W.C. Stewart's Definition of Upstream Fishing?

[Smuggler]

Sounds good to me Hank! Keeping the rod tip high and a small bow in the line will also aid with the sometimes violent strikes you'll encounter fishing this way too.

[CM_Stewart]

In Stewart's discussion of rods he refers a couple times to a 12' rod. With respect to lines he cautions against using a long line, although I couldn't find a specific reference to the length he uses. He also says to keep the rod no lower than a 40-45 degree angle, with little or no line on the water and drifts of one to two yards.

[Troutmaddave]

As my fishing progresses I find myself fishing wets and nymphs more and dries less. I always fish them upstream. In small pocket waters, I use no more than 2x my rod length of line, and in larger waters slightly more. As I use mainly a 7' cane rod I'm usually no more than 20' away from my quarry . My set up is as follows;
3# DT line, 7' braided furled leader. Leader is grey with the last 6" high viz orange or yellow. This makes a very sensitive indicator, and 6' 3lb tippet.
Rod tip held high and only dead drift for 6 or 7', roll cast off and reposition. Wether directly up stream or across and up my m.o is fairly the same. Works for me. I think a little drag here and there is ok, kinda works those lovely soft hackles a bit!!

[joaniebo]

If you have access to Oliver Edwards' video on Wet Fly Fishing on either DVD or YouTube, he describes and demonstrates Stewart's Upstream Fishing method. You can see some of the method here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ge7Cl6ltAAs

[tie2fish]

Mr. Edwards is an admirable example to follow when it comes to both tying and fishing. It also helps to have the very best materials available and world class restricted access trout water.

[Bitterroot]

One year on brush-less high mountain stream in WY. I fished with my good friend who came and visit fro S Dakota and we drove all the way up to 11.000' elevation and to our surprise we found stream as wide as the highway hehe!
We made decisions to fish upstream with short line ( if any ) longer leader with our 9 foot rods.fly of the day was small BWO were coming off the water and i tied Waterhen Bloa #16 we waded in the middle of the stream and cast was upstream and slightly to the side, we covered both side of the stream that way and still kept conversation going since they are many, many grizzly bears in the area!( they were at one time relocated from Yellowstone park )
You cast upstream and held you rod high and just rode the current with last feet of 6X tippet after fly cam pass you , you you than look for the bears !! we did that for full 2 miles upstream section of this mountain creek.
All the takes came in upper portion of the drift-between 10-11 o'clock, it was amazing and very rhythm type fishing , you cast , no mend, just rod high and last 5-6 feet of leader in the water and dead drift leaders were greased up to.
our spiders looked on the water as cripple duns or fresh emergers. Bloa was outstanding.
We both hooked some 100 wild and native cuts that day and it was hard to duplicate it again few days later , even on different stream.What i like about this old Steward's method is that it can be apply to just about any situations.
in our case you could see the trout coming to the surface and taking our spiders riding right in the film. On my home water where current is very slow , more like Henrys Fork i mostly look at the end of my tippet and see if there is any movement or and water disturbances in many cases is hardly noticeable. Its what our sport separate us from Dry fly fishermen knowing and sensing when to set the hook is truly art to master.
Tight lines from cold and snowy Montana,
Les

[letumgo]

Les,

I read your post with great interest, and enjoyed hearing your (bear-free) fishing success. Day's like that are rare and wonderful. Thank you for sharing with us.