tactics

Quick Tip: Downstream Presentation

By Scott Richmond

Sometimes the only way to entice a rising trout is with a downstream presentation. Find out what to do.

ometimes trout are soooo picky, especially when they live in crystal-clear streams that are visited by hoards of eager anglers. Fish can be rising to your left, right, back, and front, but when you toss out a fly that you know is a perfect match for the hatch, every trout in the river disdains it. Two seconds after your offering has passed over its nose, a trout rises confidently to a sip down a natural insect. It's enough to turn an angler into a golfer.

But before you trade your 5-weight for a 5-iron, try using a downstream presentation. On spring-fed streams such as Oregon's Metolius or Fall rivers, or Idaho's Silver Creek, this may be the only presentation that will catch fish.

The purpose of a downstream presentation is to let the fly reach the fish before the leader and line. That sounds simple, but it has some tricky elements. For example, when you cast downstream the fly drifts away from you; unless you somehow feed more line into the drift, the fly will quickly reach the end of its tether and start to drag. Another problem with a downstream presentation is that trout can see you better when you're in front of them than when you're behind or to the side.

So the first step in a downstream presentation is to position yourself at least 40 feet above (upstream) from a rising fish or a suspected lie. If you can't get far enough away, try to hide yourself behind a tree or bush.

Once you're in position, cast so the fly lands about ten feet upstream from the trout. In most cases, the fly should be straight downstream from the tip of your rod. If you release the cast when your rod is behind you (upstream), you can follow the fly downstream with the rod; this can give you about 15 feet of drift before the fly starts to drag. On slow water, you can feed extra line into the drift by stripping some off the reel and quickly raising the rod tip so line piles on the water in front of you. Be careful not to move the fly when you do this.

Another advantage of presenting a fly directly downstream from you is that the current is usually moving in a straight line, so drag is minimized.

Scott Richmond is Westfly's creator and Executive Director. He is the author of eight books on Oregon fly fishing, including Fishing Oregon's Deschutes River (second edition).

Uploaded 01/02/1999.

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