If you follow our blog at all, you know that we’ve run a whole bunch of posts focused on fishing tips (182 to date, actually). We’ve also gotten a whole bunch of great input from our readers on a variety of ‘favorite’ topics.
You guys are an incredibly knowledgeable, enthusiastic bunch, so today we’re combining the ‘tip’ angle and the ‘favorite’ angle, and asking you…what’s your favorite fishing tip? You’ve all picked up some great ones over the years, and we’d love to hear them.
Any fishery, any part of the world, any technique as long as it’s fly fishing – share your favorite tip with us and your fellow readers by leaving a comment below. And heck, two weeks from today we’ll even pick our favorite tip and send its author an Alaska Salmon Grand Slam T-shirt, on the house!
If you’re viewing this in a newsletter or a reader, click here to see the tips posted so far, and to add your own.
A couple of folks have weighed in on Twitter–
@castingoutloud says “True story on the river guy is false casting 18,000 times I walked up behind him and said. Dude the fish are in the water.”
@david_w_oliver says “For me, nothing catches more fish than a nice long dead drift. “
Never Give Up 🙂 Cheers
For your sake, take a casting lesson before going on a guided trip. You’ll be happier about how you make out, and you’re guides will be far more content with you at the end of the day. All adds up to a far more successful trip.
The big secret is to just keep the lure in the water- not the boat or the air. Almost all big fish are caught in the water so that’s where to fish.
Here are some more tips from folks on our Facebook page!
Evan Jones: Covering water until you find fish that want to eat is always better than trying to force-feed the ones that don’t.
Rick Sisler: Don’t leave fish to find fish!
Many anglers pick out a fly based on some criteria such as good looks or someone said it was hot. Then they proceed to fish every fly the same way. Flies have as many personalities as the tiers who build them. Pull each one through the water. See what happens when the line goes slack. Animate it with your rod tip. Discover the nuances. Then cast it out there and sell it to the fish. There are no bad flies, just poor imitators.
If every angler around you is doing the same thing with little to no result and you know fish are present, switch tactics to something COMPLETELY different.
Before ploughing into the river, take the time to assess the situation. Cover the bank water as efficiently as you would any other piece of water. In fact, unless really needed – stay out of water!
Slow down. Not only your retrieve. Slow down and observe. If you’re sight fishing, then slow down, watch the fish and react. If you’re fishing a creek, then slow down and watch the bank, watch the hatching insects, or the birds. You can learn a wealth of knowledge if you scrap the game plan and listen to what the fish and its environment tells you.
You can teach an old dog a new trick. Having been fortunate to have a Father who taught me to fly fish over 50 years ago, I thought I had tried about everything. In 2008 my son, Jason and I were fishing for Kings with Alaska West as his high school graduation present. The first day he landed 5, I landed one; the second the score was 6 to 2; the third day after he had three in hand by 10am. After the usual photos of his 3rd he said “Dad, let your fly swim in line with the current not perpendicular to it; it will move more slowly across the current and the swimming tail of the fly makes them mad.” I had been doing the traditional technique of casting, an up stream mend to sink it and then a flip downstream to get the fly swimming across the current. He was mending it up stream at least three times, then moving his rod up stream to regain purchase with his line and kept the rod low and slightly upstream of his body. It caused the fly to swim parallel to the current not broadside to it and indeed moved across the river a lot slower. The result was an epic day of 8 Kings landed after his tip to his old man. Of course he landed 9 for the day, but I am used to that. The same technique has vastly improved my catch rate with streamers back on my home waters of the Roaring Fork and Colorado Rivers.
Use your polaroids to watch water for structure, seams and current shifts, they hold fish
Most important! Practice everything before you go. This applies to every long trip. Make sure all your gear is there, it functions right, and you’re able to cast properly. DO NOT let this big trip to Alaska be your only fishing trip of the year! Force yourself (yes, force yourself!) to go fishing several times before your big trip. Use the same equipment, practice, practice, practice!
Remember, I said to force yourself to go fishing as my “hot tip”!
A trick that always works for me when fish are rising and you can’t seem to get them to take your fly – whether it’s not the right size, species, competition with naturals, etc., is to put a dab of goo flotant on your fly, then immediately add dry shake (which will essentially make the fly white – almost like a sulphur, etc.), then drift it. I get fish within the first two casts. Reapply both and cast again!
I’d say that presentation can oftentimes be more important than the fly itself. In some situations you can have the right fly, be in the right spot, etc. but if the presentation isn’t right it doesn’t add up to anything. Get your fly to the depth that the fish are feeding at, and present it at the correct speed.
Tie a lot of “pink” flies. Especially if you’re fishing for silvers. Also, weight your flies to get down in the current/water column.
Cover a lot of water. Don’t stay in one place. Move up/down river to find fish. They don’t always come to you.
When wading, usually you don’t want to go too far into the water. Many times the fish are close. Don’t push them away/out from where you are casting.
Spend the extra $$ and have good gear which includes waders, rain jackets, boots, etc. You want to be comfortable, dry and warm.
I’ve read quite a few reviews about how the stitching on waders and neoprene socks unravels after some use rendering the articles useless until repaired, a trick that I learned while my wife was learning to Scuba dive was to coat all stitching with one to two applications of aquaseal. The net effect was that after the seal was applied I never had any stitching unravel and since Aquaseal is flexible it never interferred with action of my waders or my wet suit. I hope this helps some one who reads this tip.
Regards,
Robert Lehrer
Don’t interrupt the fish while they’re eating, your fly that is. It’s just bad manners!!
When you go fishing stick to it. I’ve seen too many guys fish, get tired of a few bites and give up. When others stay at it and usually get some nice catches. I’ve noticed this in hunting big game as well. STICK WITH IT!