I took my daughter and niece to a riverside park on the Tuckasegee River to sunbathe. While they soaked in the rays, I grabbed my mask and snorkel and waded out to a deep bend in the river. At my first hovering pass, fish scattered everywhere and all I saw was movement. By the fifth time I drifted over fish remained static and unthreatened; dozens of fish. Trout, were holding customarily in deep, darker water at the far side of the bend. I moved to the shallower, inside turn where I felt the current slow down and the temperature rise. Five large smallmouth bass materialized like green ghosts. Even closer to the inside bank a shoal of thirty or so red horses, some over twenty inches long glided like hovercraft, bellies barely grazing the bottom.
I started snangling about twenty years ago. The first thing that surprised me was the sheer amount of fish I saw the moment I submerged. A seasoned fisherman gains an uncanny ability to perceive fish from above as they lay camouflaged amidst rock and vegetation. I was a seasoned fisherman. I thought I could distinguish most fish in a run or pool. My first submersion in a trout stream with goggles produced sheer amazement at the number of fish that were invisible to me from above. I have seen dozens of fish in areas that I thought held one or two. Another surprise was how quickly the fish acclimated to my presence. In less than a minute they begin to feed, picking rocks for microscopic morsels or rising to terrestrials circling in small eddies above. I began to notice different species gathering in various locations based on water temperature, depth, and structure. Slow moving water that gets direct sunlight heats up several degrees compared to the faster, deeper, or shaded water in the pools. Trout typically hang on the edge of the current, just inside the shade, hidden in the shadows, deep enough to feel a distinct drop in water temperature, ready to ambush. Bass are sun seekers, shunning the shaded cool zones for direct light and warmth as long as it is just below the suckers and creek chubs also known as bass snacks.
I return to these locations armed with fly tackle and using the knowledge gained by observance, always catch more fish. Knowing where the fish hang out and at what depth allows an offering in the strike zone. Weighted nymphs drifted through trout at the proper depth under a strike indicator become deadly. Hoppers and muddlers floated through smallmouth at the right depth get smacked. Knowing that the fish are there and how they behave increases my confidence and catch rate.
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