Seven Weeks of Dry Flies

I realize the middle of December is not a typical time to discuss trout fishing. However, I enjoyed some beautiful days in the outdoors this autumn, many of them on various streams.

I think fly-fishing is the most enjoyable outdoor sport but sometimes think the most effective method of fly-fishing, nymph fishing, can be mind-numbing. Not so with dry-fly fishing. It would be like archery hunting with a crossbow compared to hunting with a longbow.

This autumn I enjoyed dry-fly fishing for trout from Sept. 22 through Veterans Day. (For readers who might be unfamiliar with fishing tactics, dry-fly fishing means using artificial flies that float on the surface of a stream to entice trout into eating them.)

This fall most Pennsylvania trout streams were low and clear. These conditions made approaching wary trout challenging. The splat of a fly line hitting the water sometimes sent trout racing for sanctuary. Under these conditions I had to be more careful in my approach to the stream than I do when the water is flowing more forcefully and with a touch of color.

I always wear dull-colored clothing during autumn fishing expeditions in an effort to mask my movements. Donna says some of the items I wear are deplorable. However, I respond by telling her that the trout are not interested in my "sartorial splendor."

I lengthened my leaders and used thinner tippet material to minimize a trout's chance of detecting it. (Tippet is nylon fishing line to which a fly is tied when a fly-fisherman is presenting his artificial fly to a trout.)

Casting dry flies to trout is a much more artful form of fly-fishing than plopping nymphs into the water is. Though I have never become a competition-level flycaster, I enjoy the feel of a line tugging on a fly rod as the rod flexes and then flings the fly to a spot where a trout might be lurking when I make my final forward cast.

Sometimes I spotted trout rising to eat from the stream's surface this autumn, but most often I cast to locations where I thought trout might be waiting to intercept food. This was true on both large and small streams. On the Internet, some posters lamented that streams were too low to fish; but for fishing with dry flies, some waters were just right.

Watching a trout rise and accept an artificial fly in the thin water of autumn is a special fly-fishing experience. This fall, I enjoyed seven weeks of this fascinating form of trout fishing.