Finding trout holding water

[Gary Knowels]

Scenario: you approach a stream know to hold trout, but haven't fished it before and don't have any recent Intel on how it is fishing. What is your thought/search process for finding the types of water the trout are holding in? How does it differ by species of trout? What are you throwing at them first?

 

[Tim L]

Hey Gary, for me it depends on the time of day.....I usually fish streams late summer and fish from late afternoon til dark. I’m no purist but I fish dry flies in moving water, just too much fun watching the hit! More bugs come out in the evening (frickin mosquitoes!) and the fish get active looking up. Shorty bamboo and a small caddis or parachute is my go to flies.

Saves me from having to post - thanks SK

 

[Brian Miller]

Thank you, Im definitely tying some and trying them next time out!

BTW, I need to emphasize that the real performance and versatility of these unweighted wet and beadhead reverse hackle flies really shines brightest with a tight line held off the water and a soft (tenkara) rod tip both to detect strikes and even better when I use a few "manipulation" techniques to provide subtle movement and drift control to the fly.

 

[dirty dog]

Yesterday I went and fished a new to me stretch of the N. Umpqua.
I was thinking of the holding water.
I was fishing a Yellow Sally X on a #12 hook.
I'm just standing there watching when I see a rise right in the fast water of the pocket.
I make a cast a couple feet ahead of the rise and sure enough I hook up to a fat little 8" RB and he gets himself off right at my feet, great release.
So I try the same cast and nothing.
This is a big pocket and it should have many fish in it.
So, this is what I figure.
By casting and catching the riser I put the rest of the fish in the pocket down.
What I should have done is start at the tail of the pocket and worked my way up, avoiding spooking the pocket.
That is what I did in the next pocket.
I caught two small RB's in the tail and middle then a fat 13"er at the head of the pocket.
Great day wet wading in a beautiful river.

 

[Brian Miller]

To illustrate how I use these flies, I fished a new-to-me reach of a stream I've fished before for a few hours this week. I started off with a moderately stiff hackled Takayama (sakasa – reverse hackle) pheasant tail wet fly on a 11' hi-vis fluoro line, and 3'-4' of 5X tippet with a 12.5' full flex rod. My max casting-presentation distance is about 20'.

Within 20 minutes working an eddy seam over some submerged rocks near the far bank I hooked-landed my first fish. The fluoro line sang like a violin string; one of the cool things about a full flex rod, as I pulled the fish through the current into soft water to net it. I moved down a ways through a long mostly featureless small cobble run then caught a couple and missed a fish in rocks near the far bank again. After an hour I came to where a bank had eroded bringing a tree across the stream making a dense sweeper. I worked the upstream side of the sweeper and missed a fish just in front of the foam line. There was a gap to get through about 8’ wide x 12’ long x 5’ above the water. Approaching from upstream, I let the wet fly drift down into the gap first with no results so keeping the fly submerged I used a subtle low horizontal jigging "manipulation" technique and got a big grab from what turned out to be a 3’ deep hole in the middle but no hookup. Tried it again and got a 2nd grab. After a couple more times with no further action I waded through, fished the back side of the sweeper then worked further downstream about 100 yds with no results. I glanced at my watch and it was getting time to start home. I made my way to the bank where I ate a sandwich and drank a qt of water.

According to my records the water was moderately high for the stream's other reaches I have fished, and thinking ahead to round 2 with the hole under the sweeper I quickly collapsed and stowed the 11' rod and rigged up the beadhead sakasa on a stiffer 13' rod that is better for casting weighted flies. Max cast-presentation distance with a 13' fluoro line and a 3'-4' tippet is about 22'

I caught a fish in some submerged rocks near the far bank with a dead drift on first cast. I worked my way back to the sweeper.

Keeping enough distance from the branches to allow a high rod tip-tight line drift I tried a slingshot cast from straight downstream into the gap but couldn't get far enough in where the hole was. Stepping back to the side of the gap to avoid branches on the far side I did a sidearm cast to avoid the branches above, and raised the rod to complete the cast for a tight line presentation. It was a bit short. The 2nd cast went right into the hole. I hooked-landed an 11" fish.

 

[jaredoconnor]

By casting and catching the riser I put the rest of the fish in the pocket down.
What I should have done is start at the tail of the pocket and worked my way up, avoiding spooking the pocket.

Competition guys use 20ft dry fly leaders. That allows them to cover the surface, without spooking the whole area, and then come through with a nymph.

 

[Rob Allen]

Simple... elk hair caddis tan size 14.. all western streams have caddis throughout most of the summer. Take one step into the river if you need to. Turn 90 degrees up river. Make 3 casts, one on the bank. The next 3 feet out and the last one 6 feet out. Take three steps upstream and repeat. Be observant for any clues as to what else might be going on.

 

[Dave G]

The original post asked about holding water... I was taught that fish need 3 things: access to food; protection from predators and relief from the current. Broken water (riffles), murky water, overhangs or undercuts usually provide predator relief. Rocks, depressions, logs, or back eddies provide relief from current. Seams are streams' conveyor belt for food. Downstream and upstream from boulders are also good spots to prospect. Try fishing just under shallow drops or small rapids where the water softens. Start there and simply pay attention to what works. It's very satisfying to scope out a likely spot and find your guess to be right by actually hooking up!

BTW: like in the Matrix, some rules can be bent and some can be broken. (Example: fish never rise facing directly into the sun to take a dry fly - - until they do!)

Lots of folks have talked here about fly selection... I'd suggest narrowing your fly selections to no more than about 4 to 6 dries and nymphs (each) in a no more than 3 sizes and get to know when they work and how best to fish them. Too many choices can be as bad as too few until you develop your confidence of what to try and why. The 'best' selection will depend on where you generally like to fish (geographically), the type of water (lakes or rivers), the time of the year, the time of day, and the weather. You might want to drop by a local fly shop and ask them for their recommendation. I'd bet they'll be happy to help.

Good luck and enjoy the learning!

 

[Tom Butler]

The original post asked about holding water... I was taught that fish need 3 things: access to food; protection from predators and relief from the current.

Same here, spot on for learning new waters.
Unless I see obvious rises, which I may try to match, I'll go subsurface. Even if I see adults I usually wet fly or nymph (at least first). Dave Hughes says fish do 90% of their feeding below the surface, and that matches my catch rate basically, so if I'm prospecting I'm going with a subsurface presentation.
Also, as others said take a look around, and if you see something do your best to replicate it. A stonefly shuck means adults are about, but most fish come on a nymph for me, so the dry is an indicator, and gets a few. It actually seems to take more fish damp than dry.

 

[FinLuver]

Late Summer, small streams…

I start where water plunges over “smallish” boulders…fish the bubbles with a smaller, heavy nymph.

I work my way down…

My ant pattern, tossed above the boulder and allowed to fall over and drown is also effective. That same pattern is worked in the slicks and in front of boulders that hold fish…especially, if there is some depth in front.

Percolators and Stimulators are also effective in the bigger pools.

 

[FinLuver]

The Orvis book, about prospecting for trout, is worth a read. Finding fish is too big of a topic, for a forum post.

It’s really pretty simple…
Don’t fish the dry parking lots.