I noticed when I read last weeks email that these tips are actually starting to get pretty lengthy. That’s not bad if it’s good info, which I hope it is, but I’m going to keep it a little more to the point this week.

Most fish, whether they are trout, warm water species, or even most salt water fish, spend most of their lives near the bottom. Dry flies are obviously great when they are working, but because fish are on the bottom most of the time, the most effective way to present a fly is to get a nymph, streamer, and other wet fly down to the fish near the bottom.

Use heavy weighted nymphs or plenty of shot to get them down. With streamers use a sinking line or sink tip line, possibly with split shot as well, to keep them swimming close to bottom.

Make it easy for the fish to eat your fly by getting it right in front of them and you should catch more fish.

The last tip focused on hooking fish effectively. This one hopefully helps you to play and land fish once they’re on the line.

Don’t allow any slack & don’t pull too hard - Seems simple enough, but especially when using small barbless hooks, a fish can come off the hook with even just a split second of slack. Once the line is tightened to set the hook a steady and constant pressure must be maintained throughout the fight. Too much pressure can pull the hook through the soft mouth of some fish and not enough pressure can allow for slack, which allows the hook to back out. A general rule is to maintain a moderate bend on the rod no matter what the fish does. This ensures that the rod is exerting some pressure but not too much pressure. Give line if the bend gets too severe and pull line if the bend on the rod begins to straighten. Getting the fish on the reel to take in and to allow line to be taken out against the drag helps to minimize human error.

Keep the rod perpendicular to the fish - With the exception of very large fish on heavy line that you fight with the butt section of the rod, fish are best played with the rod at a right angle to the fish. This maximizes the shock absorbing capabilities of the rod and helps you to minimize the formation of slack. Pointing the rod at the fish is always bad because it means that only the leader and line absorb the shock of the fighting fish and so it is an almost sure way to break off or pull the hook out of fish.

Use a softer rod - Many people assume that a stiffer rod will fight fish better. This isn’t always true. You certainly need enough backbone to be able to direct the fish where you need it to go but a little softer rod absorbs more shock and helps you to maintain steady pressure on the fish. A stiff rod will often “bounce” fish by pulling a bit too hard and then allowing a little slack to form as shock waves bounce the rod.

Keep the fish off balance - Especially in heavy currents, I’ve seen fish and fisher come to a stalemate situation where the fish just stays in one place and the angler can’t exert enough force to move the fish without risking a breakoff. The key to solving these situations is to change the angle that you’re using to pull on the fish. Every time you change the angle you put the fish off balance and can move it your way a little. I like to change the angle of pull anytime the fish seems to make a hard steady run or seems to find a current it can use in its favor. If you do this constantly throughout the fight, especially when the fish seems to take the upper hand, you’re likely to be able to land the fish much sooner.

Hurry the fight; Don’t hurry the landing - For the benefit of the fish and to minimize the chances for problems, try to land all fish as quickly as possible, however, don’t rush the last few seconds when you have the fish on a short line. I like to use a net with a large opening and to prepare the fish for one last smooth and steady pull towards the net. If the fish just isn’t ready, however, let it run and try it again. When the line is short the problem’s of absorbing shock or pulling too hard are magnified so be careful and don’t rush it at this point.

Handle the fish correctly - Once the fish is landed take care to keep it wet and to return it to the water with as little stress as possible. I like to take photos of fish but I’d rather release a fish than to cause it severe trauma just to get the shot. If you are taking pictures it is always best to use a net with a large rubber, rubberized, or soft netting material. Keep the fish in the water until you are ready for the shot and always get your hands wet before taking the picture. When it is time to release the fish always place the fish in the water gently and make sure not to allow the fish to swim off until it is ready to do so on its own. You may need to move the fish gently forward and back to get water through the gills and oxygen back into the fish’s system. Many fish won’t survive if they are just tossed back in the water. Take care of the fish and they will take care of you the next time you’re on the water.

A recent question on this topic got me thinking about the best ways to hook and hold fish. Following will be two part tip to help in hooking fish and getting fish to the net or hand. This week we will look at setting the hook.

When I’m teaching beginners this is one of those trouble spots that usually needs some attention and practice to help to successfully land fish. Setting the hook is theoretically easy, it amounts to pulling on the line or rod to apply enough force to pull the hook into the fish. In practice, however, hook setting is a little tougher since the fish can take the fly from many angles, will spit the fly quickly on discovering that it is artificial, and can just seem to magically not get hooked or come unhooked quickly. It’s best to start by trying to remember three simple things - set the hook quickly, set with the right amount of force, and set the hook at the right angle.

Set the hook quickly - This one is pretty simple. When a fish takes your fly, set the hook as soon as you notice the strike. The fish will usually determine very quickly after grabbing it that your fly doesn’t taste or feel like the real thing. Furthermore, even if the fish doesn’t reject your fly on taste or feel, you don’t want them to swallow it and get a deep hook set that can seriously injure the fish or make it difficult to release. There is such a thing as setting too fast though, especially when a fish rises slowly to take a dry fly in calm water. In these situations wait just a split second for the fish to get the fly in its mouth and to turn back away or down, then set.

Set the hook with the right amount of force - The amount of force required to adequately set the hook into a fish’s mouth will vary according to the size of the hook and the species and size of fish, and hardness of that particular fish’s mouth.Your fly is probably tied on a relatively small hook for most trout fishing. On trout and most freshwater species the amount of force required to set the hook is not very much, just enough to completely tighten the line and bend a light rod moderately. On many larger fish or with larger streamers more force is required to set the hook. On some toothy and hard-mouthed fish, especially salt water species like tarpon, a lot of pressure is required to set the hook. On these big boys pull hard and maybe pull two or three times to adequately drive the hook into the fish.

Set the hook at the right angle - This aspect of hook setting is often overlooked. People just think if a fish pulls then pull back. There’s a bit more to it. Think about which direction the fish is facing as it feeds. If it is facing you, as is the case in most downstream fishing or lake fishing with streamers, your hook set will be pulling directly out of the fish’s open mouth. Try to always set back into the fish’s body or give the fish time to take the fly and turn away from you before setting. In rivers it’s pretty easy because fish face upstream almost all of the time so you can easily determine which direction to pull to set to the side of the mouth, up into the top of the mouth, or back into the fish. In lake fishing with sinking lines or fishing streamers of any sort downstream it is likely the fish is directly facing you as it takes your fly so it’s best to give the fish a split second with some slack to turn and then strip set by pulling on the line quickly and steadily to apply the force, then lift the rod and put a bend in it. Lifting the rod only, instead of strip setting, with sinking lines or deep streamers is usually less effective because you cause a bow in the line which adds slack and doesn’t apply force to the fly as quickly.

I know this is something of a repeat of some info in past tips but this technique has been on my mind, probably since it has been working well for me lately and I so rarely see others using it out on the water.

Strike indicators are one of the bigger innovations in fly fishing in the last 30 years. However, I’m convinced that most anglers miss more strikes than they hook, often without even knowing there was a strike, when nymph fishing with an indicator. If you watch fish eat nymphs, especially in moderate to fast current, they often slide backwards with the current for a short distance as they eat the bug. In this situation, a fish eating your nymph won’t even budge the indicator, or will barely do so. The best way to hook more of these fish is to remove the indicator and use a short line technique, like Polish nymphing to feel the strike. Here are a few tips to learning and perfecting this technique.

Polish or Czech nymphing, which is basically the same thing, has been around for a long time in one form or another but has gained notoriety in the last 25 years or so because of its effectiveness in European tournament fishing. It sounds exotic but it’s really simple and this is probably the very best technique for catching light biting trout, grayling, and whitefish in moderate to fast currents with depths between 1 and 6 feet or so.

This technique starts with a rig with 2 or 3 weighted nymphs, usually the heaviest on the end of the leader and the other(s) tied off of dropper lines at intervals around 20 inches or so going up the leader. I really like to use size 8, 10, and 12 Jumbo Johns and size 10 and 12 Wired Prince Nymphs as my heavy fly on the end and then any of several smaller lighter nymphs off the dropper(s). Any heavy tungsten beaded nymph with some extra weight on the body can work for the heavy fly and pick nymphs that more closely match the bugs in the stream you’re fishing for the other nymphs.

The tricks to effective Polish nymphing are to use the right weight flies for the current you are fishing and to learn to move the flies exactly with or just slightly faster than the current. I like to use a long and light fly rod, like a 9 or 10 foot 4 weight, for greater reach and to guide the flies through moderate to fast runs with a sweeping motion keeping the rod a few feet above the water’s surface. This takes some practice but when you get it down the strikes are usually very noticeable. Set the hook by more quickly and forcefully continuing the sweep of the rod downstream and up. This usually sets the hook back into the fish rather than pulling it from the open mouth of the fish.

Practice this technique the next time you have good water for it and suspect that you might be missing strikes on your nymphs.

Most nymph fishing requires anglers to rely on a visual aid like a strike indicator or on feel to alert them to the strike of a fish. Sometimes though, especially when fish are visible, you can fish nymphs quite effectively without an indicator and without having to rely on the feel of the fish’s take. Here are a few tactics and things to remember for effective sight-nymphing.

One kind of place this tactic seems to work for me is in heavily fished tailwaters where trout are accustomed to and are less wary of anglers. Often fish in these kind of places will continue to feed even if you are near, allowing you to get close, watch their feeding patterns, and eventually to make a presentation. Try it though on any water you fish where trout are visible as they feed.

First determine that your targeted trout is actually feeding. Fish that are feeding will move from side to side occasionally to grab a drifting bug, and you may even be able to see the white of their mouths as they open up to feed. Fish that aren’t feeding will hold tight to the bottom in one spot with their tail slightly fluttering to keep them as still as possible. If you see this it’s best to move on to another target. I’ve watched frustrated anglers waste a lot of time trying to fish to fish that just weren’t ever going to eat.

Next, when you have determined that fish are feeding, rig a single weighted nymph that is heavy enough to get near the stream bottom quickly without being so heavy that it will hang up. You can also choose to tie a dropper nymph from the heavy nymph if it’s more likely that your fish will take a smaller lighter fly than you can get near the bottome without added weight. Position yourself downstream and slightly across from the feeding fish and cast several feet upstream of the fish. Be sure to quickly gain control of the line after the cast to be ready to set the hook.

If you can see your fly then watch its drift. If it’s too light and is drifting far above or if it’s too heavy and is hitting bottom before it reaches the fish then adjust flies accordingly.

If you can’t see your fly then watch the fish intently. If the fish moves to the side quickly or visibly opens its mouth when you think your fly should be approaching then set the hook; he probably has your fly.

If the fish seems to be ignoring your fly but is still feeding it’s good to give him a bit of a rest and then try a new nymph. If it refuses 2 or 3 bugs then it’s probably time to locate a new fish.

This skill takes a good amount of practice but once you are good at it you’ll realize that it is a lot of fun and that you are catching fish from places other anglers are missing since they tend to just hit the obvious spots where an indicator nymph rig works.

Sometimes fish just don’t want to come to the surface. In fact, some trout probably almost never eat at the surface and they are often the biggest fish in the stream. That’s when you just have to go down and get them.

A great rig for getting your flies to the bottom is the bounce rig tied with a heavy weighted nymph and an unweighted or lighty-weighted nymph. There are a couple of ways to fish this effectively - either under an indicator or by tight-line nymphing and feeling for strikes.

Set up this rig by tying a length of tippet to the end of the leader with a blood knot and leaving the tag end extra long (6-10 inches). At the end of the tippet tie a very heavy nymph. I like large Hot-wire Prince Nymphs or Jumbo Copper Johns. This nymph will bounce along the bottom. Be ready to lose a few of these in the rocks. If you aren’t losing a few then you probably aren’t deep enough.

Then tie a small unweighted or lighty weighted nymph appropriate for your stream to the tag. You can do this twice and tie two nymphs on two tags where legal. This fly or flies will drift anywhere from a few inches to a foot or so above the bottom, depending on the length from the blood knot to the weighted nymph and will move rather freely with the current.

Be sure not to pass up the fast deep water. This is a great way to catch those almost unreachable fish that hold right in amongst the rocks near the bottom, even in spots where the surface currents look too swift.

One of the first concepts that fly fishermen should learn is the ability to read water to determine which places in a river are the most likely to hold fish. However, another critical thing to learn is the patterns of fish movement for your particular waters. You need to know which water types will hold fish at certain times and when fish move into and out of them. Here are a few things to remember when reading water to find those feeding fish.

In fast streams with a high gradient and lots of pocket water fish will almost always hold on the downstream side of rocks in the slower currents provided there. This makes it possible for them not to expend too much energy. However, in large hatches where a lot of food items are drifting by, remember to look or cast in front of rocks and into faster currents. Sometimes the chance to find enough food in faster currents makes the energy expenditure worth it and fish will feed there and then move back to slower pocket water once the hatch is over.

Don’t overlook fast water in low oxygen situations. Often in the heat of the summer fish will move into riffles bordering on rapids because of the higher oxygen levels available to them there. Once water cools and is able to carry more oxygen fish will move back into more traditional water types.

One of the first rules fly anglers learn is to look for depth when looking for fish. Don’t get too hung up on this practice though as many times feeding fish move into more shallow water where they can catch a meal a little easier.

Always fish shaded spots on bright sunny days but beware that if there is adequate food in the sunny parts of streams that fish will risk the sunburn.

Also learn the particularities of your local waters. Streams with a high fish population will have fish spread throughout the water types while streams with low fish numbers will tend to only hold fish in the most prime locations.

One good way to learn more about where fish are in the waters you fish is to experiment with casts to not so likely looking spots every now and then. You may be surprised at where you’ll find fish and you may end up catching a lot of fish that almost everyone else misses.

An interesting question posed to me this week got me thinking about migratory trout. While some trout live out their entire lives in basically the same spot, many trout migrate either to spawn or because of natural environmental needs. The most obvious of these are sea-run or lake-run trout like steelhead or various other species that have a similar life history. Some other trout, like some cutthroats in parts of Yellowstone Park, will migrate according to seasons and environmental changes in the rivers they live in. Here are a few things to think about when targeting migratory trout.

Follow the fish. First get all the info you can on the progression of runs before going out. Since these trout are migratory, you may need to chase them and might not find them in the same spot for long. Be agile and ready to move up or down river if nothing is happening. However, remember that migratory trout don’t feed as much during migration and so can be tough to catch and may require a number of casts to finally entice or provoke a strike. Move when nobody around is catching anything, but if a few are, then pound the water until you also hook up.

Look for natural barriers to migration. Often migrating fish traveling upstream will be stopped and will be found in much greater numbers just downstream of either natural or man-made barriers like falls, diversions, or dams. Fishing below such structures can be fast and furious but fishing above can be a total waste of time.

Fish fly patterns that imitate familiar foods. Migrating trout can often remember their favorite food sources from the lakes, rivers or ocean they are coming from. Trout know and remember the prey they have eaten most of their lives, even if it isn’t stuff that is found in the rivers where they are currently found. Try fishing leech, scud, and chironomid patterns to lake run fish or patterns that imitate bait fish like clouser minnows to sea run fish.

High flows move fish. Most of the time when rivers go up because of rain or other factors so will running fish like steelhead and salmon. If you get a bunch of rain remember that the fish will move upstream more during these periods than during periods of low water.

Fish staging areas as well. Remember that many times trout, like salmon, will stage at river mouths either in salt water or in fresh water lakes just before running upstream. If you seem to be just a little early for the run try fishing the mouth of the river with streamers, buggers, or leeches.

Fall is a great time to get out and catch steelhead, lake-run rainbows, lake-run browns, and various other migratory trout. Be ready to hit the runs near you soon.

One of the bad habits fly fishers fall into too often is to buy tapered leaders, tie their dry fly directly to the end of them, and then to gradually take length off the leader as they clip off used flies and re-tie. Eventually leaders get short, stout, and much less effective. This severely inhibits the angler’s ability to present dry flies to the fish effectively.

In dry fly fishing the leader serves two basic purposes - to create a low-visibility connection between fly line and fly, and to allow the angler to present the fly softly by gradually dissipating the cast’s energy as it follows along the taper from thick to thin and from more rigid to supple. Both of these effects ensure that the angler doesn’t scare fish. A short too-stout leader will scare fish on the cast by causing the fly to land too hard, the fly line to land too close to the fish, or it will spook the fish as they see the leader in approaching to eat the fly. Cutting the leader too far back into the heavier sections of the taper defeats both major purposes of a good dry fly leader.

Keep your leaders long and supple at the end by tying on anywhere from 1 to 4 feet of tippet to the end of the tapered leader and working down the tippet only as your cut and tie on new flies. When the tippet get’s any shorter than around a foot clip it off and tie on a new section of tippet.

I’ve noticed that almost all anglers could benefit by having longer leaders in most dry fly situations. Of course don’t go to extremes in length or the leader will be too hard to control, won’t turn over entirely on the cast, or will tangle too often. Experiment with what works best for you but keep in mind that a leader that is too short will almost always scare fish or sink your flies as they splash hard on the surface.

Unfortunately dry-flies only work some of the time. Sometimes you just have to get your flies near the bottom to catch fish. Conventional wisdom says to add lead shot to the leader and fish your nymphs under an indicator for basically all nymph fishing but I often prefer to fish a dry-dropper set up, especially for fish in swift unsettled water and deep pockets around rocks.

Set up: Use a buoyant dry fly like a PMX, Carnage Attractor, Foamulator, Fat Albert, or other terrestrial or attractor pattern on a shortish leader. I like about 7 or 8 feet to the dry. Rig your dropper a little deeper than you suspect the water is in the areas you’re fishing by tying tippet to the bend of the dry fly. I like around 3 feet to 4 feet for most situations but have been known to fish droppers as deep as around 6 or 7 feet in big pockets around boulders. Use a heavy nymph like a Tungsten Bead Hot Wire Prince, Tung Teaser, or other tungsten beaded nymph. Usually the nymph I choose for these situations is so heavy that it occasionally pulls the dry fly under the surface on long drifts. Also a long light rod works best. A 9 to 10 foot 4-weight rod is ideal.

Method: Fish pocket water and deep troughs around rocks by getting fairly close, of course without being seen by the fish, and using short casts and short drifts. This is essentially a modified version of high-stick nymphing. Cast the flies to the head of the trough or pocket and quickly gain control of the line. After the flies land lift and hold the line off the water by keeping the rod high and only allowing a little of the leader and the dry fly to be on the water. Follow or guide the dry fly through the drift. Sometimes I even lift the dry up off the water a little bit to stay in contact with the nymph. The dry fly acts as your indicator but, since your line is fairly taut, also remember to feel for strikes. As the flies near the end of the drift lift them slowly; as they rise it will often entice a strike.

Practice this method any time you’re fishing around rocks or in fairly swift water. It takes a little time to get the hang of it but you may be surprised at how many fish you can pull from relatively fast water and deep pockets with a dry dropper rig.