Flexibility on the Trout Stream: Tip of the Day

Hello Sportsmen:
If you are a fly fisherman for trout, you should be aware that throughout the day, conditions are constantly changing.
You may be fishing nymphs and then you begin to notice subtle rise forms. It is time to switch to emergers or perhaps dry flies. If the rises are more like "bulges" in the surface water, the fish are probably taking emergers just below or in the surface film. If there are bubble on the surface when the fish rises, then dry flies are in order.
This activity may slow down slowly or change change fairly quickly. When this happens, be ready to go back to nymphing or streamers.
I love to dry fly fish as well as the next guy, but when the fish start feeding sub-surface, you can bet that's where I'll be fishing. I'd rather have the action than to keep casting dry flies and not be raising any trout.
Observation of what the fish are doing and how best to pursue them is the mark of a good fisherman. Don't get stuck in a rut and stay with one method of fishing regardless of what the fish are doing.
Chuck Patterson (Foothills Fly Fishing) told me that he killed a Timber Rattler recently. Keep an eye out when you're fishing. Always look over the rock or log before you step over it and when you're climbin, never place your hand in an area that you can't see.
Good luck on the stream.
L. Woodrow Ross