Stalking Trout

By Brett Rader ~~ As we walked down the stairs near outlet #2 on Lake Taneycomo I told my son Marlin to watch out for the back casts from the throngs of anglers drifting their hardware through the current of that outlet. The occasional upward yank from the elbow to elbow masses crowding that 8 foot stretch of current meant another trout had bumped a line, escaped a snag to the pectoral, or perhaps even taken one of the many parade floats that get thrown in front of their faces on a constant basis.

There was a time in my life that I would stand there like the rest of them, looking like opening day at Bennett Springs...OK, maybe not that bad...but hoping to get that prime spot at the base of the stairs where I could drift my bug through holding fish that are longing to get back to their birth place...the hatchery. Are there fish there? You Bet! Hundreds of them sometimes. They're always there...every day, and they're easy to catch. But that's not why we were there. We had much bigger things in mind today.

What we needed right off the bat were the right conditions. We knew we had those conditions before we left the house. Looking off our deck I saw a quiet and still Lake Taneycomo. We're about 4-5 miles downstream from the dam, so I called 417-336-5083 to hear what they may be generating as it can take a half hour or so before generation makes it down to our place. Good news! Zero units generating. We had our ideal conditions...we had our plan of attack. Today we would be stalking and sightcasting to trophy browns and rainbows.

If you're a fly fisherman I'm sure you've heard the term sightcasting before. It simply means visually spotting a holding fish and throwing your fly in an attempt to catch that one particular fish. I think a lot of people get a little intimidated by that term. Maybe they question their casting accuracy or maybe they just don't know how to spot holding fish underwater and therefore don't bother trying. They'll try their luck dredging the deeper, darker holes hoping to pluck an unseen trophy on a hope and a prayer. Don't get me wrong...the deep holes hold fish and I fish them often. I'll even pull a big one out of there from time to time, so they're always worth exploring. But you would be amazed at how many fish over 20" can be caught in water barely deep enough to cover their backs...sometimes not even that deep!

Have you ever walked along a bank on upper Taneycomo and watched fish dart from the shore as you take those first few cool refreshing steps into the water? Maybe you just saw a swirl or a big shape pushing water away on the surface as it raced to deeper cover. Maybe you frantically throw your big indicator, weight and fly in the general direction as you mutter something like..."man, those were some nice ones!". It happens again as you splash through shallow water towards one of your favorite runs like Rebar or the Big Hole. You think to yourself that you can't catch those fish...way too shallow...couldn't even set my float shallow enough to fish it and they never take softhackles or dry flies there anyway. So you trudge on through, watching the wakes of some big fish part like the Red Sea as you blindly make a bee line to your favorite hole... you know, the same one you've been talking about in the truck with your buddy before you even got to the river. You know where you're going but first you have to walk through that shallow water to get there and all those spooky fish just get you more excited about reaching your predetermined destination. Well let's take a step back for a second, take a breath...practice a little patience and really examine what's going on there in that shallow water on the banks.

The banks and shallow water on the shores of upper Lake Taneycomo are loaded with monster brown and rainbow trout. You've seen them before in all the situations I've described above. If you look close you'll see quite a bit of surface activity created by these fish. If you look REAL close you'll even see a tail or dorsal fin waving in the air at you now and then like a bonefish on a Bahama flat. What are these fish doing? They're digging for scuds. Trout predominately eat two things in Lake Taneycomo...midges and scuds. And with all things being equal, scuds are their favorite, and provide the most nutrition for the energy expended. Our lake is LOADED with scuds. It's why all those trout follow you around and bump your ankles as you walk around. Your shuffling feet disturb the bottom causing scuds to lodge free from the gravel bottom as they frantically swim back down to the safety of the riverbed. Well, there's a ton of scuds in the shallows around the banks up there and these fish are always on the prowl for the occasional stray and, in fact, move the gravel around with their snouts attempting to dislodge the bounty beneath. By now you're saying..Ok Hemmingway!...get to the point! How do I catch them. Would you believe me if I said it was easy? How about if I said you stand a good chance of catching a 20" plus fish without even getting your feet wet. OK, here we go.

One word! Presentation! They key is putting your fly (a scud) in front of these active fish in a natural and non-threatening way. If a fish is moving in any way, shape, or form, it's a target. Even those that are just hanging in a current or on the bottom (like brown trout) not budging at all, can be caught at times so if you see a fish you want to catch...try it!

Lets start with equipment. We're talking fly fishing here. Your basic 4-5 wt rod...8 1/2 - 9 feet is just fine. Heavier than a 5 is getting a little clunky. Lighter than 4 and you'll have a hard time landing these bad boys. WF or DT floating line...no sinking or sink tip. You won't be using a lot of line so the line quality is really not too critical.

Tippet...I'm a huge believer in fluorocarbon. In fact, I use nothing but Rio Fluoroflex Plus or the new Deceiver fluorocarbon from Umpqua. I'll use 6x if there's a chop in the water or if it's overcast. If it's clear and calm, I'll typically use 7x. Here's where a 4 wt rod or a mid to full flex 5 wt will pay dividends as it will protect your tippet more. Your strike indicator isn't always necessary but I typically use one half of one pinch-on Palsa float. If it's windy I'll use a whole Palsa, but I always use the regular white Palsa and not the colored ones. There are two reasons for that. I think the white is the least threatening. From under the surface it's the least contrasting color even being mistaken perhaps for bubbles on the waters surface. The other reason is that the colored versions have that sharp edge where they apply the color that can cause a few more tangles on false casts. That theory I have for all indicator fishing and not just for stalking.

What comes next??...the weight right??..No! In fact, I don't use any weight with this method in most cases. The reason is, we don't want to cause a lot of surface noise when we make our presentation, PLUS, you want your fly to drop slowly and naturally in the water column and not 90 miles an hour behind a chunk of lead. That may sound odd to you but trust me, it makes a big difference.

Next comes the fly. I won't lie to you...this is critical. In this case, size matters and I never fish anything bigger than a 16 and usually prefer fishing #20's. What I typically do is tie a size 20 fly on a #18 hook to get a little better hookup percentage. What also matters is a natural looking scud. No bead heads, wire ribbing...holographic dubbing, shell backs or any of that eye catching, flashy material typically found on today's popular patterns. My favorite pattern as you might have guessed is one of my own Chartered Waters creations I call the Bit Scud. "Bit" meaning just a little bit of a thing. A simple, understated beauty that would get overlooked in anyone's fly box. Another solid pattern I tie is the SoftShelled Scud in the same sizes as above. Lastly, is the G-Bug. It wouldn't be a stretch to say I've caught over half of the fish I've ever caught in my life on a G-Bug in one form or another. In this case I'm using #18's to #22's. Lastly, is the depth. You want your fly about half a foot deeper than the water you're fishing. One and a half feet deep is a good rule of thumb as most of this fishing is done in about a foot of water. OK...you got all that? Now it's time to catch some fish!

The first thing you'll notice when you walk along a bank looking for fish is that you're the only one doing it. Nobody fishes this way. I took a client out this Memorial Day weekend and we had the North bank from outlet # 2 down to #3 all to ourselves, so you'll love the elbow room. 99% of the time I'll never put a foot in the water when I'm stalking. There are a few good flats where you can walk out over them but most of it is done from the bank. One reason is to remain hidden and to let the fish remain calm in their regular routine. The other reason not to enter the water is, you're taking away targets. Remember how those fish follow you around when you wade? We'll...if you're in the water the fish are attracted to your walking. Unless you're a shuffler (and we know you're not a shuffler right?)...we don't want the fish at our feet. Lastly is, standing on the bank you have a better view of the fish below you...and don’t forget your polarized sunglasses. All are subtle advantages you gain, but you always want as many advantages as you can get.

The next thing you want to do is take out about 10 feet of fly line from the end of your rod while holding your fly in your non-casting hand. The goal here is to be ready to flip your fly out in front of a cruising or scudding fish without having to strip line or false cast and it's really just a flip of the wrist to shoot it out there. I'll sometimes slowly wave my line in a soft figure 8 pattern as I walk the shore to keep it out of the moss and water and ready to shoot towards my target. I know it sounds a little too "River Runs Through It" cute, but it really does allow you to quickly respond to a target fish. Keep a low profile. I'm not talking hands and knees here but you can bend down a little and flip your fly sidearm to keep commotion down to a minimum.

Sometimes you'll find fish working a particular area and you can actually wait in one area for fish to cruise past you as opposed to hunting them down. Before you send one towards a fish, take a second to get your fly wet and to squeeze all the air out of it while holding it underwater. Remember you don't have any weight so you need a saturated fly so it slowly falls in the water column. While your primary target is moving fish, don't pass up a big stationary fish either as they will react to this presentation. That being said, the active ones will make more decisive moves on it. The water current is slow to nearly nonexistent in these areas so you want to put your fly sometimes up to 10 feet or more in front of the fishes general bearing depending on how fast the fish is moving. The key is to have your fly arrive at the bottom at the same time to just before the fish arrives at the same spot. Watch how long it takes your fly to fall in the water column while you're fishing so you know how long it will take to get it in front of the fish as it moves towards your offering. It takes 7-10 seconds for my Bit Scuds and G-Bugs to fall a foot and a half with no weight.

Keep that in mind as you cast ahead of your target. So now you've found a fish. You're rigged and ready....you've been quiet and he's about 10ft off shore moving slowly to your left. Flip your fly out there about 10 feet in front of him trying your best to land your rig straight out over the water with a soft touchdown. By that I mean you want to cast farther than the amount of line you have out, so the rig will straighten out over the water and not land fly first followed by tippet, indicator and leader. You know when you have a real good cast...all the line you have stripped out shoots through your guides so hard that it pulls a few clicks off your drag before straightening out then softly floats down completely straight?...That's what you're looking for in a very short distance and not quite so hard. The goal is to have as little "slack" between your fly and your indicator as your fly floats (sinks) down in the water. Don't despair when you spook a few fish. It will happen. It still happens to me. The good thing is these fish get over it pretty quick and there's a good chance you'll see him again within 4-5 minutes.

So now you've done everything right. You're fly is in front of that fish...it reaches bottom about a foot or two ahead of the fish...what next? Watch the fish's reaction. You'll know if he saw it and if he's interested. Often, if you're a little off target but the dropping fly catches the fishes eye he will make a move towards the fly...you're getting close to payoff now. You'll see the fish quicken the pace as it moves in for the take. Don't get nervous!...Ah, go ahead and get a little nervous. That's what it's all about anyway, right? The adrenaline rush...the anticipation...the moment of truth...if you're not a little nervous then it's not fun. Your fish will slow right before inhaling it...it will probably cock its head a little to get a better angle before picking it up...you may see the mouth open as it sucks it in but the real image you're looking for is that tell tale flash of white from the inside of the fishes mouth. That little flash of white means the fish has inhaled your fly and that's your key to pull the trigger. Set it quick!...but not hard.

Remember, these are educated fish that have lived in this river for a few years and they've seen and felt more than one phony scud. You typically have less than a second to react before he's spitting it back out and won't be interested in that pattern for the rest of the day. They will occasionally hold on to it longer, but don't count on it. The one thing my clients have a hard time learning is, being quick enough with the hookset. Even veterans find it surprising how quick you need to be. At this point you may be asking yourself why the need for an indicator? My eyes are the first indicator I use. If I can see the fish and I can see my fly (or at least the general area where my fly would have fallen to) I'm looking for the white flash. If the fishes body obstructs the view of its mouth or there's a chop on the water or even a glare where you can't see the fish clearly...then I'm watching that indicator for the slightest little twitch and I mean slight. That is the reason to get that cast out there straight so when the fish does take it there's a direct connection to that indicator.

Did I say the slightest twitch?? I meant the SLIGHTEST TWITCH!!! When I take clients on a stalk I tell them to set the hook when I say go. I want them to watch the indicator (or the fish) so they learn, but often, especially early on they tell me "How did you know there was a fish on there?" I saw the twitch! Rarely will that indicator go under. Sometimes it will just start moving without a twitch, meaning the fish sucked it in so passively that it didn't even make it twitch. It's subtle no doubt, but soon you'll be picking it up and it will come much more naturally to you.

Lastly you need to do a little preventive maintenance before you send your fly towards a fish. Make sure your line is tangle free...no wraps around the tip or butt section...you're not standing on your fly line , etc. When you stick these fish they will run like a bonefish out of that shallow water taking every inch of slack you have out and then some. Keep your drag light and be patient. Their first instinct is deeper water and you'll get some blistering runs. Again, isn't that what it's all about? The thrill, the excitement. The anticipation of the take, the explosion of water and power and it all happens right before your eyes. You'll learn a lot about how a trout behaves by sight fishing. The subtleties of how a fish reacts to different situations will surprise you and most definitely educate you. It is by far the most exciting method of fishing you can experience.

In my humble opinion it is the best way to catch trophy trout here on upper Taneycomo. This method works all year long and is best with zero to one unit of water generating. You can find fishable pockets with two units running but you start needing more weight, bigger indicators and it becomes less of a finesse presentation game and more typical of indicator fishing. Do you want to catch a brown trout of a lifetime? Try this around October through January up by the dam when they're spawning and you may just want to stay here forever. The pictures shown here are of my 11 year old son Marlin and myself on a June 6th 2004 trip fishing, about 1-1/2 hours total. All these fish were over 20 inches and all different fish. We lost two bigger browns and probably caught about 30 fish total in that time. Every day isn't this good but many are.

You can drop me an email or go to our website at Chartered Waters or call 1-866-362-1928 if you need further explanation of this technique or if you want to pick up a few of these fly patterns. Of course we'd love to take you out on a guided trip for a hands on education and our guarantee that you will catch fish or your trip is free. Folks, you have to try this technique! You'll be amazed at the results and how much more water will suddenly become available to you. With a little more patience and a little more concentration you may never leave the bank again! At the very least you'll think twice about splashing through those shallows before scoping out a potential fish of a lifetime. Stalking trophy Lake Taneycomo trout. It's my favorite way to fly fish for trout. It just may become your favorite way too!