Hopefully this blog thing stays pretty consistent. I plan to center it around my fly fishing and tying shenanigans. I hope you all gain something useful from it.
Recently, I was lucky enough to find some time to take a fishing trip with a good friend, Austin, (who is also one heck of a fishy guy). We spent the bulk of our time sight fishing for large browns in some tricky water situations. Swirling water, cross currents, and spooky fish made for a lot of blown shots, but the times that we connected with fish reminded me of why I love sight fishing. I'll go over a few important considerations for sight fishing, and how they can affect your fishing.
1. Make Some Friends
To sight fish, you either need to be the spotter and fisher yourself, or you need a buddy to watch you and the fish from a vantage point. When you're low to the water, it can be almost impossible to see anything if there is glare. If you have a friend spotting you from a higher point however, they can guide you through the fishing and help you make the right presentation without spooking the fish. Find a friend that is equally obsessed with fishing, (a challenge, I know) and work together.
2. Get Better at Casting
When sight fishing, you will often spend the bulk of your time looking for quality fish, and then observing, rigging, approaching, and finally a small amount of time actually presenting the fly. Trust me, there is nothing worse than finally finding that 26 inch feeding brown that you've been looking for for days, getting all the way into comfortable range, and then slapping a tungsten bug right on his noggin, sending the fish straight to deep water and out of sight. Practice your casting so that when you finally get that shot, you only need one presentation without needless flailing and false casts. It will put quality fish in your net.
3. Sunglasses
Get a quality pair of polarized optics. You need them to spot trout, and your sight fishing will be severely hindered without them. There are many good options, so find something that you like and that is well reviewed. Smith and Costa are known for making fantastic fly fishing eyewear. There are many options for lens color, but most people find copper to be the best all around color for most western fly fishing.