Angling Publications - Index

Angling Publications - Magazine - Index

8
I must admit to being a spring-creek junkie.
I have been known to drive 19 hours—one way—simply to
scratch a particular spring-creek itch. I just find spring creeks
to be such a complete and challenging fly-fishing experience. I
had a very memorable spring-creek
challenge last summer, in the form
of the jelly-water puzzle.
I was fishing a small Western spring
creek regarded for its tricky drag/presentation
situations and touchy trout.
I had located a big fish feeding near the
bank on a gentle bend in the creek. A
decent mayfly hatch had the fish rising
at the surface, pushing a small wake
every time it rose. Having spooked a
big rainbow earlier in the day, I decided
to hang back, and fire a long pile cast
up and across to the fish.
Several casts and drifts later, the
fish was still rising, but not to my fly.
On every cast, my leader was acting
strangely, causing my fly to drag.
And since the drag was neither where
nor how I expected it, I knew that
something odd was going on, but I
just couldn’t see exactly what it was. I
finally decided to move slightly more
across from the fish (still remaining
down-and-across), and risk a cast that
landed closer to the fish’s position. It
worked. The fly seemed to do a strange
little hover for a moment and then it
slid sideways, over and down, directly
into the fish’s feeding lane. A moment
later, a nose poked out and my fly
disappeared. I set, expecting a big fish,
but not quite the New-Zealand-class
brown that popped out of the water.
I ran upstream toward the fish, gathering line as fast as I
could, then the fish turned and ran downstream toward me.
As it passed my position, I followed, keeping the brown on the
shortest leash possible. For the next couple of minutes the fish
and I eyed each other. I pulled, he pulled, I took line, he took
line. I finally got the fish worked into a shallower area where I
could control his movements fairly well. I waded in to bring him
to hand, but had misjudged the trout’s readiness.
TECHNIQUES
Jason Borger
Our thanks to Jason for 10 years of great
Techniques columns. We asked readers to
vote on their favorite columns, and we’ll be
running the top six throughout our 2008
issues. So, enjoy The Jelly-Water Puzzle.
The brown bolted back upstream, and I stumbled after him. At
first, the fish seemed to be aiming for his old holding lie, but then
he took a right turn toward a jumble of half-submerged bank-side
bushes. I put all the pressure on that I could, not wanting to part
the tippet or straighten the tiny hook.
The tippet stretched to the maximum
as I inverted the rod to keep the line out
of the branches and at a better angle to
the fish. No good. The tippet popped
abruptly and the rod’s recoil tossed
the line into the grass beside me. The
brown had terminated our connection
somewhere in the twisted black below
the bushes—so close, yet so far.
Anytime I hook a fish from a tough
spot, I like to go back for a look at the
spot to see close-up what the conditions
were. In this case, a significant, sudden
differential in bottom structure next to
the bank had created a situation were
currents were sliding out in a fan shape
above the trout’s position. As the currents
spread out, the water almost appeared to
“shimmy” like a tub of jelly before continuing
on its way. The brown had been
parked on the far side of the fan of “jelly”
water. My first set of casts had landed in
the right spot for a straight downstream
drift to the brown’s lane, but the jelly
water had shimmied my leader (and thus
fly) out of line and away from the trout.
Once I made a longer pile cast, the fly
and leader landed more on the far side
of the jelly and slithered down to the fish.
Despite the loss of the big brown, I
had pieced together the puzzle of the
jelly water, which in itself was quite
satisfying. I had dealt with jelly water a
number of times before, but that fish and that situation really stuck
in my mind. It is such moments that shape us as anglers, and remind
us that the puzzle is ever changing and as we fly fish America.
Jason Borger has been FFA’s Techniques editor for over 10 years,
and will continue to contribute feature-length articles. Look for his
upcoming piece, Fishing Nymphs as Dry Flies, in the May issue.
SPARTASPHOTO.COM JASON BORGER ILLUSTRATION