“The measure of a man is not in how he deals with success, but in how he handles failure.”

Paul Stanton – The Flyosopher’s High School principal

Don’t worry I’m actually planning on writing a bit about sight fishing, but first let’s consider failure.  I think that if society has made one glaring mistake it is in how it regards failure.  Many of us believe failure is something to be ashamed of, to protect children from, or to avoid at all costs.  I look at failure a bit differently; I see it as the only way to measure progress.

Sight fishing is really nothing more than the most obvious way to fail at fly fishing.  So naturally it is a great way to learn.

A lot has been written about the challenges inherent to sight fishing.  Like every good fly fishing genre, some of it is true, some of it is exaggeration, and a lot of it is total crap.  For example, the Flyosopher found himself chuckling while reading “The Definitive Guide to Striper fishing” when the author encouraged his readers to learn the technique of slowing – preferably stopping – one’s heart before casting to a fish on the flat.  Seriously?  Who the hell am I supposed to be The Master from that ill fated 80’s show were the premises each week was this old bastard ninja would get hurt or have to go through a motion sensor or some crap and would save himself by stopping his heart.  Last time I checked stopping your heart was a bad thing, I mean to avoid bleeding to death maybe it would come in handy, but to catch a fish I prefer methods that encourage the angler to avoid clinical death.  It wasn’t sarcasm, the author went to great lengths to describe exactly why you should do this – thankfully he didn’t describe the how of it we probably would have lost a few of the less “gifted” members of our fellowship. Yes, I did read the entire book after that just to pick up other pearls of wisdom – there were many it was awesome, not so much with the fishing know-how, but hey reading is primarily for entertainment.    

Many anglers seek out the pure white flats of the tropics, the slightly less white flats of my home Cape Cod, or even the still darker bottomed waters carp inhabit.  Sight fishing is often considered the single greatest challenge a fly angler can face.  The fisherman needs to:

Find the fish

Cast accurately

Cast the required distance

Understand the environment

Know the structure of the flat

Know the currents

Know the dominant forage

Present the fly in a natural way at the correct depth

Use stealth to avoid spooking the fish

Set the hook at the right moment   

With that much going on it is a wonder anyone ever catches a fish.

But let’s think about this.  Re-read that list…now read it again.

Quick tell me two fly fishing situations where you don’t have to do all that…give up?  Okay one…

 In my humble opinion, the challenges of flats fishing are no different than the challenges of bluegill fishing, or trout fishing.  They may be slightly harder given wind and the wariness of the species of fish and the scope of the environment – if the axiom is true that 90% of the fish are in 10% of the water then a guy blindly casting in a small pond has a better chance of catching a fish than a guy standing on the shore of the Pacific Ocean – but the challenges aren’t different.  I personally believe that the mystique of the flats stems from something rather simple…very few people have them as their “home waters.” 

 If your home water is a trout stream, you can fish virtually any trout stream on any Continent – local knowledge will help of course but you know the drill.  Roll over rocks, check spider-webs, fish the edges and in all likelihood you’ll do fine.  The flats are no different – well except there are no rocks to roll over.  Also I find with very few exceptions, many people who fish a new area do so with the intention of catching fish, not of learning.  So the mystery of the flats persists. 

 There is however one key difference.  When a fish you can’t see refuses your fly at the last minute, you have no idea it happened, when a 40” striper rushes up to your fly and then turns away, you will never forget it.  Most anglers see this and think…fish on the flats are smarter than fish in channels, rips, or creeks.  I merely wonder how often have I fished an area and caught nothing, chalking it up to the fish not being there when it fact there were hundreds of them…ignoring my fly.

 So first off, what exactly is a sight-fishing flat?  For fly fishing purposes, a flat is an area where the depth is fairly shallow and generally constant.  That is not to say there are no drop offs or channels because there are but they are subtle, a depth change of 4” could be considered major.  The other quality of a flat is that the bottom color is generally consistent.  I was going to write bottom material, but the material really doesn’t matter so long as it allows for the spotting of fish.  In my section of the world, lightly colored sand is best.  Finally, in order to spot fish you need either a fairly sunny day or an overcast day with no wind since even a slight chop will make spotting fish extremely difficult.  Finally do yourself a favor and get the best pair of sunglasses you can.  If you try on a pair of 10 dollar polarized glasses and then a pair of 50 and finally a pair of 200 and honestly you can’t see the difference…get your eyes checked.  The best pair I have found (that fit my enormous face) is Smith Optic’s “Chamber” with the green lenses.  I find the green lenses are superior to both amber and copper on a bright day (which is when you should be flats fishing.)  After LASIK surgery, the most expensive fly fishing gear I have is my eyes.

 So now that you are on the flat what should you do?  There are two schools of thought.  The first is to find a “good” area – generally one where there is a school of bait, or a structural change that the fish will relate to.  Position yourself in relation to the sun for maximum spotting ability.  Ready your line in the stripping basket and be ready to cast at a moments notice. 

 OR

 Paddle around like a moron and spook fish every so often and say things like, “Wow that was a big one.” 

Your buddy will ask, “Where?”

And you can respond, “Heading way out there into the ocean, damn he was a monster sure wish I wasn’t paddling around like an idiot spooking fish like that, but hey I have to be me.”

Now reading this you may think that I advocate the former…I do not.  Unlike most sight-fishing guru’s (I friggin’ hate that word makes me want to become a violence guru) who approach this like a religion, I do not believe there is a right or a wrong way to fish, but merely choices every angler will make.  If you stay in one spot – no matter how great it is – there will be days when you see no fish, this could be due to conditions, that the bait is slightly denser elsewhere, or occasionally because the fish simply didn’t come up on the flat.  If you travel about looking for fish, you will spook them – though I do recommend a kayak, for whatever reason the fish spook less when you are in a yak rather than when you are wading.  This difference is often enough to mean that you will see the fish you spook from the yak, and you may not see the fish you spook while wading…the shorter you are the truer this is.

For myself, patience is not my best quality so I roam, and when I see fish I either get out of my yak or cast to them from it.  Fishing with your feet in the sand is easier to achieve the best presentation, while fishing from the kayak allows you to get closer and see more fish. 

I would never fish flats without a kayak.  People do it everyday but people also get married, become vegans, and watch Bill Maher everyday…it is just not for me.  The kayak allows you to access any point on a flat, gives you better stealth, allows you to easily transport multiple rigged rods and as much or as little gear as your little heart desires. 

A few times a year some moron gets stranded and begs me to save his pathetic life and paddle him to a sand bar. 

DON’T DO THIS!!!

No seriously think about it, unless you have some solid rescue training more likely than not you will just get yourself in trouble.  The simple fact of the matter is most kayak-fishermen are horrible kayakers, trying a rescue is a recipe for disaster.  Before you approach a person in distress evaluate the situation, most of these dramatic situations can be solved with a little common sense by a person who isn’t in a panic.  Look for paths back to shallow water, advise the person to lose the waders and swim a narrow channel, or if they are in a fog allow them to follow you out (kayakers are naturally smarter than idiots without kayaks so you will have a compass and possibly a GPS right? Of course you will.) If you see a solution the odds are the person you have come upon is in a panic no matter how calm they may seem.  This mean you are dealing with a profoundly dangerous person.

Think about your best friend.  Would he/she ever push you off a cliff?  The answer ought to be no.  If they were clinging to the side of a cliff and could fall to their death at any minute, would they grab your leg?  Exactly…panicing people are dangerous.  Often the best thing to do is to yell at them and tell them what to do – from a safe distance.  If that is impossible the next best thing is to contact the professionals.  This Christmas Eve the Flyosopher made the mistake of aiding an elderly woman who decided that she didn’t get what she wanted for Christmas and jumped off the wharf into the harbor.  She was tiny and frail…I am well-muscled, young, and juggernautish…the crazy bitch damn near drown me.  

Naturally this advice is extremely hard to follow, so I’ll boil it down to this…don’t be an idiot.

Up next week, flies and presentations for the flats…