Monday, August 9, 2010

Favorite fish to catch on the fly?



As my wife and I were hiking the other day she asked me "What is your favorite fish to catch on a flyrod?" I had to think about it a bit. It narrowed down quickly and ultimately ended in a draw between smallmouth bass and brown trout. Both of these fish have attractive qualities to the fly angler. Both are tremendously strong. Both can be wary enough to make you work to catch them. The more I thought about it, the harder it was to choose a winner. Hence the draw.


My annual trips to the Missouri River in central South Dakota have strengthened my love of Smallmouth Bass fishing. I look forward to fishing the structure that smallies love. Smallies can be moody- sometimes they like a slow presentation and the take will be ever so subtle. Other times they inhale your fly before you have a chance to make your first retrieve. Either way, it turns out the same after you set the hook. These fish erupt with a surge of power that is hard to find in other fish. They combine strong deep runs with high-flying acrobatics. You definitely feel connected to something very much alive.

Browns are at their best when you have to search them out. You spy the grassy bank that is just undercut enough to hold a nice fish. You watch. Sure enough a good nose emerges from under the bank to suck in a struggling hopper or PMD. After a few casts, you get it right. Tight to the bank with a good drift. The same nose emerges and your fly disappears. You set the hook. A shower of water sprays as the fish reacts to the hook set. Flashes of yellow and orange show that it is a good brown trout. The fight continues as the fish tries to entangle your line in the sticks and roots under the bank. You get the fish free of the obstacles, slowly working it into the slower water on the inside of the current. Here is the brown trout in all of it splendor. Still poised and ready to run, but you slide it into the net, admire the spots, the iridescent blue on the gill plate, unhook the fly, and return the fish to its rightful place.

I will stop waxing poetic about these quarry. It is still a tie. Maybe when I get the chance to fish for permit I will have to pause and reevaluate. Until then, what is your favorite fish to catch on the fly?

5 comments:

Jon's Blog said...

Hans - White Bass would be at or near the top of my list. The spring trips to Pierre catching endless large White Bass with my Dakota Angler and Outfitter friends is one of the highlights of my year. Pactola Bluegills and small steam Brookies also rank high.

Jon's Blog said...

Hans - White Bass would be at or near the top of my list. The spring trips to Pierre catching endless large White Bass with my Dakota Angler and Outfitter friends is one of the highlights of my year. Pactola Bluegills and small steam Brookies also rank high.

Jon's Blog said...

Hans - White Bass would be at or near the top of my list. The spring trips to Pierre catching endless large White Bass with my Dakota Angler and Outfitter friends is one of the highlights of my year. Pactola Bluegills and small steam Brookies also rank high.

Anonymous said...

Tough question for sure. I dearly love floating a eastern mountain stream for smallies. But then again, casting to breaking stripers in the fall is a lot of fun as well is shad runs in the spring. Then there is bluegills and bluefish that will hit about anything when the mood strikes them. Still smallies probably would be my choice.

8wt

Ronnie said...

Hans....

mine too! on the big horn river for grizzly teeth browns and on the menominee river for smallies, these two fish are bottom diggers and are just so hard to get up to top of water, but when they do the fly out of water 3 to 4 feet and usually toss the fly back at ya....
Ronnie Miller