Knots

To explain knots and graphically represent them here is beyond me right now. They are very important and I won't abandon you now. There are a number of excellent books on knots. I recommend, "Fisherman's Knots, Fishing Rigs, And How To Use Them," by Bob McNally. It's published by the Atlantic Publishing Company, copyright 1993 and can be purchased at Barnes and Noble or Amazon. for $16.95.

I recommend the use of a nail knot to tie the leader on to the fly line. I prefer to tie on a short piece of leader with a diameter of 0.021" and put a perfection loop (this is a knot with a non-slipping loop) in this small (4" to 6") section. I tie another "perfection loop" in the thick end of my leader and use the two loops to fasten the leader to the fly line. This permits me to change leaders without having to tie the dreaded nail knot streamside. When I have to tie the nail know I use a knot-tying tool called TIE-FAST Knot Tyer manufactured by: Sierra Stream & Mountain, P.O. Box 7693, Chico, CA 95927 for $4.99. This is a simple and great tying tool.

I use a blood (horrible name) knot to tie leaders together and to tie the fly line backing to the fly line. If I am tying leader together streamside I use the surgeon's knot. It is much easier to tie which helps a great deal if you are fishing. I use the improved clinch knot to tie the flies onto the leader. I recommend you practice all these knots in your home. Buy some cheap monofiliment and practice away.

Flies

There are a number of types to consider. They are dry flies, wet flies, nymphs, and streamers. I have many of all types but the fly that is the most fun to use is the dry fly. This fly floats on the surface of the water and you get to see the fish "rise" and "hit" it. Flies are imitations of something. Dry flies imitate aquatic insects. These are insects that are born in the river and live as a nymph under rocks in the river's bed. These nymphs are the principle food for trout. After a year the nymphs swim to the surface and molt their skins and become a flying insect. When this occurs it is called a "hatch." When these hatches occur the insects are very vulnerable to feeding fish. There are three principle types of these flies. They are mayflies, caddis flies and stone flies. Within each of these three groups are many subgroups. These flies all hatch at a given time in a specific sequence determined by the rivers temperature. This is true regardless of what river you are fishing in or where that river is. Now doesn't that help? This insect thing can get pretty complicated. I recommend you read about these aquatic insects. There are many books available but among the best is a short simple book written by Art Flick. It is called, "Art Flick's New Streamside Guide." Knowledge of these insects is a must if you want to be an effective fly-fisherman.

A day in the life of a mayfly:

A year ago last May I was hatched in the bottom of the West Branch of the Ausable River. Since that day I have been merrily swimming along the river's bed, hiding under rocks from those mean trout. I have been eating algae and "whatever" to survive. Than one day when the water temperature reached 50 degrees Fahrenheit I had a strange feeling. I was overcome with the urge to get out form under my rock and swim to the surface of the river. Upon doing so all of a sudden my skin all peeled off and I sprouted wings. (This is what a fly-fisherman calls a hatch). A nasty trout saw me and tried to have me for diner. I saw him coming though and used my newly acquired wings to fly off the river's surface and got away. I was accompanied by thousands of my brothers and sisters as we sped away from those ravenous trout. I'm very new to this flying thing and if you see me it might look like I am about to crash. Have no fear I will be okay. I have only a day to do this flying thing, find a wife, and return to the river. I will fly back to the river tomorrow with my wife where she will deposit her eggs that will become our children. We will than fullfill our destiny by becoming diner for a hungry trout. What's a bug to do?

I have over three hundred flies in my fly boxes. Most of them I will never use. I have my favorites and they are:

Dry Flies

May Flies

Wet Flies

Nymphs

Streamers

A good way to decide what fly to use is to go to a local fly shop near the river you are fishing and ask the owner what is the fly of the day. If you are in the Adirondacks in upper New York State visit The Adirondack Sports Shop owned by Fran Betters on Route 86 in Wilmington, NY. Fran will usually tell you the fishing is great. I haven't always found it to be so however the advice you get from Fran will be invaluable. These shop owners want you to succeed so you will come back another day.

As I said earlier I prefer fishing dry flies. This is because use you can see what is happening. Nymph or sub-surface fishing is very difficult. You need to use a strike indicator on your line in the hope of knowing when a trout hits you fly. A strike indicator is a bright colored piece of foam or material that is placed on your leader above the fly. If the water you are fishing is four feet deep I would place the indicator at eight feet above the fly. It is worth learning the skills necessary to nymph fish, as nymphs are the primary food source of trout. A book that can help is, "The Masters On The Nymph," edited by J. Michael Migel and Leonard M. Wright, Jr. Another excellent book and my favorite on what trout eat is, "Dave Whitlock's Guide to Aquatic Trout Foods." I will go into techniques used for fishing these various fly types but first lets finish up on what other tackle you need and lets have a lesson on casting.

Additional Necessary Tackle

Waders - I prefer the lightweight kind sold at Cabela's. The neoprene ones are way to warm for me, even in early spring. I like the stocking foot type and a pair of felt soled canvas wading shoes with lugs. I fish the west branch of the Ausable River in New York State and it has the slipperiest bottom of any river I have ever fished. Add to your waders a wading belt to keep the waders from filling up with water when you fall in the river. Notice I said when you fall not if you fall. I get a dunking every year. All of these things together add up to about a hundred twenty bucks.

A pair of Suplex pants - These pants are great. I use them to wade in after the water warms a bit. They are also great to wear under your waders during cold weather. They dry in no time and I prefer to wade in them wearing a wading shoe of a pair of wading sandals. Cost about $70.00.

A fly vest - I have three. Get one with as many pockets as possible. Make a habit of putting things in the same pocket or you will spend forever rummaging through you pockets to get your gadgets. Cost about $50.00.

A fishing net - I use a standard aluminum net. I had a fancy wooden trout net but broke it when I slipped on a rock. Cost about $15.00.

Fly boxes - I prefer the plastic ones made by Scientific Anglers. I have a bunch of them. They cost around $7.00. You can also get a fancy metal one with little glass doors for each compartment for about $100.00. Yup I have one. The doors are always popping open on me and I have lost dozens of flies this way. Stay with the plastic.

Widgets and gadgets - I have tons of these. Below is what I consider necessary.

Line Clipper - for cutting your fishing line
Hemostats - For removing hooks from trout
Thermometer - For taking the rivers temperature.
Swiss Army Knife - For just about everything
Fly Floatent - To keep those dry flies on top of the water
Fly Dryer - To keep those dry flies on top of the water
Hook Sharpener - To keep those flies sharp
Pin On Self-Reeling Widgets - To hang clippers, thermometer, hook sharpener, and fish net on your fly vest
Strike Indicators - To see strikes when fishing nymphs
Small Flashlight - You want to fish right up to dark that's when it is best after early season
Insect Repellant - An absolute necessity
Spare Tippets and Leaders - You will need them
Bandana - You got to look like a, "good old boy."
Fishing Hat- NY Yankee baseball cap *
Sunscreen - Factor 30 please
Small Split Shot Weights - To get those nymphs down to the rivers bed
Art Flick's New Streamside Guide - Plenty of fishing info
Polarized Sun Glasses - The better to see the trout with?
Knot Tying Tool - I can't get bye without one
Compass or GPS - I have been hopelessly lost in the woods, it's scary and dangerous
Canvas Creel - To carry fishing tackle
A Cold Beer - Another absolute necessity
Cost - Multiple bucks

Although I fish alone most of the time a fishing companion is a wonderful asset to have. If that companion happens to be beautiful woman consider yourself one of the luckiest guys on earth and remember to give thanks to the Lord and the beautiful woman for your good fortune.

* The Official West Branch Ausable River fishing hat. Did you know that Paul O'Neill is a direct descendant of Mark Twain and that Yogi also played for the New York Yankees (yes everybody knows that)? What a coincidence.

How do you cast this little almost weightless fly?

A Lesson in Casting

Find yourself a large open area. Tie a dry fly on your leader using the improved clinch knot. Strip enough line through the rods line guides to get to your floating line. Strip a few feet of the floating line through the rod line guides. Now strip about sixty feet of line off your reel and let it fall to your feet. It is not the fly but the line that you cast. Imagine that straight above you is twelve o'clock on a clock. Raise your rod to ten o'clock. With your non-casting hand grab the fly line below the rods bottom line guide in front of the reel. Rapidly flick the rod back to a two o'clock position by bending your arm at the elbow. Look behind you to see the line stretching out. Try and note the feeling of the line loading up on the rod as it straightens out behind you. As the line nears being straight rapidly bring your arm forward returning to the ten o'clock position. Release the fly line with your non-casting hand and allow line to strip through the rod line guides. Regrab the fly line with your non-casting hand when it finishes striping through the rod guides. Continue this back and forth motion of the fly rod and grabing and releasing of the line as line strips out through the line guides. This motion is called false casting. When the line no longer strips through the line guides permit the fly to fall to earth or water in front of you. That is the essence of fly-casting. As you get use to it you will no longer have to look behind you to know when its time to bring your arm forward. In, "A River Runs Through It," the preacher and fly-fishing teacher tells his sons to practice on a four-count rhythm. Flick the line back and count one one thousand, two one thousand, forward three one thousand, four one thousand. Get the picture? It's really not so bad and mysterious. Practice, practice, practice. On a good day of fly-fishing you will make thousands of these casting motions. Therefore another reason for a balanced fly rod/reel/line combination. End of lecture and lesson.

Lets go fishing!

Fishing Strategy

Trout face up river and hang out at the river's bottom hiding in front of and behind rocks. They face up river to catch passing food carried there by the river's current. It makes sense then to cast our line up river and let it drift naturally down the river. Sounds simple enough but there is a right and a wrong way to go about doing this. Lets start by wading out into the river. Be as quite as possible, stealth is a must when fishing. Face the opposite bank of the river. Imagine a circle around you. The direction you are facing is zero degrees. Directly left of you is 90 degrees and up river. Directly behind you is 180 degrees. There are 360 degrees in a complete circle. You want to cast your line up river by 45 degrees.

Let the fly drift naturally in the current. When your fly line gets below the fly the current will grab it and the drift of your fly will be speeded up as the fly tries to catch up with the floating fly line. This is a bad thing and you will never catch a trout when this happens. To prevent it you can put an up stream mend in your line by role casting your line up stream. This is a subtle move. I will attempt to explain it. Imagine you are holding your fly rod in your right hand. You have just made a cast 45 degrees up stream and your rod is pointing in that direction. Now raise the tip of your rod slightly while flicking your right wrist in a counter clockwise direction. This will put an up stream loop in your line. This loop prevents your line from being dragged down stream before your fly and allows the fly to drift naturally with the current. When your fly drifts to a point that is 45 degrees down stream from you it is time to pick it off the water and cast again or put another mend in the line and continue the drift.

Casting directly up stream is possible but you have to quickly strip line through the rods line guides to prevent slack in the line. This is done by pulling the line back through the line guides with the non-casting or free hand. If you have to much slack in your line and a trout "hits" your fly you will not be able to set the hook and your will miss catching the trout. Also there is usually a slight breeze heading down stream caused by the water moving in that direction. Casting against a breeze, even a slight one, is difficult. You will find down stream casting a lot easier for that reason. It is okay to cast down stream but you have a very short drift when you do this so your fly is not on the water very long. The cast 45 degrees upstream is the best way to go. Try and put the fly in front of visible rocks or non-visible rocks made apparent by ripples in the water. I could go on forever here on reading the water and strategies on trout fishing. Instead I will recommend a couple of more books to help you with this. They are, "Tactics On Trout," by Ray Ovington, "The Orvis Fly Fishing Guide," by Tom Rosenbauer, and "Prospecting For Trout," also by Tom Rosenbauer. "Tactics On Trout," is very technical and will probably give you a headache, it gave me one. "Prospecting For Trout," is the best read here for tactics and gets my 5 star rating (what ever that is). The other previously mentioned books by Whitlock and Migel will also help. I have more books on trout fishing than I do on chemistry and I earn my living as a chemist. As a matter of fact I have more books on trout fishing than I have on anything. This trout fishing thing must be very complicated. It's because trout are so smart. I read once that the IQ of a trout is 2. Mine must be 1 or less. Is it possible to have a negative IQ?

I have been going on here for quite a while. This is not meant to be a complete course in fly-fishing. It is just an overview at best. There are plenty of books and web sites about fly-fishing. Go to Dogpile (my favorite search engine) enter "fly-fishing" and check out some of the web sites. I will add a couple of links below that I use to assist me in my fishing. They are the sites of the United State Geological Survey (USGS) and New York State's DEC 's Stocking Report. The former tells you the water temperature and flow of the water in cubic feet per second for every river in the United States, the later tells you how many trout have been put into New York rivers and when they were put there. Trust me trout are smart as hell and you need every edge you can get.

My home base for fly-fishing are the rivers, lakes, and streams of the beautiful Adirondack Mountains in upper New York State. I haven't had much success in fishing the rivers until the temperature of the water is above 46 degrees F. There are no hatches below that temperature. It is now the first week in May of the year 2000. The water should reach that mark this weekend and Quill Gorden mayfly hatches should start coming off the water. These will be followed by a Hendrickson hatch. (I would get an argument here from Fran Betters from The Adirondack Sport Shop. Fran claims the Hendrickson is the first Ausable River hatch followed by the Quill Gorden. Art Flick would disagree with him on this. I am not going to get in between a disagreement between these fishing ledgends. I have something more important to do). It's time to stop writing and go to the river and fish. I will also bring my spinning gear just in case. I know there are fly-fishermen that frown on the use of anything other than fly-fishing tackle. I am not one of them. I fish in many ways and use everything from tiny flies while wading in a river to down riggers for lake trout and salmon. However fly-fishing is my favorite way to fish. Catching a wild trout on this delicate tackle is the ultimate fishing experience. Give it a try and see what you think.

Last year I was in Wyoming fishing with my friend Randy. He always catches five fish to everyone I catch. We were fishing the Buffalo Fork River. I was using a dry terrestrial imitation fly called a Turk Tarantella. A huge cutthroat trout hit my fly. As I tried to reel him in he fought gamely making run after run against the drag on my fly reel. I showed patients and waited out each of these runs. A trout's mouth is delicate and if you crank to hard against them you will tear the hook out of the trout. I fought this trout for at least ten minutes. When I finally had him by my side I removed my hemostats from my vest and reached down into the water to remove the hook. I did not want to lift this trout out of the water. He was exhausted from his game struggle and I did not want to cause him further stress or trauma. After removing the hook he was gone in a flash. I was happy to see the speed of his departure. It was an indication that he was still in good health. Maybe I will have the good fortune to go back to that spot some years down the road and hook into this fellow again when he is even larger and gamer. What a thrill that would be. What a great reason to practice catch and release. I ask you all to do the same for the joy of those who love to fish and for the lives of these beautiful wild animals we call trout.

NOTE: I have some fixing to do here but felt that posting this now was important because of the time of the year. Trout fishing is about to peak and I feel that is more important than the fixing needed here. If you stumble across this page I hope this advice helps you get away from your computer and out into the beautiful world given us by nature.

Another self portrait. You may be asking: 1. Where is the official "West Branch Ausable Fishing Hat," 2. Did I catch any trout 3. Where did I get those sexy waders?

Ans:
1. Actually I hate wearing a hat. I look scary (a.k.a. ridiculous) in one.
2. No, the water was way too cold (below 46 degrees F).
3. Victoria's Cabela's?

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