Top to Bottom - by Clay Gill

Dog days are here and the summer heat has created the need to get deeper to suspended fish. They dive or hide under cover to find comfort and bait that has done the same. We carry many flies in our boxes usually, but now is the time to dig out some specialized items on occasion.

We were teaching some kids about fly-fishing at the Seguin Outdoor Learning Center the other day and many questions arose from young inquisitive minds. My daughter-Jodie calls these -“why cause” questions. Her daughter, Avery is at the age when questions are non-stop. During instruction, a young boy in Seguin asked me over and over-how come -this/that? One thing that impressed me was that he noticed flies are weighted differently, and had to know why. Kids are very smart and a quick study. They learn very quickly if interested. Enthusiasm is great!

Later as we fished with poppers and then subsurface flies they had tied in class, he saw the need to hit different parts of the water column and caught on real quick -what to use and why. Then he says-“gimmie one of those”! We need to get down deeper under that pier! -----I say----ok!

This time of year the fish we normally catch during spring and fall on shorelines and shallow flats descend deeper to holes, undercut banks, vegetation mats, and lily pads. It becomes solace to the fish. Physical comfort and ambush points concentrate predators as well as baitfish. This changes fishing tactics. Dry flies, light bead chain and the bead heads won’t go very deep. Sink lines, shooting heads, fluorocarbon- (invisible) tippet, and weighted flies overcome some dog day deep-water problems. Blind casting becomes necessary, and more often, weed less flies are imperative in summertime. You must work to push their buttons. But action can be good!

The mindset you take is the adaptation to the fish’s needs and habitat. You incorporate these changes into your repertoire. Don’t get stuck on a single fly. Clouser’s are great, but experiment. Try new things. Men made materials are flashy. Natural materials are lifelike. Don't always use a Woolly or popper. Crawfish may be the deal. Size may be critical. Always experiment.

This may mean heavy lead eyes on a baitfish pattern, or weed less rabbit strip worm-like patterns for lily pads. Rattles in flies’ can double your hits in schooling feed frenzies. One thing that often helps is sparse material on the flies. Nature always seems to make it dark over light, so match the hatch, and place it correctly in the water column. Always change when necessary.

The challenge comes to find fish as they descend and become recluses. Electronics depict fish in a visualization of the entire water column under your boat-not practical on a kayak. In a river fishing is easier. Fish jam under the deeper undercut banks usually, in pockets or deep rocks and holes in the river channel. In lakes, it gets complex. The edge cover is not always the answer. Sometimes fish suspend in mid-column, and bait does the same. Think out of the box in August.

Once you become adaptable and abandon the shoreline where little or nothing is -due to 90 plus water temperatures, you find the same fish you caught in March on shallow stumps have migrated to drop-offs and ledges in rivers, lakes and streams. Schooling carries well into the fall.

It is harder to locate deep fish. Some signs are there for the taking. For example, birds and some surface action at Inks and some other lakes during summer mean huge schools of White Bass-out in the middle of the coves, off points, and in the main lake. The fish are five, and sometimes fifty feet deep in schools. Stripers hang under the smaller fish to lap up the wounded bait. Nervous surface bait deserves a blind cast. Thousands of Whites could be under that bait. Feed frenzies will soon follow. Fish the edges first and sneak up to the frenzy. Noise puts them down often. Let your offering sink before retrieves. Count down to different depths until you hit.

For decades we have snorkeled the San Marcos River to study the fish populations. You learn much in this crystal clear environment. We go a place you may think is crazy. Suspended under grass mats and Elephant ears are some whopper Bass, Perch, Cats and Drum. Gar and eels, large Prawn and Crawfish abound. This is a great way to see why a cast must not only entice, but placement and weighting is critical for educated fish that have seen everything. This can help you in your tying strategies. Our son has caught Bass at arm length on hand lines, to test his flies! You can touch some of these fish. It is like a huge aquarium-always at 71 degrees!

The main thing to remember is adaptation. Top water is fun and my favorite way to fish but if you want to get dog day, or dead winter fish, usually think deep. Put that fly where it will cross paths with your quarry. The percentages go up as casting accuracy and depth requirements put you where the rubber meets the road.

Top of the day to you and teach a kid to fish soon. There is no better place to talk to kids about life and fishing. It has always been a noble thing indeed.