For the angler to be successful in fly fishing lakes and rivers, he must use common sense and a well-executed plan to out smart a very wary pray. Remember, the trout your after is always on guard for any kind of danger, so when you alarm him you also alarm other fish in his vicinity. A trout’s brain is small but it is has registered literally thousands of real aquatic insects in a natural and quite environment. Therefore, you must take every possible advantage that is available to you to present the fly in a natural and undisturbing manner. The following are a number of simple things that you can do to increase your catch rate per hour of fly fishing.

Make sure your fishing boat is stealth. Water is a great conductor of noise, so check the anchor pulleys and oar locks for noiseless operation, and replace any noisy parts if necessary. Place a piece of out-door carpet in the bottom of the boat to help cut down on any unexpected noise. Use a pyramid anchor(s) or mushroom anchors for quiet and secure anchoring. Avoid chain anchors or small sea anchors that have metal-to-metal contacts, that make unnatural under water clicking noise. Be sure to tie the anchor rope directly to the anchor. Do not tie it to a metal clevis, which is attached to a metal anchor ring. A small boat painted brown or forest green is better than one painted red or white.

When you find a good spot when fly fishing a lake, consider using two anchors, one off the bow and one aft to keep the boat from swinging back and forth in the breeze. Lower your anchors very slowly and try not to alarm resident fish. Turn your depth finder and all electronics off. Speak in low voices. When it is time to move, keep everything quiet, and move the boat slowly. You can often move your stealth boat in very close to feeding fish. Keeping a low profile, you can then make shorter, accurate, and more presentable fly casts to feeding fish with dry flies or emergers. This is one reason why float tube fly fishers are so successful. Float tubes don’t make any noise; they present a low profile and they don’t cause big ripples on the water surface that will startle feeding fish.

Consideration should also be given to the color of the fly line your going to use based on the type of river, lake, fishing pressure, and water clarity. For example, if you are fishing a spring creek or a clear mountain lake, don’t use highly visible florescent orange fly lines. You will have much better success using green, olive, or clear fly lines that won’t spook the fish away. Lake fishing in gin clear water requires neutral colored fly lines and long 10 to 14 foot leaders with fine monofilament or fluorocarbon tippet material. (Refer to my web site or Ezine Articles.com and read my fly-fishing tips article: “Fluorocarbon Leader Material and the Fly Knots to Make It Work”. If you are fishing a big, fast- flowing river for steelhead during a cloudy overcast morning, or during low light conditions, don’t worry, a white or orange fly line with a long leader will not put the fish down.

To improve your chances of success when fly fishing small streams and rivers for trout and other game fish, you need to be stealth and blend into the background of the river edge foliage. In the spring, when the streamside foliage colors are turning lush and green, wear clothes with colors that will help you to blend into the background. I suggest olive greens, green, or light green-colored shirts and fishing vests. The same is true for the summer and fall months, when the browns and tans are the background colors, wear those colors. Predators move fast, you need to move slowly. When fishing a river or stream you then become one with nature and do not appear to be much of a threat. I know this all seems like a common sense information, but how many times have you seen some guy fishing streamside wearing a red shirt and a white hat.

I hope these fly-fishing tips help your fly-fishing experiences. Good luck, good fishing and practice catch and release for our future generations.

Stanley Stanton: Oregon Fly Fishing Guide and McKenzie River fishing guide,
Visit: http://www.oregon-fly-fishing-with-stan.com
For trout fly fishing tips, how to fly fish information, plus guided Rainbow Trout Fly Fishing, Steelhead Fly Fishing, classes for beginners and advanced fly fishing and Oregon Salmon Fishing.