Flylines

Last updated 5/25/1999 at Noon

It was a classic Metolius situation: There were half a dozen nice fish down there in the bottom of that deep hole, but nothing I tried was getting my fly even close. It was an eddy with a log jam at one end. The fish were buried down among the obstructions.

I reeled up and backed off a little. I found a comfortable spot to sit and watch the fish for a while.

They were nice looking rainbows; the biggest one might have gone 18 or 19 inches long. There were a couple of others in the 14- to-15-inch range. They were certainly proof that wild fish management is working.

The trout were circulating around the bottom of the pool following the swirl of the eddy, obviously cruising for food.

As I watched, a pattern in the movement began to make itself apparent. Each time a fish came in to cruise the back of the eddy he would drop into a narrow band of shade that a log was casting along the river bottom. He'd leave the shade only when it was time to move out to the main current again. As the sun shifted and the shadow moved, the fishs' pattern moved right with it.

It was a wonderful camouflage; the fish were very hard to see in the shade. I could really only tell that they where going up the shadow because I would see them go in at one end and come out at the other.

These fish, living in a deep, 10-foot hole, filled with logs and other obstructions, really had no need of the extra camouflage the shadow was providing. Yet consistently, without fail, each trout seemed to know the shade was the safest place to be. Instinctively they moved to it and used it to hide their activities.

It was such a simple trick, and so naturally performed, I couldn't help but marvel at it. Native trout really are a wonder to observe. The trout's world is such a hostile environment. Enemies are everywhere from ospreys to otters to fishermen to bull trout.

I've always known it's a good trick to fish the shadows. Casting a fly to these areas has always had a strong potential to bring results. But, in the past, I've always fished shadows just like another holding area.

Now I think I'm going to focus a bit more on that shade and perhaps fish the smaller shadows as well as the larger, deeper pockets.