Opening Day Strategies for Trout

I used to be convinced that the best bet for opening day trout on a fly rod was a well-sunk Muddler Minnow. Cannot imagine why I thought that though because I was never or rarely successful with it. Maybe because I knew minnows were being used to catch big trout by the people smart enough to be using bait. Anyway, I have changed my mind and now have an opening day strategy that works a little better.

I pay attention to what the water tells me about what a hungry spring trout might be doing to get the easiest meal possible under the circumstances.

You see locked in my brain is a thought I had once that made such good sense to me that it has become the foundation of my trout fishing strategy. Here it is, “The calories gained must be greater than the calories spent”. A trout must do that calculation every time a possible food item or potential prey comes near.

What does that mean in the real world? Well, the way I apply it is the smaller the fly, the closer to the fish I try to work it. For example, on opening day the river is usually full and running fast. The trout are lying in wait in whatever shelter they can find from the main thrust of the current, eating or rejecting the bits of matter carried to them by the water. They have found a spot where they can hold with minimum effort and food comes past regularly. They really do not want to move.

When fishing trout under these conditions I have found that a bead head nymph on a fairly short leader works well. Add a split shot or two so that the fly gets well down. You should feel the shot bumping the bottom occasionally. Fish the seams where currents of different speeds come together, paying special attention to the areas behind (and in front of) rocks or other obstructions to the flow. The rule of thumb is the faster the flow the closer to the rocks I figure the fish are.

Use short casts and follow the nymph with your rod tip. Cover every inch of the area and then lengthen your cast by a couple of inches and do it again. Repeat this until you are not in direct contact with your fly throughout the cast then take a step down stream and start the whole process over again.

Line control is the key here. Too long a cast is worse than useless. A trout can mouth your nymph and spit it out without you even knowing that anything happened if there is any slack between you and it.

Sometimes you are better off holding your rod high and following the fly that way. I try to keep my tip low, pinching the line just in front of the reel between my thumb and finger, striking on any hesitation.

When I do not have the patience for methodical nymphing, I will use a streamer pattern, something bright like a Mickey Finn, and still with a short leader and a few split shot, use traditional down stream wet fly technique. Cast three quarters down stream let the fly swing until it straightens out and fish it back in short erratic strips.

The only difference is that I fish much shorter casts than later in the season and I let the fly dangle once it straightens out.

Fishing the dangle for about fifteen or twenty seconds, giving the fly a little twitch every now and then works, with the strike often coming either just before you start to strip the fly back or immediately after.

So to sum up:
In early season fishing, I assume that the fish are hungry and opportunistic. I also reckon that they do not want to work too hard for a meal and certainly do not want to find themselves battling the full force of the current. The first thing I do is figure out where the fish might be then I do my best to make it as easy for them as possible to take my fly.

I still do not catch many fish on opening day but at least I have a plan. Hmmm, I wonder if Glenn still has that big rubber minnow.