Sticking a foam fly eat

This post has been sitting in my drafts for over a year. It was one of the first items I worked on when i started back blogging. I am only now getting back to it and satisfied with how it reads. Don’t get your hopes up too much tho.

This one can be difficult to describe in words. Fishing a dry fly from a drift boat is different than fishing from the bank. Many times when we fish a dry fly from the bank, we will use an upstream presentation, allows us to approach the fish from behind and helps us not get spotted. The fish faces upstream eating flies brought to them by the current. We will throw our imitation up and make it float down our target. Fish eats, we react quickly, lift the rod, the fly is pulled back into their jaw, and hopefully hooks them. Its all pretty straight forward. When fishing from a boat, I will 99% of the time have guests casting dry flies downstream at a 45' and drifting the fly into their lane. (The casting downstream allows us the best p[ossible drag-free drift.) So similar to presenting fri=om the shore, the fish eats and in the event that we react too quickly, we lift the rod and pull the fly away from the fish. See the difference? When fishing from the shore, you can react rather swiftly and your positioning downstream will aid in sinking the hook into the jaw. Responding too promptly while fishing a downstream presentation will only help get the fly out of its mouth. When fishing downstream presentations, you must wait a little longer for the fish to take the fly down before you lift and tighten up to set the hook and remember we are likely pulling the fly directly away from the fish on a downstream presentation. Pretty simple, right?? Just wait, right?? Easier said than done.

We've all torn it away from fish at times. Also, the added height that we get from standing in a drift boat can often allow you to see the fish coming sooner, allowing us to pull the fly away before the fish even gets to it. If you let it get to you, you'll scramble your brain. I am often asked, "How can I keep from doing that?" It's a delicate subject because we are dealing with egos and wild animals. Both are very delicate and they don't always do as we would like. My best answer is probably "Try to get another to eat it and give it another shot" The biggest thing that needs to happen tho is for you to R-E-L-A-X.