Fishing Information

Fly Fishing Small Streams


Picture this; you've spent some time hiking into a small stream in the back country. It's early morning, mist is rising and the midges that have been swarming around you are breakfast for the small browns you have come to catch. You quietly walk up to the stream, watching the swirls of rising fish. You tie a nymph onto your leader and step into the water.

A trout skids away from under your feet, its flight sending out warning signals as bright as any neon light. The feeding fish flee in response and you are left with a section of river devoid of all but the midges. Welcome to fly fishing the small stream.

Stop and look before fly fishing the small stream

Before you get into the water stop and look at what is in front of you. This is especially true when approaching the small stream. Trout are well camouflaged, especially when you are looking down into the water. (A good pair of Polaroid glasses helps here.)

I like to make my first cast well back from the waters edge. If there is little cover then I tend to use a long leader and lay the line on the riverbank, allowing only the leader to enter the water, as close to the near bank as possible. That way, if there are any fish lying close under the bank, I will have given them first look at my fly.

Reading the water of the small stream

The waters of the small stream are like those of any river, just on a smaller scale. The fish will be in the same types of water that they would be in if you were fishing any trout stream. When you are fly fishing the small stream, look for those areas that provide the fish with their need for protection from predators, relief from fast flowing currents, and access to food.

Fishing the pocket water

I like to use dry flies when fly fishing pocket water in a small stream. The fish will usually be holding out of the main current but close enough to grab any food that comes floating by, and a drifting fly is often too tempting to resist.

Often it is not necessary to match the fly closely to whatever is hatching. Instead I like to fish a fly that is visible enough for me to see in fast moving water. Something like a light elk hair caddis works well. When the strike comes I can see it and I catch more fish this way than missing the strike by using a less visible, hatch matching fly.

Fly fishing the small stream usually requires a more sensitive approach and a finesse that is not necessary in larger rivers. Experience and practice are the great tellers here. Ability to read the water is more critical as the fish are often more easily spooked than their big water cousins. But when you make your way home at the end of a successful fishing day in the back country you know that the time spent learning to fly fish the small stream has been worthwhile.

About the Author
Dale East is a long time outdoorsman and fly fisher and publisher of Fly Fishing Wyoming


MORE RESOURCES:

San Diego Union Tribune

Council raises fees for boating and fishing at city's reservoirs
San Diego Union Tribune, CA - 18 hours ago
By Matthew T. Hall SAN DIEGO – People fishing and boating on San Diego's reservoirs next year will be the first to feel one effect of the current city ...


Fishing, around the weather, still good
StarNewsOnline.com, NC - 1 hour ago
Red drum, speckled trout, black drum and whiting have provided some great fishing over the past week. They are being caught from the river to the surf in ...
Good bite reported from Gulf Stream boats StarNewsOnline.com
Still plenty of action both inshore and out StarNewsOnline.com
all 3 news articles


27east.com

Long Island Father Killed in Fishing Boat Accident
NewYorkInjuryNews, New York - 10 hours ago
Long Island, New York (NewYorkInjuryNews.com) — On Sunday, November 30th, a Long Island man drowned during a father-son fishing trip off Montauk. ...
Dad Marty McMillan dies in fishing horror New York Daily News
Fisherman drowns after being pulled overboard off Montauk 27east.com
Westbury exec killed in boat mishap off Montauk Newsday
Newsday - Newsday
all 8 news articles


Weekly Minnesota fishing report
Minneapolis Star Tribune, MN - 1 hour ago
The recent cold weather has jump-started the ice fishing season, with anglers in many areas of Minnesota creeping out onto lakes, many only partially frozen ...


Lawsuit means Loch Lomond won't be stocked with trout
San Jose Mercury News,  USA - 12 hours ago
The state says it no longer will stock the lake with trout Loch Lomond, which draws several thousand people a year for recreational fishing, ...


Body Found; Pastor Disappeared On Fishing Trip
WSBtv.com, GA - 11 hours ago
More than a week after the pastor of a Brunswick church disappeared while on a solo fishing trip on the Altamaha River, his body was recovered. ...
Hundreds gather to remember longtime pastor WTOC
all 2 news articles


Calcutta Telegraph

India to use satellite system for tracking boats, fishing vessels
Livemint, India - 7 hours ago
The perpetrators of last week’s terror attacks hijacked an Indian fishing trawler, Kuber, off the Gujarat coast and used it to reach Mumbai. ...
Coast Guard seize Pak fishing boat off Jakhao coast Press Trust of India
Investigators Trace Boat's Last Voyage Wall Street Journal
50% of fishing vessels on western coast unregistered Business Standard
Indian Express - Rediff
all 157 news articles


Comment on state hunting and fishing regulations
Asheville Citizen-Times, NC - 11 hours ago
Raleigh – The public can now comment on dozens of proposed changes to the state's hunting and fishing rules on the NC Wildlife Resources Commission's Web ...


Filming fishing in Marshfield
Marshfield Mariner,  USA - 53 minutes ago
A: The series is a new series of the successful “Extreme Fishing with Robson Green.” The series is about our British actor and TV personality Robson Green ...


UMPQUA VALLEY FISHING REPORT: Anglers hope rain will boost fisheries
NRToday.com, OR - Dec 1, 2008
Southwestern Oregon rivers are generally running low and clear, and fishing success for chinook salmon and steelhead has only been fair at best. ...
Tuna and halibut offer Oregon anglers options KATU
all 3 news articles

Fishing - Google News

home | site map
© 2006