Anthony Acerrano

50 Ways to Fool Spring Trout

fieldandstream-editor — Tue, 13 Apr 2004 12:55:00 -0400

Tailwaters & Spring Creeks Tailwaters and spring creeks often go overlooked by anglers who don't understand how they differ from typical rivers and streams. A tailwater is simply the controlled flow beneath a man-made dam. Spring creeks are natural phenomena: small to midsize streams whose water comes mostly from underground. What tailwaters and spring creeks have in common is a generally even, regulated flow; comparatively steady and fish-favorable temperatures; and nutrient-rich water loaded with insects, baitfish, and trout.

34. Understand the water. In tailwaters and spring creeks, the generally slower, clearer, placid currents make trout more wary. Also, since trout are surrounded by so much food and have so much time to inspect and select what they eat, your artificial fly or lure must be perfectly chosen and presented.

35. Stalk trout. As a general rule, the typical freestone approach of casting blind to attractive water is counterproductive on a spring creek or calm tailwater. Exploratory casting disturbs the water and frightens trout, and it rarely places the fly or lure with the kind of precision needed to catch fish. It's better to scrutinize the water carefully before approaching, looking for visible (and especially, feeding) trout that you can observe and-only then-stalk and ply with a careful cast. To help spot fish, wear quality polarized sunglasses and a hat with a dark-underside front brim.

36. Get a closer look. Carry a pair of lightweight binoculars to scan for rise activity, water disturbances, and visible fish. Also use binoculars to study nearby trout and floating or drifting insects and to examine the immediate area for other trout.

37. Channel your cast. On small to midsize waters, look for trout in weedy channels, particularly those with open patches of bottom. Big trout hold in these protected, food-rich lies.

38. Work the margins. With larger tailwater rivers, do most of your fishing on the margins outside the main current: undercut and thickly covered banks; heads and tails of islands and adjacent bars and side channels; and the large eddies that form on inside bends and below jutting points of land.

39. Be Sneaky. To target a specific trout, false-cast away from the fish, off to one side, to avoid spooking it with the line and also to prevent water droplets from falling over and scaring it. The more clear, open, and shallow the water, the more you need to make a stealthy approach and cast.

40. Know when to strike. Watch the fish, not your fly. Look for a silver flash as the fish rolls slightly to grab a nymph; or for the sudden show of white as its mouth opens to take a fly. Strike as the white disappears (and the mouth closes).

41. Nail the approach. Trout in these waters don't need to move much to take in food. So your fly or lure must enter their exact drift lanes. With flies, the presentation should also be drag-free. Good approaches include the across-and-slightly-downstream cast with slack line, the across-reach, and the upstream curve. With ultra-wary, leader-shy trout, often the best approach is directly downstream, using a slack-line cast that presents the fly to the fish ahead of the leader.

42. Pick Your Fish. Target one fish at a time, especially when you come upon several trout feeding or holding together. If you try to cast generally to the group, chances are you'll present well to none of them. Or worse, you'll put the whole group down.

43. Carry a broad-based but key selection of flies

Midges Have cluster and dry patterns (Griffith Gnat, (A) Parachute Midge, Black Gnat; Nos. 16Â¿Â¿Â¿24); pupae, larvae, and emerger patterns (Brassie, Beadhead Midge Worm, Disco, Palomino, Foam Head; Nos. 16Â¿Â¿Â¿24).

Dries Favor sparse, "realistic" patternns tied in no-hackle, parachute, thorax, and Comparadun styles (Adams, Light Cahill, (B) Bluewing Olive, Paradun, and specific local hatch-matchers; Nos. 12Â¿Â¿Â¿24). Include some spent-wing variations to mimic the dead adult flies that float, wings outstretched, in the surface film.

a

Nymphs You want Pheasant Tail, Prince, (C) Gold Ribbed Hare's Ear, Gray Muskrat (Nos. 16Â¿Â¿Â¿22; some weighted, some beadhead); Floating Nymph, and various local emerger patterns.

Other Sinking Flies Bring Scuds, Nos. 12Â¿Â¿Â¿18, in olive, gray, tan, and pink; some with sparkle or flash fibers, some weighted; Cress bugs (Nos. 12Â¿Â¿Â¿16); and the (D) San Juan Worm (Nos. 6Â¿Â¿Â¿10).

Streamers Good choices include the Matuka, Zonker, Clouser Minnow, Woolly Bugger, Muddler, Sculpin, and (E) Leech Fly, in black, olive, and brown; Nos. 1Â¿Â¿Â¿8; some weighted.

44. Lighten up. Much spring creek and tailwater fishing is best suited to the lightest rods and lines. This is the place where 81/2- to 9-foot, 2- to 4-weight fly rods earn their keep. Weight-forward lines are acceptable in these ranges, although some experts insist on a double-taper's softer casts. Long, light leaders are very important: 14 to 16 feet, with 3 to 4 feet of tippet as fine as 6X to 7X, depending upon fly size. For spin fishing on creeks and many tailwaters, use ultralight, 5- to 51/2-foot rods with 4-pound-test line.

45. Get heavy. On some large tailwater rivers, heavier outfits-a 9-foot, 6- to 7-weight fly rod or a 6- to 61/2-foot medium-light spinning rod spooled with 6- to 8-pound-test-are helpful for making longer casts, and for handling bigger lures, flies, sink-tip lines, and windy conditions.

46. Find out what's on the menu. The best way is to get into the water well below the fish, in its exact current lane. Use a hand net or square of soft screen to sift out the flotsam for close inspection. You don't need to be an entomologist to get a bead on the feed. Just match a fly to the naturals as well as you can-to size, shape, and color, in that order of priority.

47. Remember the "pounds of meat" rule. When several kinds of flies and bait are in the water and you aren't sure which one to match, go with whatever is most abundant. More often than not trout prefer the most plentiful food in the water, the one that provides "the most pounds of meat."

48. Think very small. Be sure to choose small, lightweight lures in subdued colors for most clear or shallow water conditions. Spoons from 1/16 to 1/8 ounce, and size 00 to 0 spinners, can be softly dropped in pockets, near banks, and in weed channels; or drifted and then "activated" in front of holding or feeding trout. Jigs from 1/32 to 1/8 ounce work great for this kind of fishing. In black, green, or brown marabou, they can be free-drifted, jigged, or hopped along the bottom to imitate numerous prey items, including nymphs, crayfish, sculpin, and leeches.

49. Try a Fly on your Spinning Rod. Streamers that imitate sculpin, minnows, and leeches are easily fished with ultralight spin tackle. Use weighted flies and/or add split shot 6 to 8 inches above the fly. Toss dries with a casting bubble. With nymphs, a three-way-swivel rig will allow the fly to drift more naturally along the bottom.

50. Go Nuts. If nothing is working after hours of careful strategy, break the "rules." Start by enlivening your dry flies or nymphs with twitches, skips, and darts. Skitter and dance a Variant across the surface. Try a No. 10 Royal Wulff or Madame X; or a thumb-size Woolly Bugger or Leech. Exchange the 00 spinner for a No. 3; try cranking a big crayfish diver. Purists will shriek, but-sometimes-these last-resort deviations catch trout when conventional tactics fail.

Field and Stream Guide: 50 Ways to Catch Spring Trout

fieldandstream-editor — Wed, 31 Mar 2004 19:00:00 -0500

50 Ways to Fool Spring Trout

fieldandstream-editor — Wed, 31 Mar 2004 06:50:00 -0500

18. Fish the ice-out. Some of the largest trout of the year are taken when there's still ice bobbing on the water. You'll find the big fish cruising the warming shallows in search of food.

19. Tow the lines. Don't leave home without an assortment of fly lines on easily changeable spools. You need a floating, weight-forward taper for fishing the surface to 5 feet; a sink tip for fishing 5- to 8-foot depths; and a full sink, high-density line for anything beyond that. On some ponds and clear backwaters where trout spook easily, a floating double-taper line will allow the most delicate presentations.

20. Catch a cruiser. In lakes and ponds, a great deal of a trout's time is spent on the move, searching for food. Always examine the water before moving in close. Think of hunting trout. Remain still, with as low a profile as possible, while you wait for fish to swim within casting range.

21. Work the fly. In still water, mayfly nymphs can be twitched along just beneath the surface or sunk more deeply and given a swimming, darting retrieve. Fish damselfly nymphs over submerged weeds and near the surface with erratic strips. Scuds move with a slow, jerky motion. Give leech patterns a quick, irregular action in the shallows and around weeds; but in deeper water use a slower, longer strip-and-pause retrieve near the bottom.

22. Double down. When you can't see visible, cruising fish, search prime water with tandem-fly rigs. Try a No. 14Â¿Â¿Â¿16 Woolly Worm trailed by a large, black Woolly Bugger or Marabou Leech. Or cast two streamers of different size and color. You can also twitch a pair of nymphs just under the surface or near the bottom. With skittish trout holding in weeds, hang a No. 16 Pheasant Tail nymph and a No. 18Â¿Â¿Â¿20 midge larva or scud pattern beneath a strike indicator and let it sit.

23. Soften Up. Trout love soft-plastic baits designed for crappies and bass. Black grub tails make tremendous leech imitations, especially when fished on a red or orange jighead (suggestive of a trout egg). Pearl-white tails and baitfish-mimicking bodies (in blue and white, trout colors, grey-black and white) are also deadly. Switch colors and sizes-don't be afraid to fish bass-size baits for big trout-and vary your retrieves: slow and steady, rise and fall, or "bumping" along the bottom.

24. Locate trout haunts. Look for trout near springs, inlets (especially during and after a rainstorm), channels, points of land, shoals, and dropoffs.

25. Watch for foam lines. These lines form in offshore slicks on gusty days. They serve as natural flypaper, trapping insects. Trout feed beneath the foam and along its edges.

26. Find submerged weedbeds. Weeds are essentially a food factory, where nymphs, larvae, scuds, and baitfish breed and feed, and where trout do most of their dining.

27. Lead the way. A common mistake is casting a lure or fly directly to a rise ring, which often spooks the fish. Patient anglers will observe a still-water trout's moving and feeding pattern and then cast to where the fish is going.

28. Fish fine. As a general rule, spinfishermen will do best with the lightest tackle suitable for the size and weight of the lures they're using. Four- to 6-pound-test matches well with most jigs and with size 0Â¿Â¿Â¿3 spinners and spoons. Avoid unnecessary, bulky, or flashy-bright snaps and swivels. Tie jigs and small spinners directly to the line; use small, dark snap-swivels with spoons and larger lures.

29. Change patterns often. Unlike most stream situations, trout in still water have all the time they want to inspect and reject a fly, so don't persist with something that isn't working.

30. Fish at different depths. If you aren't seeing or enticing fish on or near the surfacce, go deeper. Use a weighted fly or add microshot with a floating line; or switch to a sink-tip or full-sink line. Use the countdown method for systematic depth control. When the fly begins sinking, start counting: one thousand one, one thousand two, etc. Note the number when you start your retrieve. On the next cast, let the fly sink for two or three seconds longer before retrieving. Work your way down to the bottom. If you tangle in weeds on a cast, simply count one or two seconds fewer on the subsequent cast, and you'll be just above the weeds, tangle-free and right in the fish zone.

31. Stay tight. On still waters, keep your rod tip low. This will help your line remain tight, which is important for detecting takes and for quick, effective strikes with both lures and flies.

32. Get greasy. When fishing nymphs close to the surface, grease all of the leader except the last few inches. This turns the whole leader into a strike indicator. If it jerks, flashes, or darts toward the fly, set the hook.

33. Be aware. If you notice fish turning away or flaring from a lure, chances are it's too bright and/or too large. Silver or bright gold blades will sometimes spook trout in clear water. Change to more muted blades and natural-bait colors.

50 Ways to Fool Spring Trout

fieldandstream-editor — Fri, 26 Mar 2004 06:00:00 -0500

From a trout fisherman's perspective, spring is a long and changeable season, not one thing but many. Before and after runoff, rivers and streams pulse with insect hatches and offer excellent action. Spring creeks and tailwaters, which rarely suffer high-water conditions, remain clear and calm and loaded with hungry fish throughout the season. And just after ice-out, lakes and ponds consistently produce some of the biggest bruisers of the year. Where you decide to fish is your choice, but we recommend the following 50 tips to improve your results-and your appreciation of spring fishing.

Freestone Rivers & Streams
Because these waters are fed by tributaries, snowmelt, and runoff, they are most susceptible to fluctuations in speed, depth, temperature, and color. But for much of spring they offer enjoyable and productive fishing.

1. Fish now. Early-season (the middle of March in some regions) weather can be less than balmy, but often the current is clear and stable and midday hatches (Baetis and midges) provide exciting topwater fishing.

2. Go ultralight. For spinfishermen, the clear water of early spring is a perfect time for a 5- to 51/2-foot ultralight rod with matching reel and 4-pound-test line. Diminutive spinners (sizes 00Â¿Â¿Â¿1) are often the top producers, especially in brass, dull gold, and baitfish colors. Cast to specific cover and current cushions, such as the pockets in front of and behind boulders, along banks, and in pools.

3. Watch the weather. One or two days of warmer weather and bright sun at the start of the season will raise the water temperature and activate trout; so will warming rains, which also wash terrestrial insects and bait into the current. Conversely, any weather pattern or event that lowers the water temperature, even by 2 or 3 degrees, often results in a poor day of fishing.

4. Drift beneath the hatch. If adult flies are hatching but no trout are rising, drift an emerger pattern just under the surface, or a nymph near the bottom. Often trout ignore adult flies while feeding voraciously on the easier pickings below.

5. Master the "swing-around" presentation. Position yourself upstream and to one side of a visible fish or prime lie. Toss a spinner, spoon, or streamer on a down-and-across angle, reeling or stripping line to adjust the drift path so that the lure swings around in the current just as it enters the prime lie or the fish's line of vision.

6. Tumble a slab-style spoon. Cast upstream and across, dropping the lure into a seam or edge where deep, fast water meets a slower flow. Let the lure sink but don't retrieve. Simply tighten the line, raise the rod tip, and allow the lure to tumble near the bottom on a downstream drift.

7. Go deep. Between hatches in the rising waters of mid- to late spring, try bigger, heavier streamers: Sculpins, Marabou Muddlers, Woolly Buggers, Flashabuggers, and Egg-Sucking Leeches in sizes 1Â¿Â¿Â¿6, natural and dark colors. These should be weighted, preferably with a beadhead, so that the fly gets down quickly. Dead-drift the streamer along a seam or run to imitate a drifting stonefly nymph or bottom-hugging sculpin. 8. Try two nymphs rigged in tandem. When no adult flies are hatching, a beadhead Pheasant Tail, No. 16Â¿Â¿Â¿20, will imitate the many Baetis naturals. Rig more than one fly, and vary the sizes. Use a long (12- to 14-foot) tapered leader, with 2 to 4 feet of fine, supple tippet material to encourage deep sinking and a natural, drag-free drift. Make short casts (15 to 20 feet) upstream and slightly across, well above prime lies. Let the flies sink near the bottom. If you don't feel the flies ticking bottom periodically, you aren't getting deep enough.

9. Be a "super" man. Mid- to late spring-when water begins to rise and darken from snowmelt-is when many oof the so-called super hatches occur: green drakes, Hendricksons, Mother's Day (Grannom) caddis, salmonflies (giant stoneflies), and more. Surprisingly, darker water actually offers some advantages. You can approach visible fish and prime lies more closely, and fly patterns need not be as finely matched to the naturals. Basic attractors such as Wulffs, Humpies, Stimulators, Trudes, and Elk Hair Caddis will entice plenty of fish.

10. Take a spin. One of the best lures for high-water trout is a crappie-size spinner-jig, with a 1/4-ounce fluorescent red or green leadhead, a small silver blade, and a plastic grub tail in pearl or black. This lure has flash and instant action and sinks quickly, which makes it perfect for dropping into small pockets and current cushions.

11. Tie on a rodent. Big trout everywhere-not just in Alaska-often throw caution aside when they spot a swimming mouse or vole, a hearty item of prey that few Lower 48 anglers think to imitate. Find a comparatively calm piece of water near a grassy bank-a place where a cut or irregularity in the bank creates a small or large cushion from the current. Next, cast a full-size, deer-hair mouse pattern right up on the edge of the bank. As soon as the mouse plops into the water, begin stripping it slowly back. Hang on.

12. Know the hatches. From early to mid-spring, hatch lore is much simplified and easy to comprehend. In March and early April, the bluewing olive, or Baetis, mayfly is common throughout trout country. Baetis hatch on overcast afternoons, often during a drizzle or spitting snow. A No. 16Â¿Â¿Â¿18 Parachute Adams (A) matches this fly nicely. Another important and widespread early-spring mayfly is the larger March brown, which hatches from late morning to early afternoon. This fly is easily distinguished from the bluewing olive by its larger size, brown mottling, and raked-back wings. Imitate it with a (B) No. 14Â¿Â¿Â¿16 March Brown Thorax, (C) Hairwing Dun, or (D) Brown Wulff. 13. Search with streamers. Before and after hatches in cold, clear-water conditions, explore by dead-drifting a streamer along banks, seams, and the edges of runs. If that fails, activate the fly with flicks of the rod tip and short strips of the line. Good patterns include: (A) Woolly Bugger, (B) Clouser Minnow, (C) Muddler, and (D) Zonker, sizes 4Â¿Â¿Â¿8. Black, brown, and olive are productive colors; but when in doubt, choose something that matches the tint of the streambed.

14. Slow down. To fly cast large, weighted flies and multiple-fly rigs without difficulty or tangling, slow down your casting stroke and open your loops by allowing the rod tip to describe a slightly wider arc. Accomplish this by simply dropping the rod tip a little lower than usual on the back and forward casts.

15. Get stout. In high and darkening water, a 6-foot fast- action rod with a light or medium-light strength rating and 6- to 8-pound-test line will give you the muscle necessary for working larger, heavier lures and for handling big fish in the current. Use thick, 1/4-ounce-plus spoons and heavy-bodied spinners, sizes 1Â¿Â¿Â¿3, that sink quickly and stay in the fish zone. Bright finishes- gold, silver, and fluorescents-are especially productive in murky waters.

16. Bank on it. To find trout in high water, cast anywhere the water pools. Above all, fish the banks. During peak runoff, that's where most trout will be.

17. Make a move. When a freestone stream is at peak runoff, all muddy roils and flooded banks, often the smartest tactic is to leave. Let the river do its thing and head for more congenial lakes, ponds, tailwaters, and spring creeks-places where the torrents of spring have less impact.

Trout on the Dark Side

fieldandstream-editor — Tue, 01 Jul 2003 11:35:00 -0400

"Owl light," an old-timer once called it, the dark hours when most humans and even most fishermen are sensibly asleep. But for a few-mainly the irrevocably fish-bit-it's a perfect time to do a little casting for trout.

A river seems different at night. The water is more fragrant, for one thing, with cool aromas of clover and wet grass, wafts of cedar or pine. Sounds are eerily exaggerated in the darkness. The current is higher pitched, noisier, as though being run through amplifiers. The splash of a feeding trout, loud enough to make you flinch, can seem shockingly violent for a species so often associated with caution and delicacy. But then, being out in the late night invites a certain edginess. Crackling brush starts your heart racing. The first thought is Bear!, and when the flashlight finds a blinking raccoon (or worse, a stunned cottontail) you feel a little foolish. But this is night fishing. After a while your nerves settle and your eyes adjust to the dimness. Then you can concentrate on the pleasure at hand: large trout by owl light.

Telemetry studies in the last dozen years help back up what some anglers have long believed: that trophy-class brown trout are heavily, and in some cases predominantly, nocturnal. Biologists found that radio-tracked browns, all 20 inches or larger, spent most daylight hours hiding beneath logjams and undercut banks. Only after sunset did they come alive and turn into "roving predators" (as one report phrased it), cruising up- and downstream, sometimes for miles, in search of active prey like crayfish, sculpins, and crawling nymphs. It's no surprise, then, that nighttime anglers in position to intercept these behemoths-on-the-prowl tend to catch the largest brown trout of summer.

Night Tactics
A good night of fishing usually begins, contrarily enough, in bright sunlight. Except on waters I know intimately, I plan night trips by first doing some daytime reconnaissance. The idea is to scout for possible hazards (see sidebar on page 64) and to find the lies and cover that hold the biggest browns, such as logjams, cutbanks, and deep pools (especially those whose surface is broken at the head by a falls or inlet currents). When trout are embedded in those lies during the day, it's often difficult to reach them. But come nightfall, the fish will move out of the inapproachable cover and into adjacent, much more fishable feeding areas.

For this reason prime water can include sections of river that are considered only marginal during the day. Slow outside bends, inside-bend shallows, and calm, open flats can all be productive once darkness falls, particularly if they border deeper, "classic" habitat.

While you can take trout at night on spinning tackle, especially with a minnow plug fished slowly, it's the perfect time for flyfishing. Save yourself from streamside fumbling when it's time to cast by having your tackle ready to go. The main rigging difference will be using shorter and stronger leaders-6 to 7 feet at most, tapering to the heaviest tippet appropriate for the size of the fly. This game is generally more about power and muscle than finesse.

To avoid spooking nearby trout, approach the river edge quietly, soft-stepping rather than clumping. Keep your flashlight or headlamp beam away from target water. If you need to wade to reach scouted lies, enter the water gently.

Fishing in the dark is, at first, an odd, even bewildering experience, a matter of pure feel. To avoid frustrating tangles, stay with short casts and a slower stroke, and pare false casting to a minimum. Better yet, roll cast whenever possible. It's more efficient and eliminates tree-snagged back casts, the bane of night fishing.

Fly selection and presentation needn't be complicated. I like to start with a dry fly if at all feasible, since the surface take of a big brown at night is a special thrill. If local hhatches are present, by all means try to match them. Otherwise, go with a generalist attractor pattern such as a sizable caddis or "sedge" fly, Madame X, Goofus Bug, or Variant-all of which can produce explosive strikes when drifted, twitched, and even skated over dark water. An old but still effective ruse is a Muddler, heavily treated with floatant so that it can be drifted on the surface, pulled under for a few burbling inches, then allowed to pop back up to the surface and drift some more.

Streamers are perhaps the deadliest category of night flies. It's hard to go wrong with Muddlers (in a standard sculpin pattern or marabou), Woolhead Sculpins, Woolly Buggers, or Leech patterns. These are especially productive when fished slowly along the bottom. Though it might seem counterintuitive, black (or dark brown or olive) is often the most effective color. To tempt the largest fish in the vicinity, try scuttling a crawfish fly over the streambed, or swimming a deer-hair mouse along the edge of cutbanks and across the surface of pools and placid backwaters.

When you hook a meaty trout at night, whether in penumbral bands of moonlight or inky darkness, the real fun begins. You must guess at the fish's size by feel and by its sometimes startling surface thrashing. A large fish might zip off on a powerful, hair-raising run-hair-raising because there's a limit to how fast and how far you can safely chase after it in the dark. Expect, then, to lose some weighty trout that simply can't be stopped, fish that you will think about for days and weeks, wondering: How big was it?

Trout Sense

fieldandstream-editor — Thu, 27 Mar 2003 07:00:00 -0500

1)Walk before you fish. Anglers tend to wade in and start fishing at public access points, where, of course, every other angler wades in and starts fishing. But often you only need to walk a couple of hundred yards to have less pressured water to yourself. Fishermen willing to hike or wade even farther generally have the best shot at the most and largest trout.

2) Study the water. Impatient anglers who simply plunge in and start casting will miss, say, the grasshopper that falls into the current and the quick, swirling take of a large brown. It's far wiser to take a few minutes to observe the conditions. Look for trout in the shallows, rise rings, hatching insects, and other indicators of the best choice of lure or fly.

3) Plan your casts. Take a few moments to figure the best way to effectively cover the stretch or run or pool, instead of casting helter-skelter to the first pieces of water that catch your eye. A good rule to remember: Fish the near water first. This helps you avoid the common mistake of wading where you should be fishing, or of throwing line over nearby lies that might yield one or more trout.

4) Don't overreach. In general, short, controlled casts catch the most trout in streams and rivers. For flyfishermen, casts of 20 to 40 feet will allow longer, better drag-free drifts because a short line is easiest to manipulate and control in a current. You'll also spook or put down fewer fish with a short cast than with a long one. Spinfishermen have an easier and less fish-alarming casting range, but even they can profit from shorter, accurate casts that keep lures working in prime lies.

5) Use your feet. Move your casting position to get the best distance and angle on prime water and visible fish. The more common practice of simply standing in one or two fixed positions and trying to hit every spot in sight results in overlong casts, bad drift angles, unnecessary false casting or rod waving, and (especially) poor, ineffective presentations.

6) Curb drag. When flyfishing with nymphs or dry flies in moving currents, err on the side of throwing too much slack into your casts rather than too little. Fishermen often cast too straight a fly line, especially when trying for extra distance. Even a slight current will quickly pull a straight line downstream, dragging the leader and fly. A copiously slack line, however, straightens out more slowly, ensuring the best and longest drag-free drifts.

7) Pick the pockets. In fast water, trout like to hold in the current cushions behind midstream boulders, gravel points, and bankside riprap. Because pocket water is bordered by fast currents, most presentations should be made with as short a line as possible. Often an upstream approach is best. Make one or two casts to each pocket before moving to the next.

8) Aim your casts above visible trout. Cast far enough above to make sure your fly or lure will settle into the proper drift, position, or depth by the time it reaches the fish zone. Casting a lure or fly right at a trout will either spook the fish or miss its field of vision.

9) Become a stalker of trout. Proceed as if a large, wary fish were lying near the bank of every piece of water you approach. Creep slowly and quietly-shock waves from clumping feet will spook fish. Maintain a low profile, crouching, crawling, or even knee-walking, especially by still water. Wear drab clothing and cast carefully. Wave your rod as little and as low as possible. The brighter the day-and the bigger the fish-the more stealth matters.

10) Mend your fly line early and often. Waiting until the fly is nearly or already beginning to drag before flipping the line upstream results in poor, fly-skidding mends. Early and frequent mends are the most effective ways to give your fly long, attractive float

11) Cast to the spots other anglers don't. Although short casts should be the general rule, anglers who can cast long and well when the need arises will profit from the ability to reach seldom-hit lies 70 or 80 feet (or more) in the distance.

12) Fish the foam lines. Always, everywhere, without fail-whenever you see a line (or a skim or block) of foam or surface bubbles, put your fly or lure first along the outer edge, then, on successive casts, deeper and deeper into the foam. Where the current collects foam, it also gathers baitfish and drifting insects-and trout.

13) Work the bank. In spring, and especially during periods of runoff, water at bankside will hold most of the good fish in the river, since the main currents are too fast and roiled. In summer and on into fall, grasshoppers and other terrestrials (beetles, ants, caterpillars) keep fish close to the banks, especially on windy days. Brown trout love undercut banks-the deeper the better-all year long.

14) Use enough tippet. A common and costly mistake is to use too little tippet at the end of a leader, rather than too much. When fishing dry flies and nymphs, tie on a minimum of 24 inches of fine, supple tippet material. For extra-delicate presentations, such as in still water or on spring creeks, a tippet of 3 or 4 feet is not too long.

15) Try new patterns. Trout do seem to become wary of the popular flies and lures that everyone else is using. Original designs are always worth a try, but sometimes old patterns can be revived with great success. For instance, once popular, then long neglected, the Bivisible now makes a great search fly, probably because it's seen so rarely on today's streams.

16) Get small. On hard-fished rivers around the country, including the big-water West, effective dry flies and nymphs are generally smaller now than they were one or two decades ago. Where a size 12 dry was once the standard, chances are a size 14 or even a 16 is what works best today. Much smaller flies-sizes 18 to 22-are often the best big-trout patterns you can use.

17) Tumble your lures. When fishing in fast, deep currents, don't cast and retrieve in the standard way. Cast up and across, let the lure sink as close to the bottom as possible, but don't reel in. With the rod tip up, maintain a tight line and pivot to follow the lure as it tumbles and drifts down the run. Thick, dense spoons and weighted spinners with large, easily turned blades are the best lures for this seldom used but deadly technique.

18) Try the unusual. Offbeat techniques can be effective when standard approaches don't work. If drag-free dry flies fail, try giving them a twitch or skitter. If small flies don't produce, throw something large and contrary-a size 10 Royal Wulff or Woolly Bugger. When small spinners and spoons aren't getting attention, switch to a bass plug, or a grub-style crappie jig. There's nothing to lose, and very often it's the oddball variation that the fish want.

19) Practice casting. When you can't fish, you can still get a casting workout in a backyard, a park, a swimming pool, or a snow-covered street. Focus on accuracy, technique (underhand and backhand casts with a spin rod; slack-line casts and curve casts with a fly rod), and distance. Casting expertise leads to better presentations and the ability to reach a wider range of water-and consequently, to more trout.

20)Search for seams to fish. "Seams" are bands of slow or smooth water that show on the surface where currents of differing speeds meet, and where trout like to hold and feed. Some seams are obvious, such as where an outside current cuts the edge of a pool. Others are subtler-for example, when one current is only slightly slower or faster than the one next to it. For an easy lesson in reading seams, cast your fly line straight across-stream. The line will ripple and bend at the seams.

21) Fish when others don't. Get on the water earlier and stay later. Try to fish in midweek. In summer, fish after dark-when most other anglers have gone home, and when some of the largest trout of the year are taken.

22) Learn one or two streams well. Instead of roaming, spend a year fishing one or two waters. Learn the hatches and the predominant forage, the inlet creeks, the remote stretches, the prime lies, the best approaches to each stretch, pool, or run. The more intimately you know a stream, the better you'll fish it.

23) Wear polarized sunglasses. A quality pair can mean the difference between seeing fish and missing them entirely. The glasses, which cut through otherwise impenetrable surface glare, also make it easier to follow the drift of your dry fly or the underwater action of a streamer or lure.

24) Approach pools from downstream. Working a pool from the tailout up means you can hook and play one trout after another without spooking other fish farther up the pool. Conversely, if you first hook or even frighten a trout at the head of the pool, it will likely alarm every other fish in the vicinity.

25) Seek out better anglers. A good mentor-even in the form of an experienced guide-can teach you more in a day than you might learn in a whole season of untutored effort. ams, cast your fly line straight across-stream. The line will ripple and bend at the seams.

21) Fish when others don't. Get on the water earlier and stay later. Try to fish in midweek. In summer, fish after dark-when most other anglers have gone home, and when some of the largest trout of the year are taken.

22) Learn one or two streams well. Instead of roaming, spend a year fishing one or two waters. Learn the hatches and the predominant forage, the inlet creeks, the remote stretches, the prime lies, the best approaches to each stretch, pool, or run. The more intimately you know a stream, the better you'll fish it.

23) Wear polarized sunglasses. A quality pair can mean the difference between seeing fish and missing them entirely. The glasses, which cut through otherwise impenetrable surface glare, also make it easier to follow the drift of your dry fly or the underwater action of a streamer or lure.

24) Approach pools from downstream. Working a pool from the tailout up means you can hook and play one trout after another without spooking other fish farther up the pool. Conversely, if you first hook or even frighten a trout at the head of the pool, it will likely alarm every other fish in the vicinity.

25) Seek out better anglers. A good mentor-even in the form of an experienced guide-can teach you more in a day than you might learn in a whole season of untutored effort.