Unorthodox Fly Casting

Stake Lake

My friend Pete and I were fishing Stake Lake located about 12 miles from the city of Kamloops, B.C. It was a clear, serene body of water which was surrounded by stands of spruce, pine and grassy meadows. This 60 acre lake has a mean depth of 12 to13 feet and produces trout from 2 to 3 pounds with the occasional lunker of 4 to 5 pounds. We anticipated good fishing as we slid my 12 foot High Laker into the water. 

Since there was little evidence of surface activity, we began to troll Carey Specials. However, after an hour of trolling a sedge hatch suddenly erupted. Fish began to cruise near the surface taking the emerging adults aggressively. We quickly anchored, tied on green sedges and began to cast. Pete was an unorthodox caster and he began to splash and flail the water with determination, so I politely mentioned that he was spooking the fish. 

He quickly responded, “You fish your way and I’ll fish my way.” 

I just shrugged my shoulders and kept casting, but kept a watchful eye out for his awkward presentations. As we continued to bicker back and forth, his next attempt slammed the surface, and as I began to chastise him, a fish amazingly took his fly on the back cast. I was dumbfounded, and as he landed and released a nice 4 pounder, he said, 

“Doug, If you’re gonna catch fish, you’ve gotta get their attention first!”