The Nugget Newspaper - News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon

I'm often asked to tell "guide stories." Usually I'm reluctant to do it. I like my customers. I don't enjoy exposing their weaknesses.

But this one is simply too good to pass up.

The client (we'll call him Bob), wasn't very organized right from the start. It took us a while to get going. The first few stops with the boat were all on the right-hand side of the river. We were nymph fishing. I taught him some things about casting and reading water in order to get him fishing better. Pretty soon he fell into the routine of it. Cast across your body upstream, mend, run the fly through the drift. Nothing to it.

That's when I threw him the big curve. We stopped on the other bank. He got out of the boat and started to fish. Cast across your body, mend. He looked mystified when the fly didn't drift. He cast again. Still no result.

"We're on the other side of the river," I explained. "Try casting the other way - upstream."

"Oh!." Bob snickered. "I guess that would be better."

Don't laugh too hard at Bob; he is not alone in his mechanical style of fishing.

I have a fishing friend who used to rig a light nymph under a dry fly on a long, sloppy piece of tippet. He would fish this nymph system in shallow water or deep water and under every type of hatch condition, no matter what, because somebody had shown him that was the way to do it.

Certainly a dry fly, with a light nymph dropper is a good system - especially if used in shallow water, and during times when fish are actively feeding on a hatch. It's not a very effective approach in four feet of water when the fish are down. For that situation you need a heavy nymph and an indicator.

Had my friend been using gray matter instead of doing everything exactly as he had been shown he would have rapidly figured out the difference in these styles of fishing. He would have thought about it and said to himself, "I need to get to the bottom." Then he would have asked, "Am I doing that?" He would have quickly seen the answer: "No."

Another classic example of rote fishing is mending. Lots and lots of fishermen mend up every drift, no matter what, because they think they are supposed to. Mends control the line; they regulate the drift of the fly. Usually you mend up. Sometimes you mend down. Sometimes you mend up and down all in one drift. You have to read the fly and line to know what to do. You have to think about what effect you're having - that's the only way to get consistently good drifts.

No matter what the fishing situation, apply the best tool you have - your brain. Think about how the fly looks. Think about the fish and how he sees your fly. Certainly we will all make our share of mistakes.

However, by taking nothing for granted; seeing nothing as gospel, by exploring and experimenting with different options you will discover one of the most critical keys to fly fishing success.

You'll become a thinking fly fisherman.