Spring 2024 has begun with a good-ish start. There have not been a lot of fish caught, but the fish that have been caught have been mostly “keepers”. That’s not bad, but it’s not great either.
I’m not an expert on “year classes” but I believe that the bigger fish are the result of fisheries management. These bigger fish are representative of a “year class” that has been preserved through slot and bag limits. That being said, I’d love to start seeing more smaller & younger fish around, fish that represent more recent “year classes”.
Further, I’d love to meet up with some hungrier fish, or maybe dumber fish. There have now been more than a few occasions when the fish are breaking, definitely feeding on something, but not interested in the fly.
It is probably the most frustrating aspect of guiding when you have your client in a situation where the fish are breaking, but they aren’t taking the fly. Changing the fly can help, but if you aren’t the one doing the stripping, or in other words, feeding the fish, it can be frustrating. Of course, many of the clients are really good at feeding the fish, but sometimes… I just want to give it a try.
Spring 2024
Sometimes it’s difficult to get clients to pause the fly. Strip, strip, pause…varying the lengths of both strip and the pause is the recipe for catching fish. What those variations are, well… they are variations! Sometimes the pause is significant.
I regularly share the example of times when I’ve got the rod in my hand as I give a casting lesson. I demonstrate a cast, and the fly sits out in the water while I explain the cast. More than several times, I go to strip in the fly to re-demonstrate the cast and boom, a fish is on the line. So I’ll say it again…don’t forget the pause!!!!
Spring 2024 is off to a not so bad start. Looking forward to making Season 2024 another great one!