From Alaska to the Rocky Mountains, by this time of year, stream flows have dropped and the waters are clear. This gives us some perfect conditions to sight fish. Different from sight fishing to a tailing Bonefish on the flats, here we have to play the current, and use that moving water to bring our flies to the fish. A good piece of advice for when you are sight casting at a specific trout in a river is to intentionally cast past your target so that you can pull the flies back towards you, then when your rig is directly inline with the fish, let them drift freely. This will give you more control over when your flies are straight upstream of the fish. It is much easier to cast a little past your target and drag your flies back towards you than it is to perfectly land your flies in front of the fish on your cast. Just be careful not to cast too far past the fish to the point where they could spook from seeing the line.
If you are fishing subsurface flies, you can also use this technique to control the sink rate of your flies. Use the tension of pulling the line towards you to not let your flies sink too quickly, then when you have them at your desired distance above the target, you can give them slack and let them drift freely. This is a great way to use the current to your advantage and let your flies drift naturally, into the fish.
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