Compiled and Edited by Brian Larson

The following are insights from the last several years as posted around Thanksgiving time on the ff@ server. I have added information to some of them. I hope you can use some of these to improve your fishing this next year.

The more I go fishing, the more fish I catch.

Nothing beats experience, BUT you can cheat the learning curve by getting involved in activities of FF and conservation clubs, reading books, and going to shows.

Got serious about tying my own flies.

Slowed down my fishing. Started looking at what insect life or other bait is around.

Learned to stop bending my wrist and allow more time for my backcast, I now catch a lot less brush behind me and more fish in front of me.

False casts don't catch fish.

Learn this year to spend more time on pocket water and shallow riffles

Don't neglect the pocket water that looks too fast for holding fish. Try something big.

Don't neglect undercuts, even the ones that look too shallow.

Learn to cast better. Take some lessons. Learn to mend line

I paid more attention to Caddis flies. I discovered the effectiveness of fishing caddis emergers and wets during a hatch.

Fish the basic water instead of trying to hit all the "Secret New Hot Spot"; in other words learn one stream really well rather than jumping around to all the latest hot streams.

A quick way to store your fly and retrieve your fly while moving in and out of the water,

1. Place the HOOK of your fly in one of the upper guides on your rod.

2. Strip out enough line so that you can loop the flyline over your reel.

3. Reel until the loop is tight.

Learning to fish a true straight downstream drift, both with nymphs and with dries

"Hat Creek Slide"

1. Position yourself upstream from a rising fish. Cast your dry directly out a little down stream from your position but make sure the fly, line, and leader land in the water well upstream of the fish's field of vision. Once you fly is in the water pick up your rod tip and slide the fly to a position in the current where it will drift into the fish's feeding window.

2. If the fish refuses your offering then don't line him or let two much of your leader pass over his back. As soon as the length of your tippet passes over the fish then move you rod tip in a sweeping motion downstream and slide the leader and line away from the fish before it passes over him.

Fishing the Olive Hare's Ear Parachute as a searching fly during non-hatch times

Learning to tie a perfection loop. Now, I can change leaders and tippets easily.

When lake fishing or pool fishing with nymphs the slow retrieve you will out-catch anyone who is using a short, twitching retrieve. I figured this out by watching trout feeding. Two things stood out:
1) most bugs don't move too fast
2) most of the time fish just generally swim around with their mouths open inhaling whatever is closest to them. Rarely do they attack a bug.

When fishing multiple dropper nymph rigs put the weight between the terminal and the next highest fly up instead of the usual place before any flies.

Use polarized prescription sunglasses. If your reading part bothers your walking, use clip on magnifiers for close work. Carry your regular glasses for when the sun goes down.

Always closely examine a new fly in the water to be sure that it is performing correctly. A fly sitting on its nose may not attract fish and can be difficult to get a hook set.

Mountain trout (all trout) are much more fun on a 4 wt. Try out a lighter rod, you might like it.4 wt. Is not the lightest you can go.

The great advantage that learning how to tie my own leaders gave me. I've been basically using two formulas, the Harvey Leader formula with their very slack line presentation; and the Orvis Leader formula with their faster turn-over that I find gives me greater accuracy when fishing small local streams where you can't always get a good backcast. Try the Borger version of the Harvey system.

Chest packs are a good alternative to bulky vests.

Steadily increasing the amount of weight that I use when nymph fishing, so that a single size BB is about the least I might use, and more likely AAA or bigger. If I'm not seeing the strike indicator showing that I'm ticking along the bottom, I haven't got enough weight on and I don't catch nearly as many fish. If you are only catching the Whitefish (Western streams) you are not fishing deep enough. Trout feed in about 10% of the water column; of that, 10% is at the top [in or on the surface film] and 90% right next to the bottom.

Take time to smell the roses.

Using a float tube in the ocean will give you more fish and more fun. That goes double for slow rivers and lakes and ponds.

Try fish non-obvious water. Fish the shallow bank before wading to get to the deeper water. A slight declivity and some overhead cover make for a happy home for fish and, like me, I'm sure most fishermen just stomp past it to get to the "good" water

The easiest way to tie a very effective nymph is to use mink hair dubbed very coarsely onto a hook using red thread. Vic Bergman's fly, the Rick's Mink Nymph, has replaced the Muskrat nymph in my fly box. It sure looks ugly when it's dry, but get it wet and it looks like trout food.

Do not be afraid to experiment.

Learn to recognize hatches, and match them.

Learned to tie midges and other small creepy crawlers.

Bank fish by carefully walking the banks and looking for fish tight up against the edge.

The San Juan Leader rig for nymphing with lead (except sight nymphing--which usually doesn't have added lead anyway). This consists of an 8' piece of 4x tied directly to the flyline (i.e. no tapered leader). Advantages are that the fly sinks fast and has significantly less drag than a tapered leader. This makes a huge difference in success especially when fishing runs over 3' deep.  The thin 4x can slice through the water much faster and has less force on and is much more flexible than a tapered leader. It's always fished with lead weight so "turning the fly over" is moot

I've found that it IS sometimes necessary to crawl on my knees approaching the water. Even then, too many times, I've witnessed half a dozen fish darting under rocks and refusing even naturals moving downstream.

Hiking into remote spots, this may only be a half mile or so.

I learned to tie dry flies, specifically, the Adams.

As soon as the trout takes your fly, say "orangutan" deliberately and slowly, before setting the hook. Or try "God save the Queen" or "God bless America". Anyway, don't strike when you see the water move,. This is particularly important on downstream presentations.

Dry fly fishing with a nymph dropper.

Sticking around after dark. The largest browns start to feed then.

My insight of the year was a new rule for nymphing:  set hard, set often. I don't know about hard, but set the hook when you even think there might be a fish there. Much of nymph fishing is intuition.

Live bait - adding a half inch of garden hackle  or chub tail to your fly . I don't know why, but trout love chub tails.