TroutLegend

A relatively wise fisherman once told me when prospecting an area for trout: “walk into the local Fly Shop. Look at all their flies… and then don’t use a dam one of em!” You see, “fly shop guys” are a lot like sneaker designers. Year after year, they keep coming up with brand new, cutting edge flies draped in oscillating color variations of which you absolutely need to buy to catch fish. The fact is these guys tie flies to catch fisherman… not fish. Don’t get caught. Listen to people who spend their lives on streams actually fishing not behind the counter selling hats and bumper stickers (I’ve been a little of both). Having that “must have” fly is an ideology that “fly shop guys” must culture so they can keep their paycheck coming year after year. Spend a moment with a real expert (when you find one let me know) on the stream and you’ll quickly learn a few things: 1) Old patterns work. 2) Stream side Tactics and approach are more important than any “must have fly.” And sometimes a little less known: 3) Even Picky Wild Trout Love Big Flies!

In an attempt to further tweak some skill sets I’ve resolved to spend the whole summer on one of Western New York’s shining jewels: Wiscoy Creek. Now mind you, usually I don’t like to name any streams, but I’ll make an exception here as I doubt even 1 out of 10 readers would want to go bang their head on this incredibly difficult wild trout stream. The fishing is just down right hard. It’s the kind of place you have to crawl on hands and knees otherwise you’ll put the fish down. And when you put one section down it doesn’t end there… like a tidal wave you can see fish spooking all the way up the river. You have to watch your shadows. You have to whisper. Don’t breath too heavy. Don’t even blink. Then plan that first cast with precision because you’ll only get one. But, when you do “figure it out” and catch a few fish you can rest assured you’re holding something of pure gold: a completely stream risen wild trout!

I’ve had more than a few losing battles with this creek. But recently I went back to basics and re-learned something I seemingly have to revisit year after year: really spooky, tough, skinny, wild trout streams call for a single dry on a long leader. Sometimes it’s hard to get away from all those new fangled, yet effective techniques being popularized by competitive fishing like: European Nymphing, Czech Nymphing, Polish Nymphing, French Nymphing, Spanish Nymphing, North Pole Nymphing, good god the list never ends! It’s enough to drive even the most detail oriented angler crazy. One thing I’ve learned over the years is that each stream has a very unique characteristic and to that end a very unique technique to unlock her mysteries. Maybe because it’s such that I spent the first decade of my fly fishing life purely casting a single dry fly that I equate it with something amateur and unworthy of dedicated use. The fact is a single dry fly on a long stealthy leader is a deadly approach for just this type of river.

Oh yeah! And if you were ever wondering if little spectacle wearing wild trout love big flies… dam right they do! Of course, every fly has it’s place. The one you see in this Wild Wiscoy Brown’s mouth is built for broken water where size is more important than color, and wouldn’t be very appropriate for slow stretches, but that’s pretty easy stuff. Match the correct technique to the correct situation and sometimes we find success.