by James Bradley, Orvis Endorsed Fly Fishing Guide
Normal September and early fall conditions with low water means stealth! You simply cannot catch a trout that you have spooked, and it has fled a hundred feet in the opposite direction. Low water conditions also require some tactics that many anglers simply choose not to do. Here’s the short list: observation, learning to use obstacles and cover and finding a trout’s new holding area during low water.
Stealth is the way to go for catching. Clumsiness, stumbling, stepping on a limb that breaks underwater or even up on the bank prior to entering the stream, wading too fast, talking too loud, allowing studded boots to slip causing the grinding effect or allowing rod guides to reflect sunlight off them during a cast, these all decrease your opportunities for hookups as trout have superior senses like eyesight, inner ear for hearing and even a lateral line for vibration sensing.
Observation is a key component to know what is going on and where the trout are. Observe the stream from a high bank by staying low to the ground or from behind an obstacle like a tree to hide your presence. Take five minutes and watch everything that comes alive. You can learn more about trout and insect behavior in five minutes than you can fishing for ten hours. Have a good set of polarized sunglasses as they are essential to locating fish underwater. I use amber lenses, but this color is not for everyone. It is easy to see a trout rise to a fly, but many will miss a trout sipping a fly. You will have to train your eyes to see the flicker of a tail or to see a shadow of a trout. Trout turn sideways when feeding on nymphs off the bottom. This is a flash you may see. Be observant!
Use obstacles and cover for your benefit. I see anglers that will climb up onto a large rock to cast from. This angler has spooked everything around that vicinity. Stay down and behind the rock to make your cast from. Most of our mountain streams decline quickly leaving the higher white water to our front as we move upstream. Use the higher elevation of the stream for your benefit by making your approach to your casting spot as low as possible. Do not blow your opportunity by walking upright to the casting spot! Use that large log out in the stream as cover to cast from. These little things will make for more hookups.
The trout you caught back in the spring will probably not be in the same riffle or run. As water conditions change, a trout’s lie will also change. When low water appears, feeding lanes change. Learn to read the water and have a basic understanding of trout’s needs. After learning to read the water, you will know where the trout’s lies are. Target that spot and possibly hook up with a trout of a lifetime!
Want to play with the big boys? We’ve been hammering those big wild trout at Noontootla Creek Farms. For the best guides on this water simply give us a call and we’ll hook you up!
Reel ‘Em In Guide Service is the only Orvis Endorsed Fly Fishing Guide in North Georgia’s Historic High Country region. They have been offering their services to fly anglers since 2001. They have permits for guiding in North Georgia and North Carolina, offering over 7 miles of private trophy waters across Georgia, and operate drift boat trips on the Toccoa River in GA and the Tuckasegee River in NC.