Dan and I hit Cinnamon Creek this past week. The water is a little high and fast, but definitely fishable. In fact, within the first couple of minutes of hitting the water, Dan landed this beauty to the right.
We took Dan’s across the street neighbor, Ken (he is a very nice guy, by the way). He’s only fly fished a couple of times before. It was great to hang out with someone who hasn’t fly fished much and is interested in learning how—not just the motions, but actually asking questions and using the advice given to him. We may have overloaded him with info (sorry Ken!).
But it made me think about all of the little things in fly fishing that eventually become natural to you. Everything from casting to fly and line management when the fly is finally on the water. Lies (uhhh…not that kind of lying, those come automatically to all fishermen) as in, where the trout are in the water. Insects. Fly selection, etc. But I was more focused on this little fishing time with fly drift and line management—making that fly look right on the water.
In trying to vocalize to Ken what to do with his arm/hand to make the fly look like it should on the water, I realized ho involved it really was. Cinnamon Creek is small with lots of overgrowth. So getting a “real” cast just isn’t typical there. This also means that most of the fishing was done within 20 feet of us, usually more like 10 feet. There is plenty of pocket water too. So this isn’t your 50′ cast and then let fly and line float back to you.
Since the float line catches in chutes going from one pocket to the next, it’s important to keep the float line out of the fast water. If you don’t the line is going faster than the slick water in the pocket above that has your fly in it. Therefore your fly just drags through the pool. So you have to learn to keep the fly at the same speed as the pocket water.
You do a quick roll cast then almost immediately flick a little slack into the line, or, since we were so close to the pockets we fished, the best method was usually highsticking. You roll cast the fly into the pocket then lift the rod up. Not just the rod tip, but actually lift your entire arm up so the whole rod goes up. This lifts the float line off the water and allows you to control the fly.
It’s pretty much an automatic response for me when fishing this kind of water. But it has to be taught to beginners.
Ken was a great student and in just an hour or so of fishing (actually, with three guys sharing one little creek and Ken spending a fair amount of time with snags and wind knots, I’d say more like 30 minutes of fly on the water time) he caught his first fish on a fly:
The fishing was pretty good overall. I lost a nice one and landed several decent ones. Dan landed a handful too. Ken caught a larger fish than this picture (but he said he didn’t need any more pictures). He also lost a couple of decent sized fish.
Great fun! Thanks for coming Ken.
What are some thngs you might take for granted when fly fishing, but actually it’s a little more complex when you teach it?
Gotta love close quarters, make me wonder how anglers from other areas would approach my waters. Beautiful fish, I like the pop up w/subtitle display.
Line managment/fly control seemed to come naturally to me, typically though I would have to cast once/twice to figure out the current/situation to make the third cast the right one. I am working on making my first cast the correct one but it takes time to read everything just so. Great post.
WFF,
You’re lucky line management came so easy. That may have been a big part of my problem when I first learned to fish: making the fly behave like a real fly does. Close quarters is definitely a different way to fish. I need to take a few more pictures of us in the really tight spots–squatted down with face and arms poking through brush and the rod grasped in the middle instead of the cork!
I teach for a living, but have been very humbled by trying to teach Mrs ER and others to flyfish. I “just learned” by going out & doing it with Gramps and his friends at a very young age, and to put it all in words (& directions) was frustrating all around. I’d never even THOUGHT about simple things like stripping in line to control slack… Finally bought Mrs ER some lessons, and that was the way to go.
Trying to teach my son to fly fish was also humbling (more like bumbling–I did a terrible job and kind of drove him away from it). This guy who went with us, Ken, was asking questions and putting advice into practice, which makes for a big difference from the “teachers” end.
My wife is one of the purest purists I have ever seen handle a fly rod. We both teach a number of people how to flyfish. It amazes me to see how readily people adapt to her right-brained approach as opposed to my tech-adapted approach. (Some would say, “anal.” She is much too kind to agree.) In fact, this summer I am setting aside what I know to explore what SHE sees. Why on earth did it take me so long…
I can’t believe that beast came from that lil creek. Awesome.
Hi Brian! Not a huge fish by usual standards, but yeah, for that little creek–a real brute. Looks like I’m heading your way this upcoming week: Nevada/Oregon border looking for Lahontans, Redbands and Bull Trout.