In most cases, while fishing Salmon rivers here in Maine, the reason that some guys hook up and other guys don’t is simple….willingness or unwillingness to change rigging and fly fishing methods.Several times each season I cross paths with Jeremy while I’m fly fishing/guiding Maine’s pemiere Salmon and Trout waters. If the fly fishing is good anywhere I should expect to see him on that water and more often than not, he will be “dialed in” to the fish. “Dialing in” means that if the Salmon are on baitfish…strip streamers, if they’re eating tiny nymphs, then re-rig and nymph, if they’re rising, figure out what they are eating and re-rig. I fly fished all day today with a buddy who went fishless this entire day and watched every move/rig change I made. He watched me hook Salmon all day. On the way home he admitted, “I hate indicator nymphing”, and “Man, that heavily weighted streamer fly you were using is hard to cast.” In my mind you can’t let your preferences dominate your fly fishing. Instead, you need to be happily flexible, and let the fish decide how and what you will present to them.My friend was simply changing streamer patterns. He stopped short of doing anything radical, like adding weight, or fine tuning his nymph rig and giving it a chance. Instead, he focused on ‘where the fish were’ and resorted to casting different streamers over the tops of their heads, thinking that maybe the correct streamer pattern would be the key to success.Jeremy and I are guys who are willing to make radical changes at the drop of a hat. Radical change-ups take a little time, but help us figure out what the Salmon want. Today we hooked/raised plenty of Salmon on heavily weighted streamer patterns, large stone nymphs, #18 caddis/mayfly nymphs, large stimulator dry flies and #14 elk hair caddis dry flies. Next time out, when you’re stumped…happily change-up, dial in, and hook up!
Great tips and great pics…That’s the secret to success in all things I suspect. Someday I plan to get up on those premier salmon rivers and I will have 15 lbs of stuff crambed in my vest that’s for sure.
Nice job guys…you have to adapt when you are trout/salmon fishing. If you don’t show them what they want, you might as well be casting your rig on the bank behing you.
marsh – good to see you … you hit the nail right on the head. for me, most of the fun of fly fishing is learning and figuring out the various methods and the intracacies associated with each method … as with everything in life and fly fishing, nothing is as simple as it seems. infact, for me, nymphing is the most challenging method of fly fishing and has without a doubt proven to have the biggest learning curve for me. dry fly fishing is fun for sure, but we have so many crutches to rely on because everything is so visible. granted wild and native fish can be very difficult to trick and picky to say the leas, but the angler has the advantage of being able to see everything. then there is streamer fishing. of course, there are limitless intracacies, most of which relate to reading water, but in the end it is very similar to casting out a lure with a spin rod. then there is nymphing. i gotta admit, i was one of those guys many years ago that said, “nymphing is for the birds and an indicator is just like using a bobber… etc…” and i think i also muttered stuff like, “i am a dry fly fisherman.” well, that was all fine and good and i think i might have even had myself convinced that nymphing was the easiest method out there and analogeous to fishing with a bobber… so, i spent my days casting dries and streamers and getting fairly proficient and comfortable with those methods … but there was a little thing bugging me that i never wanted to face … i would see guys using an indicator and nymphing and really doing very well … infact, much better than me .. and my streamer patterns were not working, nothing was rising to dry flies and my attempt as nymphing was really nothing more than swinging wet flies or nymphs…. and then came the motherload of humility… STEELHEAD! I don’t care if you are the best dry fly fisherman in the world, you are not gonna catch a steelhead in february on a dry fly … and you really have your work cut out for you if you plan on swinging flies, especially if the rivers are slushed up and your guides are freezing up and line too ..
so, i found myself on lake ontario catching nothing and watching all of these people hook steelhead. i finally admitted to myself and others that i had no clue what the heck i was doing .. so i was introduced to the “chuck and duck” method .. lots of weight, tick the bottom .. and that worked! well, that worked to the degree that i was hooking fish … but the problem was, something just did not feel natural.. i was hung up all the time and 3 out of 5 of my fish were foul hooked .. and i would rather not hook anything than fould hook a fish …
nonetheless, i though this was the nymphing game .. i applied this “ticking” and “chuck and duck” method in maine and all over the country … and it worked .. i was catching fish (not snagging them) and i came to find out that it was really nothing more than czech nymphing, high sticking .. whatever you want to call it … but the problem was .. it was very labor intensive and constricting .. i was associating success with lots of weight to get the flies down .. hence i really could not fish the soft and slow water and was bound to throughing my nymph setups in the fast currents…
then i met jason-c … a west coast steelhead guy and amazing nymph fly fisherman … i met him at a steelhead run off lake O. and he was lighting it up … seriously .. i was catching zippo, zero, zilth with a ton of weight and some sort of egg pattern … i begged him for a fly, hoping that was the key .. nope .. of course, i got hung up on the bottom and lost the fly and my entire rig .. and then i was really at the bottom of my barrel .. he sat there right next to me continuing to hook steelhead after steelhead .. all the fish were hooked in the tounge, no foul hooked fish and he was casting his fly line like with the same type of grace that he would cast a dry fly .. i was dumbfounded .. so i said, “dude, clearly i have no clue what i am doing. will you help me?”
so, he took the time to not just set me up with the indicator setup and the fly .. but took the time to explain the theory behind the method … he was using just a single tiny split shot or in some cases no split shot and a beaded egg fly of some sort .. and rather than fishing the big heavy currents, he was fishing the micro currents and slow tailouts and within the big heavy currents he was showing me how to read the water at a micro level and look for the slow drifts .. and he explained how i needed to THINK of what was happening below the surface .. and that the intent was to get the same natural drift as i would try to achieve with a dry fly … he explained that my indicator and fly should be moving at the same rate as the bubbles on the water and that my leader length was critical to the depth of water that i was fishing at any time and that above all else … a DEAD DRIFT was critical because an egg pattern does not swim .. so a fish looks at a swinging egg pattern and says, “something is not right with that egg.” …
since then, i have had x50 successes fly fishing for steelhead, salmon and trout .. and since then i continue to learn the refined skills of reading water and interpreting what is going on below the surface .. i no longer rely on sight because i study the water and try to read the water like an atlas .. i also get hung up a fraction of the time and i have many full steelhead days where i fish 1 fly the entire day .. never losing a rig to the bottom …
so, the bottom line for me is this … i never think that any 1 method as being “better” than another … i view fly fishing as a constant evolving, never ending learning experience … not possible to ever know it all .. and if it were, it wouldn’t be much fun .. infact i would probably quit .. because the satisfication for me these days comes from being able to use all of the tools at my disposal and all of the skill sets that i have personally acquired through a lifetime of learning and apply those things to a new challenge .. and that new challenge typically points out things that i did not know and i take away new skillsets and lessons learned from that challenge and move onto the next challenge … only to be faced with yet more things that i did not know .. and more things i need to learn … and the never ending puzzle of fresh and salt water fly fishing continues to amaze me .. i hope it always does .. see ya marsh … maybe in the everglades next time.
ps — if anyone out there is ever planning a fly fishing trip to maine … there is alot of water .. and if time is limited it can be overwhelming to say the least … we have 6,000 lakes and ponds and 32,000 miles of rivers and streams … i have still yet to scratch the surface of what is possible and i live here .. point being .. marshall is a long time friend of mine and fly fishing partner … many times we go together but often we just naturally cross paths and then spend the remainder of the day fly fishing together … anyway, i can say with absolute certainty that marshall is the real deal … he knows maine and especially the mooshead/kennebec river systems like the back of his hand .. he knows where and when to fish and has passion for fly fishing that is obvious to anyone who meets him … me, i am just a trout bum .. not qualified to guide .. not licensed by the state of maine or anything like that … and to be honest, if i was, i think i would be the states worste guide … i would certainly leave customers on the river bank, if i showed up at all, while i was obsessively casting to fish and forgetting that they were even there … but i often get emails from people on fliesandfins.com asking if i will take them fly fishing … …. so, my point is this .. if you are coming to maine and need to maximize your time and you don’t want to weed through all of the guide options available …. i recommend marshalld … he runs http://www.flyanglersguide.com .. check it out or private message him through this site ….. i feel confident saying that marshall has the experience and knowledge to accomodate every level of fly fisherman .. .. if you want to cast long leaders and tiny dries to wild fish he can and will do that … easier to catch browns and rainbows with drift boat no problem .. landlocked salmon and brook trout, he knows where they live and how to catch ’em… … give him a shout, in the end, you will be glad you contacted him and not me:) …
http://www.flyanglersguide.com
Thanks very much for the compliments and endorsement, jeremy. I’m sure there are many fellow guides and fly fishers who are way more expert than I. Every time I go out I’m compelled to try to learn something new, try something different, catch them a new way or in a different place.
Guiding is teaching. Kindergarden to grad school…each client brings what he has to the table. It’s too rare a day when all I need to do is find fish and simply position clients. That’s why I’d love to fish the other guides/anglers here at fliesandfins. Very few basics to worry about. I’d like to trade home water trips too. I have tremendous respect for guides who are good at their craft. It’s a good feeling to get a high-five from other guys here who are way better at it than me.
Real good reading guys. I don’t know either of you personally, but I’ve been reading your stories for a while now. If I was planning on hiring a guide it would be you Mr.Marshall. I hope to at some point next season. I’ve been working on all the techniques Jeremy spoke of. But I’m looking forward to having a teacher as well as a guide critique my skills. I’m looking forward to that day.I’m headind to GLS 10/14-17 with some more seasoned fly fishermen. I’m shure I’ll be putting to use all the tricks streamers and nymphs have to offer.
Nice fish guys, congrats!! I thought E outlet was closed!!! shame on me. Nice story Marsh, once again you came through.
Great post and comments. As others have stated a large part of the fun is figuring out what the fish are on. I love to swing streamers, nymph and of course dry fly fish, but one has to tune into the water and target species and make the right call and more importantly adapt or adjust to the situation. If that doesn’t work chaning up is the way to go. I have to admint there have been a few times where I get lazy and don’t change it up as much as I ought to. That’s why I try to use a rod, line set up that offers me the most versatility so changing leaders or a mini tip on my floating line can allow me all three options. Now I can’t wait to put to work on the water this weekend.
Great post, very thought provoking. Too many times we get stuck in a rut.
Think, react, adapt. Sometimes it’s an exercise in problem solving.
Definitely good tips, Made the rounds myself this fall did real well .Fished all the usual places E.O , Roach ,West Branch ,Kenny Fat land locks and brookies both swinging streamers and nymphs
Great fish Marshall! I enjoyed getting to see that beauty up close and personal. And it was a pleasure meeting you. You and Jeremy taught me a lot about fishing that particular water that day. Thanks.