We are all probably guilty of going to our must-have fly, feeling that it will be the one to get us out of trouble when the fish aren't playing ball. Fishing guide Frank Williams tells us being flexible pays dividends.
A couple of seasons ago I was fishing with a friend, conditions were not ideal but fishing we would go, never the less. We had decided to fish a small mountain stream. There had been little or no rain so the river was very low. Really the only things in our favour were our combined enthusiasm for this particular stretch of water and the fact that the river had good tree cover.
We arrived and while getting our waders on, my friend asked me how I was going to fish. I replied, “Not sure yet, I will see what’s happening when I get to the water”. The reply came back, “Oh, right! I am going to fish the duo.”
So we rock up at the first pool which is usually a banker for a couple of fish. The residents usually hang out at the back end of the run and generally fall to the duo, but not today. The pool was empty, probably due to the low water. We crossed the riffle, which is too skinny to be worth fishing, even at normal levels, into the next pool - a long slow one. I’m on the ocky for this pool so I set up with a dry, prospecting my way up to the head of the pool... no fish! I get to the top of the pool and there is a deep fast spout breaking over a rock and running past some overhanging tree roots; a great bit of water that just screams trout. I make a quick swap from dries to a couple of nymphs which I then trundle past the tree roots but still no takes. As I am fishing right up into the white water here, I decide to give it one more cast but only after changing the nymphs to heavier ones. This time...bingo! A spirited, Welsh mountain brownie takes the fly and is duly netted and released. We fish up the rest of the 1.5 miles of water, my friend fishing the duo and me swapping and changing. On finishing fishing we headed off to the local hostelry for a quick pint. While we were at the bar the landlord asked after our day's sport. Now we come to the reason for me making a short story long. My friend replied, “We had a few between us. Frank had the most but he was working hard for them”.
If you always do what you have always done, you will always get what you have always got.
It was the last part of his statement that I found the most telling. It is also something that I have come across when guiding, shown through comments such as, “I was surprised how often you changed your setup/nymphs/tippet lengths (delete as appropriate)”. I guess what I’m trying to get at is that we can all have our default setting, a way of fishing that we feel comfortable with to which we revert all too often. Sometimes it may be that we fall into the trap of thinking that fishing is all about keeping our flies in the water.
For me, changing method, leader or flies is not working hard; it's fishing. Often I catch more fish because I do stop and change fishing the water not the method, as it were.
So next time you are having a tough day, instead of carrying on regardless, ring the changes. It may just bring a few fish to the net. Even if it does not work you will at least be able to say you failed to catch in a different way from usual...
Frank Williams is a full time, APGAI qualified, Guide and Instructor based in South Wales, visit his website for further details.