What Spooks Trout?

What Spooks Trout?

Like many anglers, I often found myself wondering what the fish were actually doing beneath the surface. Eventually, my curiosity got the better of me. I got some scuba gear, dove into the North Fork of the South Platte River in Colorado and hung out with the trout to watch and learn what was really going on as a couple of my buddies cast flies at the fish. 

This “be the fish” experience eventually evolved into a story for Field & Stream called “Going Deep in the Name of Trout Research.”

The most riveting lesson I took away upon resurfacing was that the fish were not startled by my presence among them; I could often get within arm’s reach of a feeding trout, and it wasn’t bothered one bit by the big, neon, bubble-blowing mass in the water next to it.

But any real motion overhead–a bird’s shadow, for example-triggered an immediate nervous instinct to scatter or head for deeper water.

That also held true for false casts over the fish. As I held onto a boulder on the river bottom, I watched the fish skitter away time and time again after my friends started false casting over the run. With every false cast, the wariness intensified, in effect diminishing the possibility of a hookup with each pass the line made over the water.

Think about that in the context of the shadows you cast and the number of times you false cast. Try to keep your false casts to a minimum, and direct them slightly outside of the line of fire, bringing only the cast that counts into the target zone.

Kirk Deeter discusses how not to spook fish when using your false cast…