Conditioning

[letumgo]

hank - You will find that in fly casting, just as in tying, "less is often more". I watch many people false cast again and again and again, when they could be fishing. As I became better at casting, I found I could get rid of nearly all of the false casting. For most of my casting comes down to a simple back cast and forward cast/presentation and I'm once again fishing. The less time I keep the fly out of the air, the less time it can snap the nearest tree. I can then focus all my energy on trying to snag all the rocks on the bottom of the stream.

[hankaye]

Howdy Ray;

I think that most of the false casting that I'm doing now is to get length back into the cast. I was learning on a lake and having to strip in the fly. Most times the bluegills and smaller bass would just hover (wouldn't exactly call it sitting ), there and look at the offering . However, when I would move it I'd get some action .
So, you might say I was learning the single haul while practicing my timing...
hank

[hankaye]

Howdy All;
Perhaps, if there had been some current I may not have had to throw a longer line back out than what I ended up with.
Just weren't any fish near shore. Had to get to the pockets in the grass that was growing in the Lake 8 to 20' out from shore.
Helped with some of the accuracy issues that I was encountering. Had a tall bank behind me in a few areas, learned to deal with that as well as side arm casting, (sorta), them and a few other things. Didn't really have anyone else around to ask except on the forums and a few books.
Now that I'm back home, I have more and better access to 'live' help (as in folks that can see what it is that I'm doing wrong and help me correct the errors.

Fellers and gals, I'm workin' on it... any and all advise is welcome and appericated.
hank

[kanutripr]

The less time I keep the fly out of the air, the less time it can snap the nearest tree.

But Ray, it looks real good when you're trying to cast under a tree, the *@#dam fly lands in the tree, you get real lucky and it pulls out when you gently tug, it hits the water, immediately gets gobbled up by a trout and you can pretend you did it on purpose for the jerks that are standing behind you laughing!

And hey, you're all laughing right now 'cause you know it's happened to you!


Vicki

[Otter]

Master: Treesnapper, so you have learn't the ways of trees, what wisdoms can you give me.
Treesnapper: If you have run out of flys master, check the trees, they are full of wonderful flies.

I think it was old Polonius in Hamlet who said " Never a borrower or Lender be"

I have made many discoveries over the years that ran contrary to the way I was conditioned to fish from reading various books, and enough magazines to fill a library . It took a long time for the penny to really drop to realise that much of what we read and learn from others are mere snippets, tiny little pieces in a rather large jigsaw. Without the adjacent pieces to present the bigger picture we often end up barking up the wrong "Treesnappers" tree. Its quite amusing really looking back on much of what I read of how dogmatic many writers are , convincing in their rheotoric and their methods to the point of being bullies. The great difficulty is , and Mike has often alluded to it is that the preacher makes an almighty assumption that the audience has received and digested all previous sermons and that they have sufficient knowledge to understand the knowledge being imparted, this is often quite not the case, and its equally often the case that the preacher views are often very narrow and ill concieved.

Most anglers in their formative years are conditioned to believe that the key to success is having THE right fly, when failure happens they embark on a cycle of trying every fly in their box until one works, that becomes THE fly until it too fails and the cycle starts all over. Most manage to escape this cycle and realise that their approach , their techniques , their reading of the water etc... combined with a rightish fly will bring more success.

An example of conditioning was really brought home to me last summer. I slowly fished my way up a smooth diffcult run at dusk, many trout were rising, some bulging at sedge and BWO emergers, some taking BWO Duns some sipping small stuff - allthough I caught a few trout I was well and truly humbled, but happy enough as this stage of dusk can be tricky even on less flat water. The lull came so I quickened my pace up the next 30 yards to the start of a long riffle and replaced the BWO with a CDC Bubble Sedge. I was disappointed to see another angler coming downstream at the top of the riffle some 70 yards away. I presumed he was fishing wets. The rise started and nearly every cast seen a take to the bubble sedge. I would say I had caught or hooked 30 trout without moving 20 yards. Time for ciggie break, I watched the other angler that was about 30 yards ahead, I could see that he was lifting occasionally but not a single trout came to his net.

I shouted up, "do you wan't one of these flies, they are working well". He nodded and shouted thanks, I fully expected him to get out of the river and come down, No he waded straight down to me. I gave him 2 flies , and told him to fish one upstream. He looked at me funny and said "I always fish Sedge flies downstream, all the angling authors recommend it that way". I simply replied that I wasn't an author and not an expert but that the trout seemed to like them fished upstream and they were easier to hook that way. Off he went back up through the riffle. I lit another ciggie and waited for the trout to recover from the disturbance, and watched the other angler. He took about four casts upstream and then reverted back to downstream, and that pattern was not suited at all to downstream compared to the hackled deer hair he had been using. A few minutes later , his torch lit up as he switched back to his original fly and sure enough he caught a trout. I recommenced fishing and landed another fifteen trout or so.

When I got back to the car park he was dismantling his rod. "Not great to-night, they were coming short where I was, he announced loudly. I'll try where you were to-morrow night. The one I landed was about 10", the trout are small this year."

Have you fished this river long I asked ?.
"Over thirty years he replied."

Thats a long time, you would know a bad season from a good one , I replied. Ah, well they might not be coming short to-morrow night, goodbye.

A nice fella, but had not a clue - conditioned and set in his ways, he took the good with the bad and the trout, the water, and the weather were always to blame - but guess what , he enjoyed his fishing as much as I did, and in some ways I envied him

[Otter]

Polonius , a clever man you might say.

I Salmon fished 30 yards below his brother one day, an northern Englishman who had garnered fame in managing a certain other International soccer team to two world cups and a reputation of having a purse that only took money in one direction. On landing a fish my ciggies fell into the river. A while later I approached and asked for a ciggie to which he replied " I would be glad to mind your rod while you go to the shop"

A while later he struggled landing a fine Salmon, " I shouted up, I'd give you a hand but I'm off to the shop"

[Otter]

Mike , I have great faith in human nature - but like all animals they can't be trusted.