Julie's Question:

How long should I try a fly over a likely spot? I never know whether I change too quickly or try too long with a loser.

Julie Book

Mark's Answer:

Julie,

Likely-looking spots hold trout, plain and simple. It may be that they are not taking your imitation for any number of reasons.

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Maybe you spooked the fish by lining him, throwing a shadow on the water, dragging the fly. Perhaps you are fishing an adult mayfly pattern but the hatch stage is in the nymphal phase.

It could be that the trout is keeping a low profile and the only way to get him to feed is to strip a big streamer through the lie.

If I am catching a fair amount of trout along this river or lake on this day, am doing so with the fly I have tied on and I come to a likely-looking spot and don't get a hit on the first couple of"good" casts, I usually tie on a dropper beadhead nymph and run it through the holding spot again a couple of times.

If I get the fish to show interest, I'm planting myself there and taking the challenge. If I get no strikes, no movement, unless I feel like changing the rig to a heavy streamer, I move on and enjoy catching different fish on the same water.