"The 3 Key Knots to Fly Fishing Success"

One of the most critical areas of knowledge leading to confidence on the stream is knowing that your Knots are tied correctly. While there are entire books written about knots and how to tie them, for most freshwater situations you really only need to master the following three:  • PERFECTION LOOP  • SURGEON'S  • IMPROVED CLINCH While many others would also include the reel backing knot and nail knot, it is not included because they are usually done at the shop where you bought your line or when they load it on your reel. Instructions for these two knots are included in the package with your new line. The knots included here are the ones that you will be using ninety nine percent of the time on the stream. Let's start learning them in the order we would use them while preparing for a day on the stream. To connect the leader to the butt section of the fly lines, use the perfection loop. PERFECTION LOOP For a right handed person start with approximately seven inches of line extending to the right between the thumb and forefinger of your left hand. Pinch the line between you left thumb and fore finger. Push the line back towards the left so it forms a loop with the shortest piece coming to rest against your forefinger. Pinch the loop lightly in the left hand and with your right hand close the loop until the loop is about three quarters of an inch above the finger. Now take the short piece loosely over your thumb to the left and slide between forefinger and three quarter inch loop, making sure this second loop is lower than the first. At this point, pull the short piece down between the two loops you have just formed and pinch with the left sides of your thumb and forefinger. Whith the thumb and forefinger of your right hand, reach through the taller loop from behind and firmly grasp the short loop. With your left hand, grab the long piece and pull down to complete the perfection loop. SURGEONS This is one of the easiest ways to connect tippet to the end of your leader. Start by over-lapping approximately eight inches of leader and tippet. Roll a loop in the line about one inch in diameter so it extends downward below your left thumb. Using the fore finger of your right hand, push the short and long ends through the loop. Roll it over the top of the loop, then repeat the process. Holding both strands on either side of the knot, pull to seat and complete the knot. IMPROVED CLINCH The knot used to tie the fly to the tippet will be familiar to those who have done some baitcasting or spin fishing, as it is the same knot used to tie the lure to the line. Begin by passing the end of the tippet through the eye of the hook. Wind the line around itself six times, then pass it through the area between the eye and the start of the twists. This will create another loop and you finish the knot by passing it through this area and then tightening. As with all knots, make sure the mono is wet prior to tightening the knot.

        

Bent Rod Media's First Law of Fly Fishing says the second best way to learn to catch fish is to watch people who are good at catching them. Simple? Absolutely NOT!!!

So after lots of watching and a little practice, I’ve gotten a lot sneakier. Which has lead me to develop Bentrod media's Four Strategies for Being a Sneaky Bastard:

Rule #1 - Stay Out of the Water

Being far denser than air, water conducts sound very, very well. In simplest terms, when you’re in the water, fish can hear you. In a recent Internet post, John Wilson of the USA Fly Fishing team described watching fish bolt when an angler set foot in the water 40 feet away.

In a freestone river – with its constantly moving water – you’d think the effect was lessened (it probably is), but face it, trout are highly attuned to their environment. Your average trout can pinpoint the sound of a fly fisher stomping along a riffle the same way a fly fisher can pinpoint the sound of a beer being opened in a crowded campground.

So while I’ve always been a “get in the river and flounder” guy, even I’ve come to see the light. Nowadays you’re a lot more likely to find me standing around behind trees and boulders, looking guilty and throwing more backcasts into bushes, but catching more fish.

More often than not, catching fish requires wading - but try stopping to think about it first.

Rule #2 - While You’re in the Water, Wade Smart

I recently waded into some “tough” technical water – expecting to throw hugely complicated slack-line casts in devilishly complex currents – and almost stepped on a 14″ trout. The lesson? Don’t charge into the water like a rampaging hippo. Hippos catch few trout. Want to avoid hippo-hood? Here’s how:

When you’re about to wade, don’t. Invest a few minutes looking for rising fish and likely holding spots (especially near your entry point). If you’re presenting to a specific fish, make sure you’re wading to the right spot. Arriving - and then realizing you can’t make the drift - means more wading and spooked fish.

Hide your underwater half. Fly fishers know they’re supposed to hide behind objects above the water, but inexplicably fail to do the same for underwater obstacles. The Upper Sac (like many rivers) is littered with subsurface boulders, rocks, trenches, weeds…. Keep these between you and fish, and you’ll sleep better at night.

And don’t ignore current tongues (not every barrier to being seen is solid); that bubbly barrier between you and the fish inhibits their sensory abilities (some warships use a curtain of bubbles to foil sonar), and can spell the difference between success and that awful skunk smell.

Keep it quiet. Rene Harrop suggests that studded wading boots spook fish, but then again, he’s fishing the largely sedate Henry’s Fork, not the “greased cannonball” bed of the Upper Sacramento. Two-stepping your way through a run is likely to spook fish more than studs, but his premise is good – keep it quiet underwater.

A good friend once gave me a gorgeous aluminum wading staff that was stable and strong. Unfortunately, it rang like a gong, and I did away with it. Don’t get gonged.

And all that manly power-wading crap? If you truly feel the need to push a bow wave, trying fishing the beach, where presumably the fish respect manliness more than trout. I’ve managed to put down rising fish by wading carelessly and pushing even little pressure waves across shallow water. Don’t you do it too.

Rule #3 - Be a Hunter

OK, so you’re staying out of the water when possible and wading quietly when it’s not. It’s time to adopt the posture of a predator.

Hide. This isn’t exactly groundbreaking advice, but it’s also rarely followed. Casting from behind trees and bushes means you’ll experience more of those excruciating “Better go to my happy place” leader tangles, but once you’ve mastered the art of fishing while skulking, you’ll catch more fish – especially on small streams.

The value of this was brought home in Tennessee, where on my last day of fishing, I hiked the upper section of the Little River, and caught several fish from slots right on the bank.

I stayed hidden, poked the rod out, made a rotating “flip” cast, and the fish were there - in the kind of water I’d have said looked good, but never produced for me in my less-surreptitious past.

Camouflage. There are endless debates about the virtues of shiny rods vs. matte finish rods, light clothes vs. dark, bright fly lines vs. neutral, etc. Given my tendency to split the difference, I try to match my fishing shirt to the color of the background, stay away from light colored hats, and typically shun day-glo fly lines.

What should you do? Whatever feels appropriate - given that the best fly fishers I know blend into their surroundings a lot better than the worst fly fishers I know.

Don’t Flail. Waving a rod over a fish is a manifestly bad idea, as is false casting over fish in shallow water. Fish are highly attuned to movement – and they’re definitely aware of objects flashing overhead.

Keep your false casting to a minimum (yes, this means you), and practice your change of direction cast. Come the low, clear waters of fall, you’ll need it.

Don’t Compound Mistakes. When you’re casting to a specific spot and miss, don’t pick it right up and slap it back down. Let the current pull it away and try again. Similarly, when you’re casting tight to cover, don’t throw right into the “zone of death” the first cast.

Instead, drop your fly at the outside edge – it gives you a chance to measure the distance, avoids a terrify-the-big-fish tangle with bankside brush, and offers the fish a chance to come out and eat the fly anyway. (Cuts down on the amount of swearing too.)

Stalk. If most fly fishers stalked fish half as hard as they stalk deals on the Internet, there’d be a lot more sore-mouthed trout in the rivers. For example, casting a long shadow is always a bad idea, yet I often see fishers casting with the sun at their backs.

To trout, shadows mean birds, and birds mean dinner (and not in a good way). Keep a low profile, stay aware of the sun, and fish with the sun at your back only when absolutely necessary.

 


#4 – When All is Lost

Finally, when there’s no cover, the water’s clear, and your casting choices are limited, there’s always the Waiting Gambit. Pick your best spot (the one that offers you the best shot at the most/best fish), wade in as quietly as possible, and if the trout stop rising, wait ‘em out.

If you stand still and make no threatening gestures, the fish might foolishly decide you’re not a risk and resume feeding. It often happens in as few as five or ten minutes, and while the wait is excruciating, it can be effective.

Sometimes - if you wade very, very quietly - the fish don’t even stop rising. Continuously working fish are sometimes happily oblivious to what’s going on around them, as evidenced by the time I slowly waded less than a rod’s length away from a pod of big, rising trout in very shallow water.

This is far more likely to happen on overcast days than bright ones; sneaking up on ‘em is just that much easier when the fireball in the sky is on vacation.

The Moral of this Article is…

Sneaking around brushy trout streams isn’t always easy – and you’re often left to perform the fly fishing calculus needed to choose between two bad options – but it costs a lot less than a new fly rod. And unlike a new rod, being sneaky will actually help you catch more fish.

So practice stealth and fish like a sneaky bastard.

        

This rain pumps me up. After a shitty fishing season due to the drought last year, this year kicks off to a awesome start. We decided to load up the outcast pac 1400 and head out to the Watauga River in Tennessee  for an all day float. The bite was good, as Chris(Bent Rod Media contributor) pounded the banks and stuck many fish on an olive bugger. Most of the fish caught were on the smaller side, but his effort did yield a nice 17 inch brown. Later that day we decided to anchor the boat up in an area known as the caddis riffle.. We began fishing a micro nymph rig( 6x tippet, sz 22 olive zebra midge trailed behing a size 20 bwo emerger) with great success. My wife Angela was hooking a fish on almost every cast. Chris was not catching any fish and he was changing flies like underwear, so I  gave him a zebra midge. You should have seen his face, when he was getting out fished by my wife. Once Chris tied on the zebra, he then began hooking some nice fish. One fish was a nice 20 inch bow with some deep colors. After everybody had caught fish, I grabbed the rod caught some myself. After about an hour, we decided to float down river. I told Chris it was his turn on the sticks, because I was tired of playing guide. I pounded the banks with steamers all the way to the takeout. the bite was a little slower after the caddis riffle, because of the daily drift boat hatch. It seemed like there were two boats in every hole. This is normal as the day winds down and the guide services head for the takeout to get there clients home. Despite the rain and cold it was one hell of a spring day. We are now awaiting the Mothers Day Caddis hatch. Check back for more postings, videos, and pics.


                                                   
                                                                     Ryan "Raul" Dunne
                                                           bent rod media founding member




                                                                                        
                                                     

        

On Friday March 07, 2008
The fly fishing world gave birth to it's newest prodical son.

WWW.BentRODMedia.com 


    Fly Fishing is the greatest sport in the world. On any level it is an exciting encounter with nature. On the highest level, it is a chance to match wits not against a fish, but against the power of evolution itself to hone a creature's instinct for scrutiny to masterful levels. Coaxing a selective trout into taking your fly is the most satisfying challenge in fishing.

    "Fly fishing is an experience of total landscape.  It defy's general analysis because it is so personal.  But what does seem universal is that the more comprehensible we understand our total fishing environment the more downright pleasant our fishing experience proves to be."

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