Reading Water: Picking Your Cast

Every stretch of river tells you where the fish are holding if you slow down and read it. Seams where fast water meets slow, the soft pocket behind a boulder, the shaded cut bank -- that is where a trout waits for the current to bring it dinner.

Work the near water first. Anglers wade in and cast to the far bank while a fat fish sits at their feet, spooked before the first drift.

Match the drift to the current so the fly moves like the real thing. A dead drift, no drag, and a little patience will out-fish a fancy cast almost every day.

Written by Delia Marsh for Hunters & Anglers Kitchen.