Presentation VS Pattern

[krusty]

I'm sure we've all had the experience (and occasional frustration) of fishing with a friend who is having a very productive day who kindly loans you one of the very same flies....only to find it's simply not working for you, despite your attempt to mimic your buddy's presentation in every respect.

In another thread Ive (@iveofione) mentions a zipper-lip lake we fished a few days ago in which we both enjoyed a truly phenomenal day of fishing, filled with an astounding number of strikes, LDRs, and nettings, including some very heavy-bodied trout. The experience illustrates well the very significant role presentation plays in flyfishing success.

We all heavily rely upon a few go-to patterns, usually only switching to something else when that fly's not producing...or even more commonly changing lines and locations, often with the same trusty fly to get it in whatever zone they're feeding.

On that particular day I was fishing a rusty brown leech with a red glass bead head......first on an intermediate line, which was working pretty well but the rate of hookups drastically increased when I switched to a faster sinking line (same fly) because I was marking hordes of fish in the deeper parts of the lake.

Ive was fishing a 'Flash-Back' (a variation of his beloved Half-Back) and enjoying an equally productive day. I witnessed his catch of an awesome (sorry Ive!) fat twenty-incher, and many times we both had fish on at the same time.

Years ago he gave me a few of his Half-Backs and I now have tied a few for the flybox arsenal but I've had very limited success with the pattern even when attempting to mimic what that very cagey fisherman is doing. It simply doesn't seem to work for me.

On this particular day I gave Ive a couple of the same leeches that were providing such epic fishing...and they produced zilch so he went back to catching fish with what was working so well for him. I think this very aptly illustrates how very subtle (perhaps even deeply ingrained subconscious) differences in presentation are why certain patterns become our very personal go-to flies, while the others mostly stay benched in the flybox on all but the most desperate days of slow fishing. I also think this phenomena is why those same trusty flies continue to catch fish even when battered beyond nearly any semblance to their initial appearance...due to the power of presentation.

 

[Jake Watrous]

Just one very-limited opinion here, but I agree. I think presentation usually trumps other considerations, then profile, then on to other things.

 

[ifsteve]

Gonna tell two stories here that are quite relevant to this topic.

1. Many years ago I was fishing a well known MT lake at ice out for big rainbows. Weather was awful and all the fishing was from the bank. I was fishing about 25 yards down the shore from a guy who was doing much better than I was. He was catching a fish about every 10 minutes where I was a fish about every half hour. So the guy who was quite nice came over and we compared notes. We were using the exact same fly line. Both using black marabou leeches. So he gave me one of his leeches to try. No difference. He's still outfishing me 3 to 1. And no it wasn't the location....he even had me switch spots on the bank. So then he comes back over and asks me what tippet I am using. 3X I tell him. Same as him. THEN he asks me if I was using flurocarbon tippet? Nah haven't tried that stuff yet. So he gives me about 10ft of tippet and says to tie on 3ft of this. Fishing instantly matched him and I have been a firm user of fluoro ever since.

2. Took a guided trip with Bill Scheiss years ago on Henrys Lake. Second time I had gone out with him and he had me pretty well dialed in on that lake. We doing quite well when the bite seemed to stop for me. And then he told me something I had never even heard of. The typical thought process was that if something's working then it stops to try a different fly before moving spots. He said that's ok but he had a different idea. Lets say you have been doing well on a canadain red mohair leech and it stops working. Put on another canadian mohair leech. He said that sometimes the fly just gets chewed on enough that it stops looking appealing even though to us humans we can't see anything wrong. Well I have done this many times since that day and damn if it doesn't work. Now don't go too long with the new fly because perhaps they really do want something different. But the morale of the story is to not automatically switch patterns as your first change!

 

[up2nogood]

Gonna tell two stories here that are quite relevant to this topic.

1. Many years ago I was fishing a well known MT lake at ice out for big rainbows. Weather was awful and all the fishing was from the bank. I was fishing about 25 yards down the shore from a guy who was doing much better than I was. He was catching a fish about every 10 minutes where I was a fish about every half hour. So the guy who was quite nice came over and we compared notes. We were using the exact same fly line. Both using black marabou leeches. So he gave me one of his leeches to try. No difference. He's still outfishing me 3 to 1. And no it wasn't the location....he even had me switch spots on the bank. So then he comes back over and asks me what tippet I am using. 3X I tell him. Same as him. THEN he asks me if I was using flurocarbon tippet? Nah haven't tried that stuff yet. So he gives me about 10ft of tippet and says to tie on 3ft of this. Fishing instantly matched him and I have been a firm user of fluoro ever since.

2. Took a guided trip with Bill Scheiss years ago on Henrys Lake. Second time I had gone out with him and he had me pretty well dialed in on that lake. We doing quite well when the bite seemed to stop for me. And then he told me something I had never even heard of. The typical thought process was that if something's working then it stops to try a different fly before moving spots. He said that's ok but he had a different idea. Lets say you have been doing well on a canadain red mohair leech and it stops working. Put on another canadian mohair leech. He said that sometimes the fly just gets chewed on enough that it stops looking appealing even though to us humans we can't see anything wrong. Well I have done this many times since that day and damn if it doesn't work. Now don't go too long with the new fly because perhaps they really do want something different. But the morale of the story is to not automatically switch patterns as your first change!

I too have to share a similar story , and so happens to be on Henry’s . Fishing with a friend , out of his drift boat anchored. Fishing chironomids. Same setup , same flies . Our indicators were not ten feet apart , he couldn’t keep them off , I couldn’t get a touch . Finally I asked what’s going on , he asked you fishing fluorocarbon , no I wasn’t , I had just added tippet to a tapered leader I had on the floating line to get the depth I needed , got that leader off , went to fluorocarbon, and started catching fish . I should have known better , I always fish fluorocarbon with my sinking lines .

Pretty obvious after the fact, those chironomids were just not getting down where they were supposed to .

 

[FishyJere]

Yes, fish can be picky, picky, picky. Or not.

 

[DerekWhipple]

I am a big believer that in rivers, stealth and presentation will get you 90% of the way to most fish. Find a fish that has not been cast to yet and bump your chances up to 99%. I used to fish a well-fished river in the southeast where the general rig was a 6 or 7x long leader, the smallest clear thingamabobber you can find, and the right midge pattern. I never went below 5x and used size 12-16 walts or pheasant tails and caught lots of fish. I did place all my energy in stalking and staying out of sight of the fish. I wore kneepads and camo and hid behind cover whenever possible.

As for lakes, that is a dark magic I know nothing about.

 

[krusty]

I am a big believer that in rivers, stealth and presentation will get you 90% of the way to most fish. Find a fish that has not been cast to yet and bump your chances up to 99%. I used to fish a well-fished river in the southeast where the general rig was a 6 or 7x long leader, the smallest clear thingamabobber you can find, and the right midge pattern. I never went below 5x and used size 12-16 walts or pheasant tails and caught lots of fish. I did place all my energy in stalking and staying out of sight of the fish. I wore kneepads and camo and hid behind cover whenever possible.

As for lakes, that is a dark magic I know nothing about.

Stealth and presentation on a lake is astronomically easier than on moving water.....where one is sitting low profile in some sort of watercraft like a turtle sleeping on a log, not worrying about mending line...sometimes swilling beer watching a bobber, retrieving or trolling a subsurface fly of some type. Throw in a fishfinder so you're not working empty water and you've got the furthest thing from the truly dark art of flyfishing moving water.

Lake stealth amounts to watching where your shadow is going and not dropping a beer can on the bottom of the boat. Even shitty casts can be productive since lake fish aren't all looking in one direction.

 

[Roper]

a thought on side by side fishermen with different results. Fish have a pattern of cruising in general. Maybe the one guy is first in line to cruisers…just a thought.

 

[up2nogood]

a thought on side by side fishermen with different results. Fish have a pattern of cruising in general. Maybe the one guy is first in line to cruisers…just a thought.

That’s sure possible , if sitting anchored . I haven’t done much of that indicator fishing anchored, but sure a believer in fluorocarbon after last summer’s episode.

 

[clarkman]

Neither pattern nor presentation matters. It didn't for this asshole...that's my story.

 

[Mike Cline]

I adhere to the Presentation {90%), Pattern (5%), Fickleness (5%) rule. First and foremost you have to get the fly into the feeding envelop of the fish. I doesn’t matter a hoot what the pattern is unless it is presented to the fish in its feeding envelop. Indeed patterns play a role as the fly must be appropriate relative to the forage available to the fish. Casting a 4” clouser to 10” rising trout in a mountain stream might not work so well. But, that said, precise patterns, rigidly adhered to are rarely required in most fishing situations with the exception of some highly technical fisheries. Indeed there are always exceptions and that is where the fickleness comes in. A perfect cast with a hopper, a drift less float through a logical seam and nothing. Pause before the next cast with the fly dragging unnaturally in the current below you and wham.

The question reminded me of a long ago trip to a Western shore tributary of the Cook Inlet near Anchorage. I flew over a couple of friends who were reasonable fly anglers to fish a river holding a lot of rainbows and Chinook jacks. It was stream I knew well. At one sharp bend in the river, a tree had obviously fallen across the river and someone had sawn it off at the stump. An 18” stump protruded into the river about a foot with 1/2 the stump in the water on a deep outside bend. If I remember correctly we were chucking some kind of feather winged streamer that day. I told my friends to drop their fly about a foot above the stump right at the bank edge to swing the fly under the stump. I arrogantly guaranteed there was a fish there (presentation). Neither one of the anglers could get their fly close enough to swing under the log. After 10-15 minutes of them trying, I set out to prove to them there was a fish there. My first cast had the fly barely nick the bank and as it swung under the stump, a nice Chinook jack engulfed the fly. PRESENTATION

 

[BRAVEHEART]

Presentation is my #1 thing I set for a goal and pattern is second. I was always taught if your fly is the right size and silhouette of what you are trying to imitate, it is your presentation that will make the strike. My flies that are productive are the most minimal of material, nothing fancy, to be truthful not even look real. But the size and silhouette make the difference. It also depends where you are fishing, does the fish have time to look at it or is it passing by them at a high rate of speed? are they aggressively feeding and don't care? Still size and silhouette and yes I can throw in color too.

 

[Tim L]

a thought on side by side fishermen with different results. Fish have a pattern of cruising in general. Maybe the one guy is first in line to cruisers…just a thought.

More often, one guy is holding his mouth like this: ...while the other is holding his like this: ...thus the differing results.

 

[Kfish]

More often, one guy is holding his mouth like this: ...while the other is holding his like this: ...thus the differing results.

Next time I'll take note on how @jasmillo holds his mouth, that's got to be the reason why he always catches the bigger bass.