07-28-2014, 03:02 AM
No need for a PM - hopefully this info will be useful for others as well.
General Suggestions:
1. Stay in the middle of the boat. It doesn't really impact you but shifts the weight distribution/draft for the rower and makes things more difficult for them.
2. Always manage your line. Everything in a drift boat will grab your line - including your feet. Only have the line out that you need.
3. Similarly, keep your fishing area clean. Tuck boat/dry bags, jackets, everything else out of the way so they don't grab your line. Have a pair of nippers and hemostats on a lanyard and everything else cleared out of the way.
4. When nymphing, you don't need to blast long casts. The indicator can be from right off your rod tip to approx. 10 - 15 feet out. Longer casts tend to be less manageable and result in too much drag in your drift. I've found that kids/women do a better job here at first because they don't have the ego a lot of guys have that says: "Look how well I can cast". You're not fishing for permit. You don't need to blast 80 foot casts to impress anyone and you can't manage a drift that far anyway.
5. If you are rolling and fishing, mend constantly. Extend your drifts as long as possible.
6. Minimize false casts. If nymphing, try to water load. If rolling, one false cast and go. If anchored and dry fly fishing, three false casts at most. If streamer fishing, ideally only one false cast. Too many false casts always ends in disaster.
7. You catch more fish with your fly in the water than in the air (obvious, I know but you would be surprise).
8. There are three basic scenarios while floating (not including out of boat):
a. floating faster than the water you are fishing
b. floating slower than the water you are fishing
c. floating the same speed as the water you are fishing
If floating faster than the water you are fishing, always fish the future (ahead of you).
You will be chasing your fly and this will extend your drift while keeping your fly in the target zone longer.
If you are floating slower (or anchored) than the water you are fishing, fish in the past as your fly will be chasing (and passing) you. This will extend your drift.
If you are floating the same speed, constantly mend.
9. Having said all that in 8, always be looking in the future. If you see a spot in the past that looked really good, forget about it. Outside of a streamer, you will never get the drift you want.
10. Big rivers have a lot of power/weight to them, simply lifting the rod should be enough to set the hook - no bass set needed.
11. Learn to fish sitting down. Every Alumaweld I've ever seen is a WF high side so not as easy as a lopro, skiff or raft but it is still possible. Fishing sitting down lowers your profile while fishing to risers and reduces the risk of scaring them. Also, if nymphing, it (somewhat) forces you to keep your fly closer to you. You obviously don't ALWAYS have to fish seated but a good skill to have.
12. A lot of fish hang very tight to the banks (although on the Green, they are all over). Learn to cast within inches of the bank and know you will lose flies. Of course on the Green, you can roll down the thalweg with a nymph rig and do quite well.
13. More mending, less casting.
14. Be aware of your casts/backcasts - try to minimize hooking your buddies, you will do it.
If floating with two anglers:
1. The person in the front has the area from the oars straight out forward while the person in the back has from the oars backward.
2. Communicate with each other. It will reduce tangles.
3. Observe the other angler. It will reduce tangles.
4. Get in sync while casting.
a. Be consistent on false casts so the other angler knows what to expect and when to cast.
b. If floating faster than your fly, the person in front casts first, followed immediately by the back. Back be ready to lay down your cast right after front does.
c. If floating slower (or anchored), the inverse is true. Or as we like to say: "The back of the boat is the front of the boat".
These suggestions will help you eliminate tangling each other (although you still will for a while).
As for the Green:
1. Learn to throw streamers. With the right conditions, it can be very fast action.
2. If a hatch is happening (Its the Green after all), most areas with slower current (above/behind rocks, backwaters, the "lakes", the slow side of seams, etc) will have fish just below the surface and rising. Approach these areas with caution and plan your angle of attack to put yourself in position to fish them. Of course this is the Green, if you run over fish, you can always anchor up and wait 20 minutes. They'll start rising again.
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General Suggestions:
1. Stay in the middle of the boat. It doesn't really impact you but shifts the weight distribution/draft for the rower and makes things more difficult for them.
2. Always manage your line. Everything in a drift boat will grab your line - including your feet. Only have the line out that you need.
3. Similarly, keep your fishing area clean. Tuck boat/dry bags, jackets, everything else out of the way so they don't grab your line. Have a pair of nippers and hemostats on a lanyard and everything else cleared out of the way.
4. When nymphing, you don't need to blast long casts. The indicator can be from right off your rod tip to approx. 10 - 15 feet out. Longer casts tend to be less manageable and result in too much drag in your drift. I've found that kids/women do a better job here at first because they don't have the ego a lot of guys have that says: "Look how well I can cast". You're not fishing for permit. You don't need to blast 80 foot casts to impress anyone and you can't manage a drift that far anyway.
5. If you are rolling and fishing, mend constantly. Extend your drifts as long as possible.
6. Minimize false casts. If nymphing, try to water load. If rolling, one false cast and go. If anchored and dry fly fishing, three false casts at most. If streamer fishing, ideally only one false cast. Too many false casts always ends in disaster.
7. You catch more fish with your fly in the water than in the air (obvious, I know but you would be surprise).
8. There are three basic scenarios while floating (not including out of boat):
a. floating faster than the water you are fishing
b. floating slower than the water you are fishing
c. floating the same speed as the water you are fishing
If floating faster than the water you are fishing, always fish the future (ahead of you).
You will be chasing your fly and this will extend your drift while keeping your fly in the target zone longer.
If you are floating slower (or anchored) than the water you are fishing, fish in the past as your fly will be chasing (and passing) you. This will extend your drift.
If you are floating the same speed, constantly mend.
9. Having said all that in 8, always be looking in the future. If you see a spot in the past that looked really good, forget about it. Outside of a streamer, you will never get the drift you want.
10. Big rivers have a lot of power/weight to them, simply lifting the rod should be enough to set the hook - no bass set needed.
11. Learn to fish sitting down. Every Alumaweld I've ever seen is a WF high side so not as easy as a lopro, skiff or raft but it is still possible. Fishing sitting down lowers your profile while fishing to risers and reduces the risk of scaring them. Also, if nymphing, it (somewhat) forces you to keep your fly closer to you. You obviously don't ALWAYS have to fish seated but a good skill to have.
12. A lot of fish hang very tight to the banks (although on the Green, they are all over). Learn to cast within inches of the bank and know you will lose flies. Of course on the Green, you can roll down the thalweg with a nymph rig and do quite well.
13. More mending, less casting.
14. Be aware of your casts/backcasts - try to minimize hooking your buddies, you will do it.
If floating with two anglers:
1. The person in the front has the area from the oars straight out forward while the person in the back has from the oars backward.
2. Communicate with each other. It will reduce tangles.
3. Observe the other angler. It will reduce tangles.
4. Get in sync while casting.
a. Be consistent on false casts so the other angler knows what to expect and when to cast.
b. If floating faster than your fly, the person in front casts first, followed immediately by the back. Back be ready to lay down your cast right after front does.
c. If floating slower (or anchored), the inverse is true. Or as we like to say: "The back of the boat is the front of the boat".
These suggestions will help you eliminate tangling each other (although you still will for a while).
As for the Green:
1. Learn to throw streamers. With the right conditions, it can be very fast action.
2. If a hatch is happening (Its the Green after all), most areas with slower current (above/behind rocks, backwaters, the "lakes", the slow side of seams, etc) will have fish just below the surface and rising. Approach these areas with caution and plan your angle of attack to put yourself in position to fish them. Of course this is the Green, if you run over fish, you can always anchor up and wait 20 minutes. They'll start rising again.
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