Achilles’ Heel
First off concerning the title. Look I know this probably gets annoying but I have to be me.
Achilles was the central figure of Homer’s Iliad in the epic there was absolutely nothing wrong with Achilles’ heel. The tale of his invulnerability and famous weakness does not appear in literature until the Achilleid written by Statius – a Roman - in the 1st century of the common era (the oral tradition could have been much earlier of course.) In the Iliad, Achilles is only mentioned as having been wounded in the elbow (which would have sucked if he were a fly fisherman.) Today the term “Achilles’ Heel” means a principle weakness.
Fly fishing has such a weakness.
With the possible exception of live bait, I firmly believe that a fly in the water looks superior to any other artificial lure. Flies seem alive, can be custom made to look like the forage for the fishery they are used in, and offer a presentation that looks natural. In short, flies look like what a fish is looking for.
But what if the fish isn’t looking?
An aquatic environment is much different than an air-based one. Light and thus vision is less reliable, where sounds and odors are often stronger. Also the sense of touch in fish is much different than in humans. Lateral lines allow fish to feel disturbances in the water, much like a Jedi. Finally some fish – most often predatory ones - even have a sixth sense, the ability to detect the subtle electric pulses given off by muscles and nerves.
A fly may be the best way to appeal to a fish’s vision, but vision may be the least effective sense to appeal to. Fish may hunt primarily – or at times – via their other senses, and use their vision only at the last moment. In these situations a fly has little to no ability to call a fish to it. That’s the Achilles’ heel.
The best illustration of this is night fishing. The striper is primarily a nocturnal creature and so striper fishermen fish primarily at night. The darker the night the less successful I was, despite the fact that the fish were more aggressive and conventional gear anglers do better when it is darker. When false dawn would appear, I would start catching more fish, and at full light I would be catching far more fish than a conventional gear guy. The more the fish used their eyes the better it was for the fly angler.
In short, for this particular fishery the worst time to fish is the best time to fly fish. I’m sure other comparisons could be made to other fisheries. For instance I love reading about how the Bassmasters have to struggle with clear water. I imagine a fly angler would have a much easier time in clear water, but struggle in murky despite the fish being more aggressive. Also I wonder when the rivers are high, how well a wide bodied crank bait would do for large brown trout.
Flies will always suffer from a lack of ability to call out to fish when compared to even smallish conventional gear. Topwaters and flies tied with a lot of bulk have some ability, but even the largest fly I can tie and cast with a dense spun deer-hair head and a 12wt rod most likely puts out far less vibration than even a small Kastmaster, and far far less than a wide bodied crankbait.
So why mention all this? Simply to point out that a fly fisherman will be most successful when he thinks like one.
Most new fly fishers are experienced conventional gear fishermen, and so they know how to fish. Often they will become frustrated because using flies the way they once used lures is not nearly as effective as the lures themselves were. Often, one will see flies tied to resemble well-known lures: Rapalas, spoons, there was even one guy who made a Zara Spook with a poorly planned color scheme. These flies can be effective, but they are still flies, and though they can be effective when used like their conventional counterparts – they will be more effective when used like flies.
These will be fleshed out in future articles (still can’t wrap my mind around the whole “Blog” thing.) Also I will be detailing these as they pertain to stripers for two reasons – first that is what I know best, second striper fishing is a “macro” example of many common fly fishing issues since everything is bigger. A fly rod is probably the best tool to fish a small stream but the ocean, not so much. Like most things the lessons you can learn in one place will transfer to another.
Up next…picking your ground. Sometimes the water that holds the most fish is the worst place to fish.
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