Learning how to fly fish takes all sorts of skills. While some people will rave on about lures and flies and how a well tied fly will get your fish every time, others will debate about their rig (rod, reel, line) and yet others will talk about the art of casting. So, which is it? Which is the most important one?

Of course flies, lures and rigs matter as well as learning the skill of casting. But I’ve just got to say this: The premium skill of any successful angler comes in being where the fish are. You can have the best 4x4, the best creel, the best and latest technology in rod, line and flies. But they are not any use if you can’t find a fish.

If you know where the ‘lies’ are, what the currents are, where the hatch will be, and you have a good pair of Polaroid glasses to cut the surface reflection off the water, then you will most likely be able to find fish. And if you find fish then you can put all your other skills into action to get your fish. No fish and even the best dressed angler isn’t fishing.. all he is doing is wetting the line and the waders.

So how do you find trout? Learn to look behind anything that may be obstructing the current – things like logs, rocks, boulders, beds of weeds or part of the bank protruding into the stream. These are where you find the ‘Lies’. A ‘lie’ is where a trout will lie up conserving energy. Even if you do not see a trout, casting a fly or a lure to drift down near the obstruction may get you a positive result.

An important factor to always consider is the energy equation. Trout, like all wild creatures are governed by the energy equation. This equation is very simple: energy expended in the getting of food MUST be less than the energy gained by eating the food. Otherwise the animal will die.

Have you ever seen a TV documentary about a pride of lions? Have you noticed how they talk about how lazy the male lion is compared to his female companions? You see the sleek lionesses hunting for the food, and the male lion wandering in once the kill has been made and consuming most of a kill he didn’t work to get.

The male lion isn’t lazy as we define it in human terms. He is just governed by the energy equation. A male lion is much bigger and heavier than his lighter, sleeker female companions and therefore the energy he consumes on a hunt is prodigious whereas the energy expended by the females is much less and usually the female lions work in concert. Quite often they will drive a herd beast in the direction of the male who then kills it without having to run a long way.

If animals didn’t govern their lives by the energy equation, they would simply starve to death. If you use more energy to capture your food, than you gain from eating the food, you will die. It’s the same all over the animal kingdom.

The wily trout did not get to a good size without learning to conserve energy. He will lie up in a place with relatively calm water, out of the strong currents, ideally in a place where several currents converge and concentrate drifting food sources right next to him, so all he has to do is dart into the current, pick off the tasty nymph or whatever and then leisurely swim back to the area of calm water.

A good pair of polaroid lenses is essential. Trying to spot fish without polaroid lenses is a complete waste of your time. Surface reflection will prevent you from seeing most everything under the water.

Despite all this knowledge and even with a pair of Polaroid lenses actually seeing fish under the water is still not easy. But what you should be looking for is a flash of white as a trout opens its mouth to eat, or shadows moving across the bottom of the stream or any sort of unusual movement.

Once you start seeing these things, you will then see trout seemingly appearing right out of the blue. Spotting trout is a skill that gets better the more you practice it. The more you work at spotting trout, the better you get at doing so and your understanding of where to look will also only get better.

When you consider just how many rivers there are with trout in them, and how much water is in those rivers and that only 10% of that water actually has fish in it – its enough to make all but the most obsessed angler quit.

The most important thing in learning how to fly fish is to remember that fish can usually be found close to the food they eat. Find that food and you will mostly likely find your trout.

Until the next time – happy spotting

Allan James