Short Hit/Fly25: Be Still, My Lure

By Jerry Audet

In this latest "Short Hits", I am talking a little bit about bait fish behavior. 

I don't have a ton of patience. I'm good at focusing, but when I'm fishing I want to be doing...something. 

However, sometimes doing nothing is what catches fish.

What I mean by that is best displayed in the video. Fish- all animals- strive for energetic efficiency. They want to use as little calories as possible at all times. Sometimes it makes sense to chase bait hard for a predatory fish- if the pay off is big. However, most times fish just like to be still, and wait for an opportunity.

This doesn't just apply to the predator. Prey spends an awful lot of time just "sitting" there- suspended in the water, low or high in the column, doing relatively nothing.

This can make "dead drifting" and "slow and low" presentations especially effective for big (or any size) fish.

That's the great thing about the fly rod. Yeah, it's hard to deliver big flies from shore to areas where big fish hang out (most of the time). But, if you can, it can actually be more effective than other fishing methodologies because you can let your offering do exactly what these little spearing are doing in the video- you can just let it sit there.

So, next time you're out, mix it up. Instead of the same speed and type of retrieve, throw in some dead drifts or rrreeeaaaallllyyyyy slow presentations.

I bet you'll be surprised.

Oh, and the hits using this method? They are usually extremely hard and totally jarring. It's the best part about it.