Stalking and Casting on the Stream 

These two things are both parts of the same thing, and often interchangeable. Good casting can make up for some poor stalking, and good stalking can likewise make up for poor casting. Consider the great blue heron, which is quite able to catch trout at close range. It is able to approach the fish so closely because it moves slowly, silently, and stealthily. On the other hand, the osprey spots the fish from far away, attacking suddenly from above. There are trouters who fish like herons, and those that fish like ospreys. Both are excellent skills, but to be successful, you will need a little of both.

Stalking
Stalking is the primitive art of getting close to your prey. All predators must excel at it, and you are no exception. Stalking trout can be very complicated or terribly simple. Good stalking techniques are very important, yet this skill is largely ignored by most trout fishers. The biggest and wisest trout are always the first to spook. The essence of stalking can be summarized by the following five points:

1) Move Slowly
Trout respond to sudden movements instantly. When approaching trout (even those you can't see), all of the movements of your body must be slow and fluid. Learn from the heron's lesson - and whenever you encounter a heron while fishing, observe the bird closely, because he is the champion of all fish-stalkers in the world. Pause often, and stand perfectly still, looking for signs of trout.

2) Don't make waves
Trout notice when waves or ripples pass over them. It is an indication that something large is moving in the water nearby - which could be a bear, an otter, or a human. Learn to walk across a still pool without making a single ripple, and you'll have much more success while trout fishing. Slip into the water quietly, without a splash, and step forward without pushing water. This can be accomplished either by taking each foot out of the water on each step (in the shallows) or moving you legs very slowly so you don't make waves (in deeper parts).

3) Stay Low
The trout's vision extends in a cone above the water's surface. The higher an object projects above the surface of the water, the easier it is for the trout to see it. This is one area of life in which short people have an undeniable advantage. Make a habit of fishing in a half-crouch. When approaching spooky trout, you can even go so far as to fish from your knees, or even from your belly. By crawling toward the fish, you are less likely to be seen.

4) Don't stand out
Before you head out to the stream, consider what the banks of the stream will look like, and wear something of generally the same shade. Camoflauge doesn't hurt, but earth-tones are definately much better than bright colors. Also, use natural cover whenever possible. Clumps of grass, bushes, boulders, and logs can be used as a screen to shield you from the ever-watchful eyes of the trout. Rememeber: unless you have the advantage of dark skin, you light arms and hands will stick out like a sore thumb. Light-skinned people should either wear long sleeves or cover themselves in mud.

5) Be Patient
You will invariably spook some trout while stalking. Unless you have completely screwed up and the trout are frantically racing all over trying to escape from you, you probably just need to stop and wait for them to resume feeding. Wherever you are, just stop. Stand perfectly still for half an hour, and most likely the trout will forget about you completely and go about their business. Then ... make your cast!

Casting with a Flyrod
Once you have stalked into comfortable casting range of a trouty-looking area, you are ready to cast. Strip off enough line from your reel to cast five feet past the position of the nearest point where fish could be positioned. The key to casting is getting the fly to pass by the trout without the trout becoming aware of anything but the fly. There are particular casting techniques for each type of fishing, so I'll address them each seperately.

1) Casting the Dry Fly Upstream and Across
This is the core and essence of artful casting. Of course, there are times when even poor, clumsy casts right over the fish will still work, but much of the time a good cast will immediately result in a strike, while a bad cast will spook the fish and cause them to stop feeding. Because the surface-feeding trout is keyed into the water surface, you cannot let your line pass over the fish. Be aware of the movement of your rod - even though your body may be out of the trout's cone of vision, a quick movement of the rod into this cone may spook them nonetheless. Also, the line must not pass over the trout, or, ideally, into it's cone of vision, at all. Small, stupid trout may ignore the line, but educated and paranoid fish will certainly not. This is why long tippets are recommended for spooky trout. The most common way for a dry-fly trouter to cast to rising fish is to approach them carefully from downstream and off to one side. The cast is made at an angle upstream, with the fly alighting gently about five feet upstream of the position of the fish. As the fly drifts downstream toward the fish, line is taken in to keep slack from forming. The fly drifts over the fish and, with luck, it slurps up the fly. Of course it may not happen exactly like this. In fact, it very rarely does, owing to the fact that the current of the stream confounds even the most well-placed cast within a few seconds. Therefore, the line must be "mended". To understand mending, imagine what the line looks like when it first alights upon the water. It is probably a pretty straight line from the rod to the fly. The current quickly pulls the line into a curve of some type or another, and begins to pull the slack out of the far end of the line. Eventually, the line itself will pull on the fly, and the fly will begin to skate across the surface. This is called "drag". Trout feeding on mayflies know full well that mayflies do not skate about on the surface like motorboats, and so they will ignore such offerings and may even become spooked if they see it (Note: caddisflies skate all over the surface of the water, so drag is good when fishing a caddis hatch). The answer is to perform an upstream mend, by flipping the near portion of the line back upstream without moving the fly too much. This allows the fly to drift drag-free once more. Be aware that mending can spoil a cast as easily as it can make it perfect; you must pay attention to what the line is doing and make your upstream mend before the fly begins to drag, ideally. Another point worthy of mention is that the first cast to a rising fish is often the best shot you have. Make it count. Cast to the nearest fish first. The line must alight on the water softly; if it splashes heavily to the water it will spook the fish. This is one reason why weight-forward lines are not as good for delicate dry-fly trouting. If the fly drifts past the trout without being taken, let it drift past you downstream. Be ready to strike, since sometimes the trout below you will charge out and inhale the fly as it swings downstream. Once it is below you, pick it up and cast again. If the fly is not floating well toward the end of the drift, you'll need to false-cast it to dry out the fly. Don't false-cast the fly over the fish, do it off to the side so as not to spook them. The only time the fly-line should be anywhere near the fish is during the final presentation. Now, there are times when the fish are upstream and to one side, like we have described - this cast is called the "quartering upstream" cast, which goes upstream at an angle. But there are times, quite common in fact, where the trout are more or less directly upstream from you. With a very long tippet, you could cast right over them with the long tippet and not spook them with the line. Most of the time, however, this is impractical. You'll need to cast so that the fly lands directly above the trout but the line lands off to the side. This is called a "reach cast". It is performed by flipping the wrist over at the end of the cast. To make the fly land to the left of the line, roll the wrist from left to right - the motion is similar to turning a key. The fly will land over the trout, and the line will land well to the right of it. The exact opposite motion will land the fly on the other side. It takes practice.

2) Casting the Dry Fly Downstream
Sometimes you will be upstream of the fish, by necessity or design. This is not the ideal way to approach most trout, but at times it is the only way. Since trout always face upstream when holding or feeding, you can get away with a lot less monkey-business when you are positioned on their upstream side. You can't get as close, and have to be more careful in your presentation. When you are upstream of the rising trout, make a "puddle cast". You do this by casting enough line to almost reach the fish with your fly. Then you stop the cast in midair, and the whole line will spring back upon itself and form a series of s-curves. Drop your rod-tip and the fly will drift down drag-free to the trout. You may need to feed out line before the fly will get to the fish. If the fish doesn't take, you'll have to be careful about how you pick it up for the next cast, to avoid spooking the fish. If you just cast again, the fly will race upstream and create havoc at the water's surface. If you hold your rod-tip far to one side, when the line straightens out it will be off to the side as well, and the fly can be picked up and recast. Alternatively, you can do a roll-cast pickup, which allows you to make the fly leap cleanly off the water so it can be recast.

3) Casting the Nymph Upstream
This is a deadly technique indeed. Set up a shot-and-indicator rig, with the distance between the indicator and the fly one-and-a-half times the depth of the water to start with. In deep or broken water you can get away with casting directly upstream over the fish most of the time. Stop your cast just before it reaches the end, and you will leave a little slack at the far end as the indicator rig snaps back. Now, take in line to keep slack from forming on the near end. Watch the indicator carefully. If anything, and I mean anything, happens to the indicator, you may have a fish. Strike quickly. If you do not have a fish, you have just picked up the fly, so follow through with the strike and turn it into you next cast. If you do have a fish, then you are now a nymph fisherman and no longer need my advice. Adjust the depth of the fly by sliding the indicator up and down the line. Experiment with different weight configurations. You can cast upstream or make a quartering presentation with equal effectiveness. You can forego the indicator if you like. Be aware that adding an indicator really adds to the amount of disturbance you create when casting; you should not use this presentation when fishing shallow, still water.

4) Casting the Nymph or Wet Fly Downstream
This is called a "swing cast" or "downstream quartering" cast. Cast the fly at an angle downstream so that it will drift for awhile as described in the downstream dry-fly section above. Then, as the line comes tight, the fly will begin to rise in the water column and move sideways, swinging toward you. The strike will be unmistakeable; you don't need an indicator because you are fishing with a tight line. This is a classic technique; the action imparted to the fly imitates not only the rising action of an emerging insect, but also the sideways swimming motion of innumerable other aquatic critters.

5) Casting Streamers
This technique is almost identical to the downstream wet-fly swing described above. However, you generally want to impart a little action to the streamer by twitching it as it swings. One of the most effective retrieves involves stripping the line in a series of quick bursts. Move the rod-tip sideways upstream as you strip, then move it back downstream as you take up the slack created. Repeat, quickly, until the fly is retrieved. This is a big-fish tactic. When a big brown crashes your streamer while you're doing this, it will make your day. Try to make your casts in such a way as to cover likely spots for big fish to hang out - deep water near woody debris and undercut banks.

6) Casting in Tight Quarters
Trout fishing is never easy, and oftentimes the biggest trout in the stream will be located in the most maddeningly difficult locations. Often, you have to improvise to get your fly in front of the fish. Here are a few techniques which frustrated anglers have come up with over the years. First, the roll-cast. This is a difficult maneuver for many folks. All you really doing is allowing the line to form a big curve, and then flipping the line into a rolling loop to make it go somewhere. It's useful when you're up against a brushy bank and don't have a backcast. The Steeple Cast involves making your backcast go almost straight up in the air instead of behind you; it's very useful where your casting area is obstructed. My dad is an expert at the steeple cast and really makes the line sing when he's doing it. You can make a bow-and-arrow cast by holding the fly in one hand while flexing the rod like a bow. Release the fly and, theoretically at least, it should shoot toward your target. It almost never works that way, though. Then there's "dapping". I love dapping. In dapping, you don't cast at all, you just sneak up to the bank and extend your rod slowly over the fish. Then, you lower the rod so the fly barely touches the surface, and pick it up instantly. Do it again. Repeat. It has got to be really annoying for a trout to see a juicy insect bouncing on the water surface like that. One day on Beaver Creek in Houston County, MN, I dapped three big browns and a nice brookie in one afternoon. Be sure your leader-to-line knot is slim and won't snag in your guides, because otherwise you'll end up like me, trying to fight a 16 inch brown with three feet of line snagged in your guides. Not fun. Or at least, not fun after the two seconds of thrashing before your line breaks. You can also drop a fly onto the surface without casting, and allow the fly to drift downstream to get it underneath overhanging brush. This really doesn't have a name, but it is a clever tactic that might work for you. I met a wily old fisherman on the Rush River who used this technique to snare a 19 inch brown one summer day. The big old trout was taking ants that fell off the bushes, and the crafty old angler stalked up to the bank and peered out from the brush. He dropped a #18 black ant onto the surface and lowered his rod to let it drift under the scrub willows. Catching a 19 inch brown without even casting is quite an accomplishment. You can use the same technique with nymphs; especially around lunker structures. Just drop it carefully over the edge and let it sink - you might be surprised at what rushes out to greet it. You can cast sidearm when there are overhead obstructions. Don't be afraid to experiment. The worst that can happen is losing your fly. If you've resorted to these tactics, you're probably using the wrong fly anyway.

Casting Lures
Spinning lures are used most often in pools and deep runs. Lures can be cast up, down, or across stream. They are then retrieved, either at a steady pace, or in a series of quick twitches and jerks. A fast, erratic retrieve imitates a panicked, fleeing prey. Spinning lures can be cast by a skilled angler into areas where flyfishers seldom reach, so take advantage of this. Spinning lures tend to be attractive to the larger, more aggressive trout, so be prepared to cover the water and move along the stream, making a few casts to every likely spot you encounter.

Presenting Live Baits
Live baits are usually fished on the bottom, where trout do most of their feeding. You can simply cast a weighted live-bait rig out into the deepest water in the stream and hope for the best, or you can hunt for active fish by drifting a freelined or lightly-weighted bait through riffles, runs, and pocket water. Live baits can be drifted into places where niether fly nor lure fisherman can cast to. This is one of the main advantages of bait fishing; in fact there are some streams so alder-choked and overgrown that only bait-fishers can fish them. In places where it is impossible to cast, simply drop your bait into the stream and hope. Large baits, like frogs, crayfish, and chubs, can be lightly hooked and freelined in deep, slow water. A slice of chub meat is an old trouter's secret weapon, fished on the bottom in deep water. Some aquatic insects can be hooked and fished beneath a casting bubble or small float. A nightcrawler or angleworm is best fished with a small circle hook and a split shot a foot up the line; drift this rig through a good feeding lane and you are sure to have action.