Lefty Kreh wrote an important book stating in the title that presentation was “the most important” aspect of fly fishing. Carl McNeil took that thought a step further in his excellent video Casts that Catch Fish when he stated that it didn’t matter what fly you used, it was the presentation. I spent years pondering this notion of presentation and its relationship to casting. Both men are right.
The relationship between casting skill and catching fish, particularly trout on dry flies, must be understood through the experience. Highly experienced anglers discover after years of effort that fly fishing continues to revel itself. There is a favorite and careful concept to explore, labeled presentation.
But what is presentation? In simplest terms it’s delivering your imitation in a manner that it fools the trout. And what is this “fooling” that is apparently so challenging.
The evidence is quite clear that every cast of the fly rod does not result in the hooking and capturing of a trout. Indeed, while an enthusiastic angler might proclaim that he had that experience, in truth if dry fly fishing was a sure thing, we’d all lose interest. So what’s the right balance between angler experience and the strong compulsion to improve and catch more fish. It certainly could be claimed, by examining the amount and time and money spent by anglers, it’s currently way below the desired result. Rather esoteric to claim that there is a threshold where the individual would find them selfs sated and immediately lose interest. I sincerely doubt the threshold of trout captured is a real solution or definitive explanation for the continuing, committed efforts displayed by those of us hopelessly pursuing some bag limit! We all know that passion we have, and the efforts we go to to achieve a level of success. Obsession seems a fair word. Let’s first describe our challenge. An ancient creature, admittedly of great beauty, is doing nothing to directly obsess us.
The trout has evolved, over millions of years, and emerged with a clear survival strategy hard wired into ever one of them. We joke of fish proving to be rather foolish and have days that we brag about where so many examples of this creature succumb to our wills, and wiles. Wait a few hours and suddenly we find ourselves standing in knee deep and cold, fast moving water as puzzled as can be. Yes the trout is a worthy adversary, and its history sheds considerable light on why they can be so formidable. Remember: we are discussing casting.
The most comprehensive analysis of the history of trout requires a mind that can truly grasp the term globalization; not the popular word used to suggest a high human comprehension of only our impact or relationship to the planet we share. No, this globalization requires at least thinking about the term before man even walked on this planet.
This being a discussion about presentation of artificial insects with hooks imbedded to capture a potential food source, only to release it, the depth of examination to understand millions of years of evolution will fall far short of a comprehensive, global history lesson, but hardly a trout fisherman alive has not admired the beauty of the fish and not wondered. So, lets do a very amature examination.
Start with our planet. We know over time there have been periods of explosive growth in types or species of living creatures, and simultaneously the planet was a mix of huge seas and large land masses, but always water. But the seas changed around the globe from time to time (long time, like much much more than the long drive to your favorite fishing hole). The temperature variation of the seas is probably the most significant force in the evolution of the trout, a creature that thrives in relatively cold water. Trout do best in 44 degrees to 76 degrees water temperature. Humans can survive and even thrive in temperature ranges from below 30 degrees fahrenheit (with help from clothing) to as high as 100 degrees fahrenheit for some time before serious repercussions. Fishes of multiple species survive well in a wide range of water temperature. Salmonids are much more fragile. Despite this limitation, or maybe because of it, Salmonids range across both hemispheres and have multiple subspecies. Their range contributed to evolutionary changes that included strong migratory instincts. But clearly (and this is where we sink back into the easiest of explanations) those migratory impulses not only spread various species and sub species over amazing ranges, but contributed to amazing variety. The strength of the desire to survive and expand their range means there are a world wide populations of what we call trout.
The exposure these animals had prompted many adaptations, including what we call selectivity. Ah the anglers complaint: selectivity. Trout will, as we all know too well, approach an object with potential nutrients and then reject it after close examination. The fisherman scrambles to improve the “bait”. What is selectivity? The ability of the trout to distinguish food from threat. No more. And one thing the trout attends to is the movement in this ever moving world of the river. The answer for the angler, of course, is a free drift. Whatever slight motion of our drifting artificial is the signal to the trout that this is a threat, not food.
As I’ve learned in many years of reading and experience is that the artificial must have certain attributes when the hatch is on: color, size and shape. But the trout’s menu includes many shapes, colors and sizes. Focus on specific attributes during a hatch is what requires carefully tied flies as close to exact replications of the insect that the tier is trying to imitate, and that is of itself a major, and oft explored discussion it fly tying literature. But trout feed on such a variety of insects that if the angler wants to fool the fish with an artificial that isn’t part of a hatch, color, size and shape become of less concern than providing the trout with close inspection of a possible meal over the longest possible time. Presentation of a fly over a few inches, rather than a few feet, make a huge difference. I know this through experience. It has led me to reduce the number of flies I fish on top, except during a hatch when color, size and shape are most critical. I fish a handful of known patterns, and instead focus on making a presentation that maximizes the time the trout has to spend inspecting my offering, the longer resulting in more takes. When a trout is not feeding on a hatch that is drawing its full attention, they don’t stop feeding on the surface, but require more time to commit!
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