I’ll explain the number one trait that will help you catch more and bigger fish.
We fish with clients from all over the country and the world, and some of them get better and catch more and bigger fish consistently, and some don’t. Today, I’ll explain the number one trait that will help you catch more and bigger fish in your guide’s boat this season.
Fishing out of a boat with a guide is a great opportunity for the angler to be successful fly fishing. A skilled guide gets the boat in position to present the fly, brings you to an area where fish are active, and supplies the right flies and the know-how of how to use them. But the guide cannot catch the fish at the end of the day. That’s the anglers job. So what’s the one thing that separates the best anglers from everyone else?
Anticipation.
The best anglers pay attention to the specific kind of water they’re finding fish in and anticipate it throughout the day. Typically, no matter the time of year or water conditions, fish will hold in certain water consistently. Or at least they will be “patternable”.
Your guide will always be able to tell you where to cast as you approach spots. Some guides are better than others at explaining and describing where to cast while coming into a spot. Even with that explanation, the difference between a 20 inch trout, or a 12 inch trout is the consistent identification and anticipation on the anglers part coming into a spot. Making the cast at the exact right time to drift into the trout’s zone – without your fly line sinking, leader sinking, fly dragging, etc – is extremely critical.
Big fish will mostly sit in spots where the fly has to be presented in a perfect “goldilocks zone”. They tend to sit in these spots as their natural way of having the only bugs that float to them correctly, be real bugs.
So, next time you’re in the boat, pay attention to specifically where the trout you’re catching are holding, and learn to anticipate those spots and those fish. It’ll get you more and bigger trout in the net.