Fly Fishing Lessons: Is 'Presentation' the most important skill in fly fishing?

The Basics of Fly Fishing Presentation

• Casting: For most trout fishing scenarios, you won't have to make a long, booming cast. What is more important is your ability to make accurate, and clean, shorter casts. Your ability to place the fly where you want it, and in a way that doesn't spook the fish, is vital for consistent success. Practice accuracy and getting the fly to land softly at shorter ranges should be your goal. Practice, practice, practice.

This is easy to practice. You don't need a a lot of space since you will be making shorter cast. Get out on a yard, set up some targets, and see if you can gently land your fly on them.

Know Where the Fish Are

A part of presentation is knowing where the fish are. If you don't know where they are, then you will be presenting to nothing.

Find the Seams

• Seams: The ability to recognize a seam in a river or stream will help you locate where the trout are. A seam is the boundary where two currents in moving water meet; this creates a visible line on the water’s surface. This is a prime feeding zone for trout.

The two currents, when they come together, push food into a concentrated line (the seam) that makes it easy for trout to feed. It's like a conveyor belt of food.

Success Lives in Subtlety

The problem is that seams aren't always obvious. They can be subtle, and often it takes sensitive observation to see. One lane of the current moving a little faster than the adjacent lane is enough to create a seam.

A Note on Seams

You don't have to cast exactly on the seam. If a lane of current is only a few feet wide, I'll cast both the seam and the lane. It is important to develop your ability to recognize a seam, currents, eddies, and an upwelling of water that tells you where rocks are under the surface. Learn to read the water, and then you can make educated guesses on where to cast and why.

They Physical Part of Presentation

Now that you know where the fish are, the skill of good presentation comes into play.

• Mending: Is a skill and technique of repositioning or adjusting the fly line on the water after a cast to achieve a natural, drag-free drift of the fly. This is major important! A drag-free drift is the golden ticket.

You accomplish a drag-free drift by lifting and flipping the fly line upstream or downstream using your fly rod and wrist flicks. You are manipulating the line to counteract the effects of varying current speeds that physically move the line and pull the fly unnaturally, causing drag. Drag is the enemy, and mending is the skill that counteracts it. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of having mending skills.

Nature's Buffet

Sometimes it's easy.

• Foam lines: This is the cheat code for finding seams. A foam line is exactly what it sounds like. A line of foam in the river or stream that is floating downstream. The foam line is where two currents come together, pushing insects, plant matter, foam, or whatever is floating in the water into a concentrated seam that fish treat like a conveyor belt of food. Sometimes it is narrow, sometimes it can be a few feet wide. Look for the path of foam, and you can bet there are fish underneath it looking up for food.

Enough to Start With

These tips are just a few of the many variables that can help improve your presentation skills. It's enough to get you started and can pay off in more caught fish. Mending, reading water, and casting are skills that you will work on for as long as you fly fish. Nature is never exactly the same from moment to moment, and the fly angler must be able to adjust and improvise on the spot. Nature will provide the fly angler with clues and signs; we just have to learn to read them.

One More Thing-

The skill of "Presentation" is truly a lifelong pursuit. It is such a deep well that a whole book has been written on it by the legendary fly angler, Gary A. Borger, and it is one of the best books I have ever read on fly fishing for trout. It is out of print, but you can still find copies, just at a higher price. It is a book worth having in a fly fishing collection. KB

"The gods do not deduct from man’s allotted span the hours spent in fishing.” - Herbert Hoover