fishing ahead of the boat

I could feel the grips on the oars bite my palms as I backrowed and tried to hold the boat in place.

“Okay.  Big fish rising at 2 o’clock, five feet from the bank.”  I told the angler in the front of the boat.

“Just a minute, let me get a shot at the one back here,” he replied.

“No.  Forget it.  Look ahead!  Look ahead!  But it was too late.  And we floated by the nicest fish I’d seen all day and never even got a shot at it.

It’s easy to get focused on every rise when fishing from a drift boat.  But all too often anglers spend too much time looking back and not taking advantage of the best opportunities to catch fish in front of them.  By applying the 45 and 90 degree rule you will increase your opportunities to catch more fish when drift boat fishing.

Orient yourself downstream in the leg locks and generally speaking face front.  It’s important to keep in mind that the very minute you cast behind the boat, your flies are dragging.  Simple as that.  Sure, once in a while you make a fifty foot cast behind the boat and manage to pull one out of your #$! but consider it luck and realize that to fish better from a drift boat you should always be facing front if the boat is floating downstream.  Nothing matters behind you unless it’s a hurricane bearing downstream with gale winds at 90 miles an hour.

The 45 and 90 degree rule is basic and easily explained.  If the boat is moving the same speed as the current, you should make your cast  downstream 45 degrees ahead of the boat.  That way, the line, fly and boat are moving at the same speed allowing for a long, drag free drift provided you mend as neccessary.  If the boat is being slowed, adjust your cast to 90 degrees and perpendicular to the side of the boat.  This way, you’re effectively compensating for the slower speed of the boat relative to the speed of the current.  Make a good, sweeping mend, and you’re in the game.

By applying the 45 and 90 degree rule you can fish more effeciently from a drift boat and spend less time with your fly dragging and more time hooking up.

A moment ago while trying to decide what to prepare for dinner at the lodge tonight I came across a picture of myself holding my first permit on the flats of Turneffe Island in Belize.  It provided me with the perfect bit of inspiration I needed since one of my favorite meals at Craig and Karen’s Turneffe Flats Lodge is the traditional Belizian Sunday dinner of Belizean chicken with rice and beans.

It’s great for warm, summer days, light but bursting with flavor, and the time is always right for island spices no matter where you are.  Here is tonight’s menu.  You’ll notice I’ve decided to say local for the desert.

Mixed organic greens w/citrus vinaigrette

Belizean chicken

Coconut lime rice

Stewed black beans

Berry crisp with homemade huckleberry ice cream

Montana offers some of the finest fly fishing opportunities found anywhere in the world.  And indeed some of the famous rivers like the Madison, Missouri, Bighorn, Bitterroot are known by most in the fly fishing arena.  But located way up in the northwest corner of the state, is the much lesser known Kootenai River.

This is not typical big sky country up here.  This is a place where the Pacific rainforest ecosystem crashes into the spine of northern Rockies.  It’s a place of dense, coniferous forests, often misty in the early mornings, and a place where the stars are so bright and pointed at night you can almost hear them.

Kootenai country is grand and big and what makes it and the river so special is the lack of traffic.  The Kootenai is very much off the beaten path.  A destination fishery so to speak.  And a wonderful one at that.  With over  forty miles of fishable water from below Libby Dam to the border of Idaho, the Kootenai is big, brawling and by volume the largest river in the state.  It’s most effeciently fished from a drift boat but depending on flows offers some great wading opportunities as well.

But what makes it so different and so special, even now, is the lack of crowds.  Yesterday I floated twelve miles and saw one other drift boat.  And it was one of my guides.  Kootenai rainbows average between 12″-15″ and while that’s a bit smaller than the average fish on some of the more famous rivers around the state, the Kootenia rainbows are more acrobatic than any others I’ve seen anywhere.  Before you know it Kootenai bows will peel off fifty feet of line and jump four or five times before you even know you’ve hooked one.  It’s also different since it can be fished with dry flies most of the time throughout the season.  Of course we nymph certain holes but with all the long slick pools and runs the Kootenai is begging to be fished with size 16 pmd or caddis for most of the afternoon/evening.

The Kootenai is still uncrowded, wild, and an incredibly honest fishery.  Perhaps the last one left in the state and that’s what makes it great, differnt, and special.

Yesterday while guiding I found myself exactly where I’d hoped to be at 4:00 pm.  Smack in the middle of a pmd hatch on a local small stream.  Popping out of the riffle above, and floating downstream like so many tiny, yellow sailboats, the little mayflies had the fish looking up and rising like crazy.  My anglers made several quick casts and after a moment wondered why they hadn’t hooked a fish.  It was clear to me that neither had actually gotten a proper drift.  After a bit more coaching, and some substantial ribbing, they ironed out the kinks and ran the table, catching several fish over the next ten minutes.

Fishing dry flies to rising fish may well be the preferred means of fly fishing.  Below you’ll find three tips on how to better perform and catch more fish when the hatch is on.

First, consider your cast.  Improving your catch rate while dry fly fishing begins with making a good cast.  Without a good, accurate cast, you’ve got nothing.  You can know the details of the hatch, what stage of the insect the fish are feeding on, and what size it is, but unless you make a good, accurate cast, you’ve got no chance at all.  What’s a good, accurate cast and how hard is it to make one?  Not as difficult as you might think.  Take your time and don’t rush it.  The fish are feeding and not going anywhere.  Place your fly upstream of your target fish by approximately three feet, make a good mend, and wait for the strike.

Second, consider concentrating on one fish instead of casting willing nilly into the bunch.  Flock shooting will work some of the time but remember that all rising fish generally have a feeding station.  Their movement is up and down in the water column and not necessarily from side to side in the current.  By concentrating on one fish at a time, and making accurate casts to specific fish, you’ll increase your odds of hook-ups considerably.

Finally, make sure you’re getting a good drift.  A good drift means the fly is floating downstream the same speed as the current without drag.  If your fly has a little wake behind it, the fish will generally not strike.  Even though trout have brains the size of peas, they’re not stupid.  If a fly is whizzing by their nose it obviously looks unnatural.  If it looks unnatural, you might as well be reading about catching fish because you sure as heck aren’t going to have much success.

To catch more fish with dry flies, make a good cast, concentrate on one rising fish at a time, and get a good drift.  The results will make you smile.  And here at Linehan Outfitting Company, we believe everyone should catch more fish.