Unless you are an extremely talented and lucky person, a good deal of what you read about early season fly fishing tactics will prove wrong. I've made countless unsuccessful trips to raging rivers that instead of holding lunker trout carried 150-foot ponderosa pines like matchsticks.
Fish are rarely stupid and they surely are not going to spend each spring fighting for their lives in a debris-choked torrent. I would rather cast a fly on a frozen lake surface or a convenient highway than waste my time on, in, or under a wild, fast-flowing section of a river gone crazy.
If you asked one of the apostles of early-season fishing how many fish he actually caught and how much fun he experienced, you would probably hear, that it's a hell of a lot of work for a little bit of action and plenty of frustration.
So what does the irrepressible angler do when cabin fever and the urge to wet a line become unbearable?
Fish the "calm" areas of high rivers or look for water that approximates a favorite midseason spot. The match does not have to be perfect. Just look for a stream or section of river that has some of the sedate qualities of summer or fall.
High-Water Angling
High water is tough to work. The fly must get down to the slower water at the bottom of the flow to have a good chance of tangling with a large trout.
Low water offers easier wading and fly presentation, frequently with dries along with increased numbers of fish, although these will often be smaller than those found in high water.
When it comes to waters choked with discolored, spring runoff, "Look for fish in a location where the water's velocity isn't so great," says Joe Houston, a fisheries biologist for the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks.
"Fish all of the holes and pocket water with streamers, wet flies, or nymphs right on the bottom. In roily water stay away from the middle and upper strata--the high-velocity water," he adds.
Turbidity has little effect on trout. They usually stay put if they can find a quiet spot. The one notable exception, according to Houston, are whitefish, which move out of muddy water and into clear feeder streams.
Fish tend to be sluggish in colder water (barely above freezing), so patience is a definite plus in the early going.
The Brooks Method
Present the fly repeatedly to a likely holding area. If there is a fish hiding in shade or cover, eventually the sight of a Muddler Minnow cruising past its range of vision (limited though it is at this time of year) will be too much to resist. Sometimes a dozen or more casts are needed to goad the fish into striking.
To get the fly down to the fish, use the Brooks Method, invented by the late Charlie Brooks of West Yellowstone, Montana, for deep-water holes like those found in the Madison River. Brooks consistently caught trout over five pounds with his technique, one that is difficult to master, but once learned, is efficient and less tiring than other approaches.
In abbreviated form the Brooks Method is as follows:
Leaders are from four to six feet long with tippets of .010 to .012 inches in diameter. You need the tippet strength to hold onto big fish in big water. Leader shyness is not an issue here.
A moderately stiff, 8-foot, 6-inch rod handles the work load.
A 20- or 30-foot sinking tip line is fine for riffles and pocket water, but for fast, deep currents a fast-sinking line such as a Scientific Anglers Hi-Speed Hi-D line is a must to sink a fly to the bottom quickly and keep it there.
You can also use weighted flies and/or lead on the line. One way to attach the lead is to wrap fuse wire about a foot and a half from the end of the leader, butting it against a blood knot. You can also attach a small lead sinker to an untrimmed end of the blood knot and tie it in place with the legendary square knot. Casting with weighted flies or lead requires patience and caution to preserve ears, eyes, and thinning hair.
How much weight you use will depend on water conditions. Larger nymphs and streamers are buoyant by nature and need a number of turns of lead wire to sink them rapidly in a strong flow.
Back to the Brooks Method. Establish your position 20 feet upstream and five feet from the edge of the run to be fished (phase one).
Your first cast should be about 15 feet upstream and six feet out (phase two).
Learning to control the slack as the line comes opposite you takes practice, but at this point the fly should be on bottom (phase three).
To quote from Brooks's book Nymph Fishing for Larger Trout, the control phase (phase four) is "as fly and line move downstream, the rod tip is also lifted so that only a slight droop is in the line between the rod tip and the water."
In the fishing phase (phase five) you pivot with the line, keeping a slight droop in the line to keep the fly working along bottom. Too tight and the fly lifts; too much slack and you miss strikes. At the end of the cast wait several seconds for the bow in the line, caused by underwater currents, to straighten.
Strike by sharply stripping line with one hand and raising the rod with the other.
The pickup and following upstream cast (one motion) is the most difficult part of the method. Raise the rod parallel to the water until it is shoulder high, extending the line hand toward the stripping guide. Then strip down toward the hip with the line hand while backhanding the rod upstream as Brooks says, similar to a "tennis backhand." Stop the cast just as the rod tip points slightly upstream of straight across from you.
After a half-dozen or more casts, strip off five more feet of line and repeat the procedure. Strip line off in five-foot increments until you reach the limits of your ability to control the slack--between 30 and 40 feet.
There is no substitute for onstream practice--lots of it. After a number of seasons using this method, I still frequently resemble a slightly crazed, whirling dervish with arms, line, and fly dancing to their own peculiar rhythm around my head. But, I have caught some large trout with the Brooks Method.
Spring Patterns
Some of the best patterns (tying instructions follow) for this type of fishing are the Partridge Sculpin, Brooks' Assam Dragon, the Muddler Minnow and variations, Matuka Spruce, Box Canyon Stone nymph, and the Troth Bullhead. All of these patterns should be weighted and large--size 4 and up.
Spring is also a good time to experiment with any of your favorite bizarre patterns, as long as they are tied large.
Although trout appetites are on the upswing during this spring period, it still is likely that many strikes are the result of a territorial imperative, the protection of a defined space, rather than from a feeding urge. This defined space in a stream narrows the choice of fly somewhat. A five-pound cutthroat will not be aroused by a #16 Hare's Ear.
Trout and other game fish respond to external stimulation slowly in the early season. A retrieve (when fishing downstream and not using the Brooks method) that is just fast enough to give the illusion of life is all you need. Faster and fish will ignore the offering.
Patterns wound with silver or gold tinsel and fished in deep pools around structure work well, especially on bright days. The sparkles of light from the metal surfaces seem to draw strikes from trout.
The effects of the sun on clear days is one of the glaring differences between early season and summer angling. The heat of the sun, a detriment in the warm-water days of August, is an asset in March, April, and May. As the water warms, insect activity increases, and the water's turbidity offers fish concealment.
Low, quiet waters do exist during spring, but they are hard to find. Any stream offering deep holes, undercut banks, deadfalls blocking the water's flow, and moderate riffles is ripe for exploration. The holding water is typical, though sometimes discolored, of what one would expect during summer.
Insects and Approaches
While not abundant, there are periodic hatches of mayflies and caddisflies in the early spring. In northwest Montana, for instance, a white to dusky-blue mayfly ranging in size from #12 to #14 provides plenty of action on warm afternoons.
A reasonably sincere effort to match size, shape, and color will fool most of the fish most of the time. They have not seen much in the way of food for several months and a budding feeding urge causes some older, crafty fish to abandon their competitive edge.
The Adams, Elk-Hair Caddis, and attractor patterns like the Royal Wulff (sizes 12 through 18) all work well in these conditions. The Goddard Caddis, with its high floatability, is another good choice.
Even though fish are sluggish in spring, low-water conditions call for a careful approach. Most of my angling is done on those first, glorious, crystal-clear days of the season. A six-foot silhouette lurking over the edge of a bank with rod in hand is a dead giveaway, even to semi-comatose trout. Keep low and stay quiet.
Spawning Fish
Remember also that in this early season period fish have not moved far from their winter, safe-water holding areas. The first few hundred yards of creek or river, either down from the outlet or up from the inlet of a lake often hold more fish than the rest of a stream.
Also, many rivers are migration corridors for spawning fish.
A good example of this is the Flathead River in Montana. Bull trout, cutthroat trout, and kokanee salmon begin their spawning runs in Flathead Lake, a huge freshwater lake. These fish frequently travel more than 100 miles to reach their chosen spawning grounds. Finding fish in the main river under these conditions is virtually impossible. But once the fish have moved into feeder streams and lake outlets, the amount of water to be explored diminishes dramatically.
"Cutthroat take an average of 45 days to reach spawning grounds (in the Flathead drainage)," Houston says. "They may average three miles per day (upstream movement), but some fish may go up to 15 miles per day and some may not move at all.
"Cutthroat and rainbow move on the rise and fall of (water) temperature, with most of the movement coming between noon and 5 p.m. I suspect the same is true of bull trout."
The urge for migrating fish to reproduce is an overwhelming one. At movement times fish rely more on fat reserves than on active feeding for energy. They are moving upstream for one reason: to perpetuate the species. In the case of bull trout, once the feeder creek is reached, the fish may linger for up to a month at the mouth of a stream to pair up.
Instead of searching a large river for constantly moving fish, I probe specific spots. Even in spring creeks, finding where the fish are holding is the first step before the match-the-hatch game begins. Pocket water, possibly holding several good fish, gets my early spring attention.
The advantages of fishing low-water areas while rivers are full of spring run-off are these: ease, comfort, increased chances of survival, simplified fly selection, and less need to cover water. Spring is a time for action and reflection, and with a little persistence and understanding spring fishing can provide the chance to connect with big fish and the satisfaction of succeeding at a demanding challenge.
Patterns for Early Season
Partridge Sculpin
HOOK: Mustad 79580, sizes 2-4.
THREAD: Brown.
RIBBING: Oval gold tinsel.
BODY: Dark brown wool yarn.
WING: Tie in a single brown partridge tail feather. Strip the fibers from the area that contacts the body.
FINS: Tie in a brown partridge feather at each side. Tips of these feathers should curve outward.
HACKLE: Spin on a collar of dyed brown deer body hair. Clip on top and bottom so the hair has more of a flair to each side.
HEAD: Spin on dyed brown deer body hair and clip to shape.
Assam Dragon
HOOK: Size 4, 2X long.
WEIGHT: Lead wire, 12 wraps.
BODY: Natural brown fur similar to seal on the skin, one-eighth inch wide, three or four inches long.
HACKLE: Brown dyed grizzly, long and soft.
THREAD: 3/0 brown.
NOTE: Tie in hackle by the butt with the wrong side toward the eye of the hook.
Muddler Minnow
HOOK: Mustad 9672, sizes 2-4.
THREAD: Brown.
TAIL: Mottled brown turkey quill section.
BODY: Flat gold tinsel.
WINGS: Tie in a small bunch of brown and white bear hair. Hair should be mixed. Mottled brown turkey quill sections are then tied in on edge over the body. Wing should only extend to the bend in the hook with the hair portion extending to the center of the tail.
HACKLE: Spin on a collar of natural deer body hair.
HEAD: Spin on natural deer body hair and clip to shape.
Matuka Spruce
HOOK: Mustad 79580, size 4.
THREAD: Black.
RIBBING: Oval silver tinsel.
BODY: Rear half red floss; front half peacock herl.
WINGS: Badger neck hackles.
HACKLE: Badger tied on as a collar and tied back.
Box Canyon Stone Nymph
HOOK: Mustad 79580, sizes 2-4.
THREAD: Black.
UNDERBODY: Two pieces of lead wire equal in diameter to hook wire tied in at each side of hook shank.
TAILS: Dark brown saddle hackle stems tied in at each side. Tails should be equal to length of body only. Exclude thorax and head in this measurement.
RIBBING: Dyed black flat monofilament.
BODY: Dubbed black synthetic fur.
WINGCASE: Natural dark gray goose quill section tied in over thorax.
THORAX: Dubbed dark brown synthetic fur.
LEGS: Dark brown hackle wrapped through thorax. Trim hackle barbules from bottom.
HEAD: Dubbed blackish brown synthetic fur.
Troth Bullhead
HOOK: Mustad 36890, sizes 3/0, 2/0, 1/0, 1.
THREAD: Black nylon, size D.
TAIL: Skunk tail hair (mostly cream).
BODY: Cream angora yarn.
BACK: Black ostrich herl tied in at the shoulder and at the bend of the hook.
COLLAR: Natural deer body hair left mostly on the top and at the sides.
HEAD: Natural deer body hair, the top darkened with a felt-tip pen and compressed and trimmed to a flat sculpin shape.
Copyright (c) 1996, John Holt. All rights reserved.
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