Waiting for the rise

Fly fishing requires a lot of patience; some anglers give it up for that reason — they don’t want to be bothered with all the fuss, with all that “match the hatch” business, the precise (and sometimes tedious) matching of artificial flies with the real bugs that trout happen to be feeding on. But, for those of us who enjoy this form of fishing, therein lies the challenge and the fun — fooling wild trout with flies made of feathers and elk hair. When you hear or see a trout rise, the sound or sight sends a signal to the fly angler’s brain. He gets excited. He stands in the river and watches for the next rise. (Or he sits on a rock if there’s a good one immediately available.) He records the exact position of the trout. He then tries to see the type of insect the trout is feeding on at the moment. Sometimes this requires catching a fly from the water surface by hand and identifying it: caddisfly (Trichoptera) or mayfly (Ephemerellidae)? Sometimes it takes a good guess. Sometimes it requires trying every damn dry fly in the angler’s vest. Mostly, it takes patience. In the habitat of trout, that’s a beautiful burden.