Dry Fly Fishing | How To with Tom Rosenbauer

dry fly fishing is one of the most  exciting and interesting kinds of fly   fishing because everything is visible you  can see the fish feed you can see your fly   and you can see the fish take your fly the sight  of a big trout inhaling your dry fly is for some   people the pinnacle of fly fishing for trout yeah  nice fish that fish has already refused that fly   you're gonna have to try it just a slightly  different pattern the roll cast pickup is a   great cast to use in a lot of fishing situations  this is a beautiful wild trout from a small stream   just a gorgeous little fish i say hit  that bank let's go to that grass bed   the orvis guide to fly fishing  is supported by orvis fly fishing   algoma country destination ontario   maine office of tourism  yellowstone teton territory crazy rainbow ranch bahamas tourism adipose boatworks global rescue   proud unlimited dry fly fishing for  trout is what many people imagine   when they think of fly fishing there's  nothing that gets your heart racing like the   sight of a big trout feeding on the surface but  conditions have to be right for dry fly fishing   in order to fish dry flies effectively you have to  have fish that are either feeding on the surface   or at least looking up at the surface for food  the best time to fish dry flies during a hatch   when when the fish are really concentrating on the  surface when they're emerging insects or insects   falling into the water but you can fish dry flies  almost any time as long as the water temperature   is above 50 degrees and the water is relatively  clear and not super fast you can catch fish on dry   flies almost any time here are some of the times  dry flies are most effective when aquatic insects   are hatching or changing from larvae into winged  adults when aquatic insects are returning to the   water to lay their eggs when terrestrial insects  like ants beetles or grasshoppers fall into the   water especially on windy days when the water  is low and clear especially later in the season   when fish are in shallower water and  notice food floating on the surface don't start casting the minute you see a fish  rise i know it's hard to resist but you'll be   less frustrated and have more fun if you hold off  when you spot rising fish first observe and make   a plan before you make a cast watch the fish  rising for a while fish could be cruising in a   slower pool instead of staying in one position or  there may be more than one fish rising and a quick   glance at the water may not betray that second  fish the worst thing you can do is throw your fly   line on top of a fish so make sure there is not  a second fish rising between you and your target   or make sure the fish you see rising is not  moving okay he's facing to the right of that   now he's facing to the right of there's  two fish oh yeah got one nice nice nice beautiful beautiful beautiful that was  awesome that was cool if the fish spook   they'll typically just slide into deeper water  and you won't see them again for quite a while   it's frustrating to find a good fish feeding  and then spoil everything by scaring it   but by planning your first cast you  can make this most important cast count   rise forms or the way a trout moves water when it  feeds on the surface can tell you something about   what a trout is eating often trout eat emerging  insects just under the surface which looks like   a rise but often just the back of the fish breaks  the surface and not the mouth this is often called   a bulging fish and is usually not accompanied by  any bubbles a rise followed by distinct bubbles is   a sure sign a trout took something off the surface  generally the bigger the rise the bigger the   insect the fish has taken very splashy rise forms  are often made by smaller more enthusiastic trout   and often the smaller the fish the more commotion  it makes the rises that go unnoticed by many   anglers are often the most important ones even a  large trout can take an insect from the surface   with very little commotion just poking at snout  above the surface and inhaling a fly by cavitation   look for dark heads poking the surface film or  little winks in the water these trout will often   surprise you by their size you can usually tell  a big fish by the deeper sound it makes when it   rises plus a larger fish moves more bubbles and  foam aside when it rises so it pays to spend some   time observing fish feeding before you even make  a cast or even pick a fly a little observation can   pay off in a most satisfying day the next thing  you've got to figure out is well what fly to use   what fly are those fish eating and it's often  important fish sometimes get selective so you   look on the water don't worry about what's flying  in the air there's caddisflies flying in the air   here but i don't know if the fish are eating those  caddisflies they might be eating something totally   different you have to think about what's on the  water you might not be able to see much sometimes   a pair of binoculars might help you but often  you won't be able to see what they're taking   you may never figure out what they're taking you  may have to change flies a dozen times i've had   days when i never figured out what the fish  were taking so it's a lot of trial and error   you never know what fly they're going  to take you make some educated guesses   you go out there and you give them a try quite  often when you have rising fish there will be   bugs over in the current lane where the fish are  feeding and no insects where you're standing and   sometimes you actually have to try to wade over to  the other side or where the fish is to get in the   same current lane to see what kind of bugs they're  seeing so that's i'm going to do here we've got a   fish feeding up there in the riffle i'm going to  carefully slide down here in the tail pick up an   insect see what they're probably eating  and then come over and try to match it   so what i got here is a little pmd mayfly  i got a little bugged up when i caught him   he had just emerged and he's still a little soft  but that's okay because i could see the size   and the color of the fly so all i have to do is  hopefully poke around on my fly box until i find   a mayfly invitation that's about the same size and  color most anglers worry too much about what fly   pattern to choose in any given situation dozens  of fly patterns will catch trout in the same pool   presentation of the fly is just as important if  not more important than the correct fly pattern the great thing about dry fly  fishing at least when fish are rising   is that you know where a fish is feeding and  that you often have an idea of what it's eating there's the dry fly fish yes the challenge the  challenge has been met a beautiful brown trout yay so what do you do when you're faced with some  rising fish it's what we all hope for first thing   you do is think about your position where can i  get into the river where i can get a nice cast to   the fish without spooking them and without putting  my fly line over them so you want to generally get   a little bit over to the side or if they're not  terribly spooky you want to get above the fish   and throw a downstream cast to them once you've  decided what fly pattern to try planning your   approach and presenting the fly in a lifelike  manner is the next step once you've gotten a   clue to what the fish are taking pick the  closest fly in your box to the natural   apply either liquid or gel fly float into the fly  before it gets wet a trout will be watching the   surface just upstream of the rise because as it  comes to the surface the current pushes it back   slightly so always cast just above the rise it  pays to take your time sneaking up on a fish   you never know exactly how close you can get  and sometimes you blow it but the closer you   can get the more accurate cast you can make it's a  stalking game and that's what makes it so much fun   once you've moved up a little bit you may lose  sight of where that fish was that you were going   to target so it's best to stop and wait for the  fish to feed again so you know exactly where it is here you can see a flycast directly to the rise  so the fly landed behind the fish and the fish   didn't see the fly your first float over a fish  should be your best with every subsequent cast   you risk spooking the fish or it may see your  fly drag carefully place the fly upstream of   the fish so that it floats over the fish without  drag drag is the most common reason a fish does   not take your dry fly and avoiding drag is even  more important than having the perfect imitation   slack line presentations like the  reach cast the parachute or tower cast the s cast or curve cast will be essential in all but the  most uniform currents some days dry fly fishing is   tough goes away and some days it's incredibly easy  and when it all works out there's nothing better   so what do you do if the fish doesn't take the  fly in the first cast when you have fish that are   showing some interest in your surface flies but  they're not taking them they're coming to the fly   they're they're splashing at it they're rolling on  it but not inhaling it there are a couple things   you can do one is that you can put on a longer  finer tippet to try to avoid drag often it's just   drag that's a problem the other thing you can  do go to a one size smaller fly or one of the   best things is go to an emerger fly something  that floats just in or just below the surface   this trick of switching from a high floating fly  to a lower floating emerger works wonders for many   kinds of aquatic insects caddisflies mayflies  and midges in particular emergers are harder   to spot on the water and if you have trouble  seeing your emerger try putting a tiny strike   indicator on your leader about five feet above  the fly or try combining in a merger pattern   with a higher visibility dry on a dry dropper  arrangement if you've made dozens of cast over   fishing it doesn't take first ensure that the  fish is still rising you may have spooked it   and it's time to find another fish you know it's  often a question of strategy when you're dry fly   fishing to fish like this i'm waiting for these  fish in here hopefully to come back up i see some   fish rising up above these guys but if i wade  up to the ones up above i'm for sure going to   spook these guys so do i stand here and wait for  these guys to rise or do i go up to the next one   only you can answer that question don't be  afraid to experiment with dry fly presentations   every rising fish is a little  different and you may have to try   several different techniques on a difficult  riser but that's what makes it all so much fun   when you've got fish that are occasionally  rising and you know there's an area that's   really stacked with fish or if you're  just prospecting for fish in faster water   good thing to use is a dry dropper and all you  need to do is take a high floating dry fly tie   a piece of tippet on the bend of that dry fly and  tie a small nymph or a larger nymph if you've got   a big high floating fly on the end when you're  fishing a dry dropper particularly in slow water   like this that dry fly is not going to dive under  it's just going to hesitate it might sink but if   that dry fly does anything weird anything that  doesn't look right set the hook because it's not   going to be a vicious strike just going to kind  of dip under you can fish a high floating dry fly   in combination with a smaller dry with an emerger  or with a nymph whatever combination you choose   fishing dry droppers is a great way to fish  on anything from big rivers to tiny brooks   there are certain casts that will definitely help  your dry fly presentation besides the reach cast   to parachute casts and other slack line casts it's  important to false cast properly and sometimes   to throw curve casts let's get some casting  advice that will be helpful in dry fly fishing   from pete kutzer hi i'm pete kutzer from the  orvis fly fishing schools today we're going to   talk about false casting and adding more distance  to your cast an important part of casting but an   often overused part of casting is false casting  false casting is periodically keeping that line   up in the air when we're either drying a dry  fly changing direction gauging distance gauging   accuracy when we false cast we're going to make  that same pause like we do on our back cast   but then we're going to initiate that back cast  after that forward cast just before that line   straightens out we're going to initiate that  back cast then we can deliver that fly back   out to the water we want a false cast but not  too much remember the fish live in the water   so just think just before that line starts to  fall we're gonna make that back cast just before   it begins the fall again start with that back  cast remember folks don't false cast too much sometimes a situation arises where you got to get  your fly to actually curl around something maybe   you want your fly to crawl up the bank when you're  stripping a streamer in or sometimes there's a   stump or a rock that you've got to get that fly  around in that situation we want to use a curve   cast and there's a couple different ways to throw  a curved cast one way is to make a very side angle   cast where we take that rod and then we overpower  it if we overpower it that'll create that   side loop to come around and hook over to our left  if we're a right-handed caster if we underpower it   then we can get it to hook to the right another  way you can throw a curve cast is by when you   apply that acceleration to that stop right as  you're applying that stop you make a twist with   your wrist that twist will cause that loop to  turn allowing your fly to then turn to the left all right just because the fish aren't rising doesn't  mean you can't catch them out of dry fly   particularly on a stretch of water like this  where the water's low clear relatively shallow   we know there's trout in here and there are some  insects hatching there's an occasional rise but   nothing that we can really target but you  can blind fish or prospect with a dry fly   by poking a dry fly into the likely looking  places which is what we're going to try now   so i've got a piece of water here nice riffle i'm  pretty sure there's fish in there i'm just going   to fish this dry fly in all the likely looking  places i'm going to concentrate on the foam   line because that's where the food is and that's  probably where the fish are going to be located fishing a dry fly like this it's important  to have a high floating fly or at least a   fly that's visible something like a parachute  with a white wing or something you can see   because you don't have ever rise to target so  you've got to really keep your eye on the fly that'll be better oh caddisfly did the trick yeah um rainbow i don't think he's done yet but i guess he's done you can you can just lower the net and let him  go he doesn't need any reviving wow that's a slab that's what you call a slab we're here on the gallatin river just upstream  of big sky montana beautiful crystal clear   stream that starts in yellowstone park uh the  water isn't too high it's clear i know a fish   can see a dry fly never fished here before so  i'm going to start with a pair of dry flies   a stimulator big stimulator to imitate maybe  a stone fly or one of the grasshoppers there   and then an alcare caddis to imitate the spruce  moth which has been flying around and gets in the   water quite a bit so we'll poke around in this  little pocket here and see what happens what   i'm doing here is just hitting all the little  pockets that look good a couple casts in each   spot i'm not going to waste a lot of time here  in front of in front of rocks is a good place   along the side of rocks places where i can see  the bottom deepens a little bit and especially   along the bank where the water slows fishing  meadow streams like this often slide right up   into the shallow water in the bank to feed looking  for grasshoppers ants beetles things like that oh the fish aren't really where i expected them  to be today the fish are all over in the shallower   water instead of in the deep slot which tells  me there might be a bigger fish in the deep slot   but not coming up for the dry fly often times  when you fish a new stream like this takes you   a while to figure out where the fish are laying  so you have to really poke around and do a lot   of prospecting with the fly pretty little  rainbow trout also took the elk care caddis thank you buddy i traveled to alberta to join  my friend dave jensen who taught me a lot about   small stream dry fly fishing we're telling what  we got here today uh we're gonna be walking up   a tiny little spring creek and right in front  of us here we have a beaver dam that's backed   that water up so it's crystal clear water and  what this beaver's done it's real shallow here   but we're going to get into kind of a trough  as it goes all the way up and on either side   there's a drop off right against the grasses that  that the trout will hold right to the grasses   come out feed and go back now they'd be normally  hard to see except in this crystal clear water   you can pretty much just walk along real  slow look at the base of the grasses   and walk up we're looking for heads pectoral fins  and tails okay on some of the bigger males they're   going to have that big flagging tail right and  that's a dead giveaway that he's there okay oh yeah oh yeah baby nice fish we got 17 18 inches tall oh boy can't  beat that i'll dry in the middle of the day   in the middle of a fairly bright day there is nothing like a rise  of a trout to your floating fly   it's what most people think of when they  imagine fly fishing there's more to fly   fishing than just dry fly fishing for trout it's  one of the high points of fishing with a fly whoa don't forget dry fly fishing like any  other kind of fishing there are no magic   bullets keep trying different flies in different  presentations until you crack the code and don't   worry if you lose a fish the orvis guide to  fly fishing is supported by orvis fly fishing algoma country   destination ontario maine office of tourism yellowstone teton territory crazy rainbow ranch bahamas  tourism adipose boatworks   global rescue proud unlimited you

Channel: Orvis Guide to Fly Fishing

Views: 358,734

Keywords: orvis fly fishing, tom rosenbauer, the new fly fisher, brook trout, brown trout, rainbow trout, trout, brown trout fly fishing tips, dry fly fishing for brook trout, dry fly fishing for trout, fishing fly, fly fishing for trout, fly fishing for trout for beginners, how to fly cast, learn to fly fish, small stream trout fishing, dry fly fishing, dry fly tying, dry fly patterns, dry fly takes, dry fly casting, wet fly fishing, wet fly patterns, streamer fishing for trout

Id: utbjRRDM4vU

Length: 23min 55sec (1435 seconds)

Published: Sat May 01 2021