Cyli wrote:
On Sun, 30 Oct 2005 16:01:49 -0800, Karl S Treecatcher wrote:


I've been visiting the lakes and ponds around Yakima Washington since
receiving a fly rod last year for my birthday. One thing that I've been
wondering about is this: When the water is glassy-smooth and nothing has
jumped for a few hours,


Jumped? Yeah, sometimes fish do that, but more often after they're
hooked. What you want to look for on smooth water is little tiny
rings that look as if a grain of sand had just fallen on the water.
That's either an insect landing or a fish coming to the surface to
suck in an insect that's landing or floating.

When fishermen speak of rising fish, that's the kind of thing they
mean. Jumping is something else again. Cast your fly to land on or
near where you saw the little rings spreading out. If possible, try
to find out what kind of insects are moving around, particularly at
and just above the surface of the water. Then try to find a fly that
matches them. That's called matching the hatch. I don't bother with
it, but then I don't catch much, either.

What kind of fish are you trying to catch? Makes a difference what
kinds of flys and techniques you'll be using. All sorts of things
matter. Season of the year, time of day, habitat of the species,
typical food of the species, etc.. Morning and evening many fish will
be in by shore, mid day, sulking in a deep cool spot, night times
could be anywhere. Spring and fall are good near a shore where
there's more sunshine all day long. Summer, opposite.

Cyli
r.bc: vixen. Minnow goddess. Speaker to squirrels.
Often taunted by trout. Almost entirely harmless.

http://www.visi.com/~cyli
email: lid (strip the .invalid to email)

On further thought, maybe it's only the smallest fish (mostly stocked
rainbow trout, around here) that actually jump for bugs. Some evenings,
you can see them, and hear them, all over the lakes. That's just about
the time the mosquitos come out, too...
One pond I tried, little two-inch trout (species uncertain) kept trying
to eat my dry fly, but couldn't get it into their tiny mouths! It was
sort of entertaining, watching them vainly nibble at that fly, but
probably frustrating for the fish.

Speaker to Squirrels? You've got me beat. I've shared my lunches with a
few squirrels and chipmunks, but never had anything to tell them that
they seemed to care to hear. I got a chipmunk to pose for me one day
though, by bribing it with some trail mix. I stuck the photo on my
personal web page at www.sysmatrix.net/~karls if you're interested.
Under "Mt Rainier".

Karl S.