In angling pursuits, as in other areas of life, finding some new strategy or method is akin to unlocking a door you have never been through.It is challenging to remember where you learned something. It just becomes knowledge.
There is a moment of pride when you accomplish something you have not done before.Tried and true methods stick with you simply because they have worked. It is hard to gamble a few hours of fishing for trying something that you have never done. Part of being a fishing guide though is doing just that. If you get stale or stagnant in your approach it becomes monotonous, boring, and at times downright work-like. The ability to read the situation, change, innovate, adapt, and be successful in the moment makes or breaks an angler and a fishing guide.

When I am not fishing, I am fishing in my brain. When I am fishing, doing the same old technique in the same old place, my mind wanders to “what if”. Almost constantly. The Greek philosopher Heraclitus once said “No man ever steps in the same river twice”. This applies to the fishing in that same river. Think you have things figured out? Probably not!

On August 8th I hit a local river with my smallmouth bass fly gear, ready to tangle with some hard-fighting, hard jumping fish. It was relatively slow that day, and despite catching a few fish, I made a note in my journal to come back with dry flies. There had been a caddis and mayfly hatch that day, and it looked fortuitous. On August 14th, that day came. I reviewed my notes, almost forgetting I told myself to “bring caddis, mayfly, and hopper dries”. I felt a strange pull to those options that day, so I rode the notion. I caught fish I had no idea were in that stretch of river, and with regularity. When I mean it was a bite every cast for a little bit, I truly mean it. After about 9am, the bite slowed and not much else seemed to happen.

On August 20th, my chance came again to make discoveries. That day marks a change in the way I now fish this section of river. I brought two fly rods, knowing I would fish dry flies until about 9am, and then switch to tightlining nymphs when the fish went deeper. What I learned that day was exponential to merely fish caught and lost. It was as if this amazing fishery had been there all along, and I (along with many others I believe) had been overlooking it for years. I caught 6 different species of fish, my largest smallmouth ever in that stretch of river, and some very large river redhorse suckers which I thoroughly enjoyed. They have become the “big game” for me on that stretch of water. People may scoff, but I know the truth.

I don’t know how to pronounce Heraclitus, but he was right. You never step into the same river twice. There is always something changing about a river. One rock, one fallen tree limb, rainfall, or drought. One thing affects another and what is life to wild things is a mystery to us. Change is inevitable. It may be so subtle you have to pay very close attention to see it. Sometimes change occurs and it is so blatantly obvious you can’t help but not see it. In the case of rivers and fly fishing it is frequently balanced between both. It is the angler, the person participating in the change, that is left to determine what kind of angling day it will be. For me, lately, I have been thoroughly enjoying seeing my section of river at a completely different level.