Don’t let catching fish disturb your wilderness experience! For a quiet time on the river, practice these simple tips guaranteed to reduce your catch rate:
1. Cast to fish that are not feeding so they will ignore your fly.
2. When nymphing, never go deep where the fish are.
3. Wade boldly into quiet pools to spook fish.
4. Cast with a lot of splash in case you haven’t spooked them all.
5. Avoid fishing seams and bubble lines where fish hang out.
6. If you unfortunately hook a fish, play him in fast water so he can break off easier.
7. Concentrate on open, shallow, sunny, lies that fish hate.
8. Weaken your leader with wind knots to encourage break-offs.
9. Tangle your leader to reduce time on the water.
10. If a big fish strikes, quickly yank back on the line to snap him off.
11. When seating your knot to the fly, make a nice, tippet-weakening, pigtail by cinching hard and not lubing.
12. Keep lots of line on the water to create drag and make your fly drift as unnaturally as possible.
If you catch fish despite doing all of the above, then be courteous. Immediately get off the water so as not to disturb other anglers’ quiet time on the river.
|