Listening for trout in the gloaming

On a recent float trip on the Lehigh River, the guide suggested we sit quietly and wait for trout to rise at dusk. We were listening for them, hoping to hear them rise to an evening hatch of sulfur-colored mayflies. The experience reminded me that I’ve developed a skill from fishing for so many years: I can hear a large trout gulp a tiny insect on the surface of a slow-moving creek at 50 feet, maybe 60. I know the sound. A lot of experienced fly anglers do. It’s a subtle suck-sip sound, not the louder splash that smaller, friskier trout are apt to make when they rise to a mayfly or caddis dancing on the surface. The older, wiser trout just sip. And we started to hear the sporadic sipping sound as the summer night closed in. Some of the best fishing occurred at the end of our long float, in the quiet gloaming.