Forget the purists, forget towing the party lines, it’s time to band together! No I’m not talking politics, (although I could and maybe should), I’m talking about the age old battle of spin anglers vs fly anglers and which one is better. The more we learn from each other the more fish we’ll all catch, and isn’t that the point of this whole game anyways?
The More Rods Than Your Have Hands Trick
I’m not saying we should have 403 rods on our boat at all times, but there is something to the tactic of having a rod for every situation you might encounter. Even if it’s just two rods, a lighter rod and a heavier streamer rod for example, can increase your odds of having the right presentation ready for when you encounter a fish.
I’ll paint a picture for you. You’re letting the wind push the boat across a lake where you’re seeing cruising lake trout left and right. If you get a refusal on a dry fly but think you can fool them with a streamer, are you going to have the patience to calmly tie on a streamer or would you rather drop that dry fly rod and pick up the streamer rod, with a fly already tied on. Flip it out there, two strips and BOOM, fish on.
The Lure With A Trailer Trick
Most spin anglers I know heavily rely on adding a trailer to their presentations to increase their chances at hooking up. Like when they’re throwing a spinnerbait, they’ll add a curly tail to the end of the hook to add an extra kick of action to the lure.
You can do the same thing the next time you’re tying up a streamer. Adding a long skinny trailer to your bushy streamer will give it another layer of fish-catching mojo. You can also experiment with other tying tricks like putting a smaller baitfish profile streamer on the same fly and attach a bigger one right behind it, like a bigger baitfish is chasing a small one. Imagine all the vicious strikes you’d get with that on the end of your leader.
The Fish Like Life’s A Video Game Trick
It’s funny that spin anglers are so obsessed with their electronics, but fly anglers hardly ever even think about bring them out when they hit a pond or lake. Sure, there’s no use in finding a rock pile 30ft down below the boat when you’re throwing a weightless fly on a floating line, but there’s still an advantage to knowing what’s below you.
I use my fish finder every time I hit the water (and by that I mean when I remember to grab it), that way I can find structure that fish may be orienting to below, like weed lines, rock to sand transitions and an assortment of other structure. If you have a unit that has side scan, well then that’s a whole other level of knowing where fish are. Like fishing on a video game, you can spot fish on either side of your boat in real time, letting you really focus in on catching tons of fish.
Join us at the next meet up, a special collaboration between Postfly and Why Knot Fishing, next Wednesday night (2/15/17) from 6:30-8:30pm at Toscana’s in Peabody, MA. Talk fishing with a mix of fly anglers and spin anglers so that we can all learn from each and start catching more fish. (Maybe even convert some of those spin anglers into a fly angler). Oh, and did we say free food? Yea, there’s free food.
Want to learn how to become a better fly angler with tips and tricks from the pros and all the right flies delivered straight to your door every month? Sign up for Postfly now and Join The Tribe.
