Ask MidCurrent: How Close Can I Get to a Rising Trout?

Wearing muted colors and keeping a low profile can help you sneak closer to a rising trout. Photo: Sandy Hays

Question: I am fairly new to fly fishing and can’t cast very far yet. I’m excited to fish my first spring hatches but I’m worried I won’t be able to reach the fish. How close can I wade to them to make it easier?
—Greg from Somerset, NJ (via the Ask MidCurrent form)

Answer: Okay, so you’ve spotted a rising fish, but it’s too far away for you to make a cast. What can you do? First, think about how you can position yourself to get the best presentation, given your casting constraints. One thing that anglers often wonder about is how close they should get to the fish. The answer depends on the kind of water you’re fishing, on the equipment you’re using, on the angle of the light, and so on.

Ideally, you should be just close enough that you can make the cast and achieve the required drift. If you’re too close, you risk spooking the fish; if you’re too far away, and you’re not going to catch it anyway because your fly will not even reach the target or will drag once it does. As simple as this seems, figuring out how close to get to a trout is a very complicated proposition because of the number of factors involved. Here are a few basic principles:

In broken pocket water, you can often get close enough to “dap” dry flies, keeping all the fly line off the water. Photo: Drew Nisbet

• You can get closer to a fish that’s rising in fast, broken water than you can to a fish rising in a slow, flat pool. In flat water, the waves created by wading will travel upstream and alert the fish.
• The shorter the cast, the more likely it will be accurate; and the less line you have on the water, the more likely you are to achieve a good dead drift. Just because you can cast 40 feet doesn’t mean you have to. You’ll catch more fish if sneak closer.
• If there are several conflicting currents between you and the fish, it pays to try to sneak close enough to use the length of your rod to hold the line out of the conflicting currents. Otherwise, all those currents will drag on your line and ruin your dead drift. A 9-foot rod will allow you to keep more line off the water, which means that you can be a little farther from the fish than you would be with a 7-foot, 6-inch rod.
• If you’re casting downstream to a fish, you have to stay farther away, since any disturbance you make in the stream will be telegraphed downstream to the fish. An upstream approach (from behind the trout) allows you to get closer. This is one reason that most dry-fly anglers prefer to fish upstream.
• Keep a low profile, and dress for stealth. Wear earth tones and don’t hang your silver hemostat high on your vest.
• Once you are close to a fish, don’t start flailing away immediately. Take the time to plan your casts and drifts carefully. The closer you are to a fish, the fewer casts you want to make.
• Watch your shadow. Approach from an angle that keeps your shadow—or that of your rod—from falling over the fish.

Here, the angler is using a tree root to break up his silhouette and he casts to a rising trout just upstream.

There’s an old saying that “You can’t catch fish if your fly isn’t in the water,” but it usually pays to observe and analyze the situation before you start casting. Those extra moments spent sneaking closer and determining your best casting position may mean that you’ll get fewer shots at the rising fish, but they are sure to be better shots.

There is a learning curve involved here, and you’re sure to spook or put down a few trout in the process. But what you learn from those spooked trout will pay off many times in the future.

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