Beginner Fly Fishing - Locating Trout Most Fly Fishermen Leave Behind

As a beginner fly fishing for the first time youevery other angler used as their wading spot to
may notice an interesting contradiction betweencross the river because it was only a foot or 2
boat fishermen and wading anglers on yourdeep.
favorite trout stream. The next time you're outA deep run tailed out into a shallow 1-2' riffle that
practicing your fly fishing techniques, take athen connected into a second channel at its
moment or two to notice how the two groups ofdownstream end. It was a perfect setup for
anglers generally fish. What you'll often find is thetrout to be feeding on the caddis that were
boat fishermen will be drifting along the edge ofhatching that day, but many anglers waded right
the river trying to cast in as close to the bank asthrough it mistakenly thinking it was too shallow
possible. The wading anglers, on the other hand,to hold fish.
often wade out as far as they can or try to castTrout will prefer to feed in shallow water if they
their fly line out as far as possible. So which groupare protected. It is easier to locate insects, and
catches more fish? Where are all the trout?they expend less energy eating them. The break
The truth is trout are in both places, but whenin the surface of the water in a riffle is the
you have the typical mindset of the average boatperfect cover. Beginner fly fishing lessons often
or wading fisherman, I would argue you're missingteach you how to cast, but they don't always
out on a lot of additional fish. One of the bestteach you how to find and locate fish. When
beginner fly fishing tips that will help you catchyou're learning how to fly fish, actually catching
more trout is to learn to read water. What you'retrout can be a difficult task. You can improve
looking for are the holding and feeding lies ofyour success by knowing how to find fish.
trout. These can be right along the bank,The easiest way to master this beginner fly
midstream, or anywhere in between.fishing skill is to look for "transitions". This could be
Many wading anglers fail to take advantage ofwhere two channels come together, a boulder in
trout hiding along the bank, often wading rightthe river, a drop-off, where a pool turns to a
through areas that are prime trout feeding spots.riffle, structures such as a log or stump, a change
Similarly, many boat anglers miss trout holdingin current speed, etc. Whenever something
along seams out in the current. As an example,changes or transitions in a river, there's the
one day a couple of years ago while fishing theopportunity to create good trout holding water.
headwaters of the Clark Fork River in Montana,Keep your eyes peeled and you'll catch the trout
my brother and I had an excellent day catchingmost anglers leave behind.
brown trout from a riffle from which almost