by the different techniques used, the flies fished and the approach taken.
• Fish new water. Often we look at a piece of water and believe that there are no fish holding there, often we are wrong, way wrong.
e.g. - I was fishing with a youngster who wanted to fish every piece of stream he could see, so where I believed there were no fish; in he cast his fly, only to surprise me on more than one occasion.
• Fish it out. Simply, when you make a poor cast, don’t rip the fly out of the water; just let it drift through the run, if there are no fish where you cast, nothing wasted. However, if there is a fish, and you rip the fly off the water, it is sure to spook. Secondly, when you rip a dry off the water, you will often “pop it”; I like to say that it is the sound of fish spooking.
e.g. - Not much of an example needed, I have seen fish eat flies well off the feeding line. And that sound of a fly “popping”, well it’s the worst sound you could ever imagine.
• Take the money shot. Often fly fishers think that to fish a pool effectively they need to fish it from the tail out to head, however in small pools or where there is little good water at the tail, this often spooks the good fish at the head. Quite simply watch the water at the tail, if you don’t see any movement, fire your cast at the prime lie at the head of the pool. Unfortunately this does not hold true in all circumstances, especially when there are Brown Trout in the stream.
e.g. - Watching the guys through cast after cast just short of the prime lie, and realizing that they were spooking the good fish was frustrating.
• Fish within yourself. It’s quite simple really, Keep It Simple Stupid, instead of making casts that are out of reach, simply move closer. Instead of battling a leader that is too long, shorten it, and make accurate casts. Try position yourself in the stream to remove the need to mend, if needed take a few steps left or right.
e.g. - By fishing with in your limits, you will avoid false casting, make better presentations, mend less and generally enjoy your day more.
In summary...
1. Sort out your casting.
2. Learn how to mend.
3. Stop, look and learn.
4. Understand your terminal tackle.
5. Get the right kit.
6. Take a guide, if you can, or watch others.
7. Fish new water.
8. Fish it out.
9. Take the money shot.
10. Fish within yourself.
To finish, don’t get too worked up, relax and enjoy it… But if your casting is sorted, you understand your tackle, you’re clothing feels comfortable and you know where the fish are, and how to get the right’ish fly to them, and Bob’s your proverbial…
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