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Fishin' the Film |
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By Jim Brearton
(As published in Utah Fishing magazine)
Even if fish spend a great deal of time taking nymphs off the bottom, for me the most exciting action is above or below the film. This thin membrane on top of the water presents a real shooting gallery to the fish, either suspending terrestrials and egg laying duns or sedges, or impeding the escape of the emergers. Although miniscule to us, the film to a bug presents a formidable barrier. Imagine trying to fight through a foot of gelatin to get to the surface of the water while trying to wiggle out of a wet pair of jeans and you can imagine what it must be like for a delicate mayfly emerger to get up to the air and dry its wings for flight. It's easy to understand why trout key on this vulnerable situation, especially after bumping their snout into rocks and moss all day for the "not ready for the hatch" stage of the food chain. The emerging nymph trapped just underneath the film the spinner stage of the dun, and the terrestrial insect unable to swim out of or below the film represent the easiest meals for the trout, hence the "shooting gallery" metaphor. Add to this the egg laying dun, caddis or stone fly bouncing off of the film like a trampolining gymnast, or the caddis pupa taking off like a rocket from the bottom with wings all ready for flight, crashing through the film like a speeding auto through a chain link fence, and you complete the banquet the film presents. I'm sure fly fishing got its start as man observed this action on or just below the surface of the stream — not only observing the vulnerability of various insects to the fish but also the vulnerability of the fish as they gorged within sight of the angler, sometimes even jumping out of the water completely. We sometimes key too much on the latter events, fishing strictly with dries on the surface. Studies indicate that for every dun taken on the surface, a feeding trout might take 10 of the emergers. Sometimes we end up flailing away at the water with our dry patterns while the fish are more than content to ignore the top of the film for the emergers trapped and helpless just below. With splashy rises all around us we sometimes assume the action is on top, but a careful analysis of the rise might show that the water is being broken by the back and tail of the fish, and not its mouth, as is characteristic of the feeding motion for emergers. Usually one out of ten takes is sufficient to keep us more than interested since nothing to me is more exciting than watching my finely dressed and hackled dry fly disappear off the surface in a furious boil, but at times my dry will float high and dry all day right over fish keying on ernergers. Here are some techniques to employ if this is ever the case. First, one can fish an ernerger pattern just under the surface. These patterns are characteristically dubbed very heavily to trap air bubbles, and sparsely hackled so as not to float on the surface. One of the best patterns is tied with dubbed body and a tightly formed wing case which floats. Most of the fly is under the film with the wing case visible on top. The no hackle comparadun patterns or the parachute style dry flies float very low in the film and are my favorite dry patterns because they can represent both the dun or the emerger stage. Often a regulation nymph pattern such as a hare's ear or pheasant tail fished just under the film is very productive during a hatch. Grease your leader within a few inches of the fly so it brings the fly up to the surface. Sometimes the fully formed caddis will swim several feet under the water and fish will chase them. Once a friend showed up on the Green River with elk hair caddis patterns and a sink-tip line instead of his floating line, but he took some nice fish swimming the elk hair caddis under the surface with a hand twist retrieve. Try it! Most other styles of emerger fishing need to be done with a drag free dead drift and visibility can be a problem. If watching movement in the leader proves too much of a challenge then one can use a strike indicator a few feet above the fly. This can spook the fish so some flyfishers use a tandem rig. This is accomplished by using a highly floatable and visible dry fly on a dropper two feet or so above the emerger pattern. The dry acts as a strike indicator and might even produce a strike. Good tandem rigs might include a humpy or trude or elk hair caddis dry with a caddis emerger or smaller sunken elk hair caddis. One can impart lots of action to this rig and get lots of action. Skate or skitter the dry along the surface and swim the lower fly just under the surface and hang on because these takes are very explosive. The instance when feeding fish actually jump right out of the water is when the caddis are hatching and swimming to the surface. This can cause violent reactions by the fish. During a mayfly hatch, a tandem rig might include an Adams, Wulff pattern or humpy again with the mayfly emerger, fished in a dead drift, avoiding drag. One must avoid punching the cast too hard or tailing end loops to avoid tangles with this method, but many river guides use this technique to get more hits. The emerger is usually the fly chosen by the fish, but not always. Sometimes a hopper pattern or beetle can be used as the indicator. I feel like we've just touched the surface of fishing the surface film. You will need to experiment and develop techniques of your own. We all relish the moments when fish turn their attention toward the top so lets be ready for them and expand our techniques. |
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