by Ryan Bailey
After 20 years or so, I’ve picked fly fishing up again. And with that comes re-learing. We’re not all guides (like on Instagram) that instantly know where to cast, how to tie knots by some magical twisting of your mouth, or lastly what to fish when. There were more than a couple summers when fishing was really slow. But in my opinion I had to put the time in. I had to find places to fish (google places to fish in Colorado to get a laugh).
But, the process began and I started to put in the time. My skills improved. My fly collection improved. My fishing got better and I was landing a lot more fish. During the summer, I was really getting the hang of it. Fall came with a drop in water levels and air temps. Fall and winter came and went, with more skiing and working than fishing. In fact, I didn’t really go fishing at all and forgot a lot of the information I spent the summer learning.
Eventually, the temps warmed back up and the rivers cleared of ice welcoming dry fly action once again. I headed to my favorite (not so) secret spots recommended by Google’s 4.5 stars and started tossing bugs. I made a beeline straight to the exact pools, riffles and cutbanks I hammered the previous summer. But something was different. My success tumbled. The same places that were so successful and landing 10 fish a day, was now mysteriously dead. Not a bite. Why?
So I would drive home second guessing myself the whole way home. Wasn’t this where I had so much success? Well not exactly. The water seemed a little lower. Last time, a caddis could float under the bank, but water was flowing over the grass this trip. I continued second guessing. Caddis – wait was it an ant last summer? With wings? The caddis was at the other spot. You know, the one by the highway and weird tree. And the water was colored and murky this time, too.
On and on it went until my next outing. Trying to remember what had worked so well. The second guessing continued by frantically changing all of the variables on the river until I had some hits. Toward the end of the summer, my success started to rise again as flows, bugs, and fish were more predictable.
Then it hit me. If I could make the rest of the year predictable, it would be so much more fun. I started taking note of CFS. Just knowing how much water was flowing helped locate places I could actually wade. With this number, I knew precisely when my favorite cut banks opened up. I started to log my fishing days. That’s when I became a Flogger. Maybe that’s not a thing, but a fishing log is. And I lovingly refer to mine as a flog.
Each time I went out and caught a fish, I started logging what I thought was important. Air temp, CFS, where I was (and which super secret pull-off). Now I describe water condition and clarity too. There is a lot of information you can track. Sometimes I’ll even make a note of a physical feature to hit next time. My flog also has a space to name which fly pattern was used. But if you’re anything like me, flies are really easy to get mixed up once they’re in your box. I can’t remember anything other than elk hair caddis. A hopper? Moorish has the fluff on top, right? No wait, that is a Chubby. So I would just put my best guess into my flog for next time at the fly shop.
It is a lot easier to go into a fly shop knowing what to look for rather than trying to name a fly from a summer ago. I once went into a fly shop and asked to be pointed in the direction of a parachute adams. “You’re in luck, we just got some in ” and the fly geek walked me over and pulled a couple of size 18s out for me. Seeing the pictures on the nearby empty slots, it was then I realized this was not the bug I was looking for. Instead I now purchased and to add to my collection of 30 size 18 parachute adams. My point is, fly shops have all kinds of names and variations, but I’m looking for silhouettes and sizes.
That leads to the best part of my flog. There is a 2 inch square blank spot for notes and sketches. Now I am no Monet (maybe a little more Picasso) but I can get my point across. So I will use this area to sketch the most successful bug of the day. Sketching can also remind me of what my rig looked like for nymph fishing. I can use my sketches to remember exactly which bug I need to purchase.
The flog also helps me predict exactly how to target fish from the information last year or last trip. Now, before heading out to my favorite stream or river, I will take a look back into my flog and brush up on successful flies, temperature, time, CFS and date from a previous trip with similar weather and water. My success has skyrocketed. I’m having way more hookups and a lot more fun.
Someday when it is full, my flog will have years of fishing data, notes, sketches and anecdotes. It will be able to tell my fishing stories better than I can. There are plenty of apps out there to drop a pin and remember everything all at once. But coming home and recounting my latest fishing success in a log has become a habit. It is a habit I have come to enjoy. Next time you’re recapping your most recent angling experience, jot down a few of the other important details you think will be useful to future you. Use the info you have, to inform yourself in preparation for fish of a lifetime…..next time.
Bio:
My name is Ryan Bailey and I am an example of the transplants that move to Colorado and pick up all of the outdoor activities. I head to the water about once a week for most months of the year. I prefer small stream fishing and the strike on a dry fly.
