Jason's Question:

Hi Mark. My name is Jason and I'm a 16 year-old from Utah and I was wondering if you could give me some tips on how to fish certain flies like Mosquitoes and Elk Hair Caddis. Sometimes I have luck with them and sometimes I don't, even when I see fishermen catching fish with the same flies. I would love to get some advice from someone with more experience than me.

Jason

Mark's Answer:

Jason,

You've hit upon one facet of why those others are catching fish with the same fly: experience.

When they were 16 years old, they were also wondering why those other older men upstream fishing the same fly were catching more flies.

And adult beginners can learn a thing or two from fishing more days than just sitting around reading a book (not that there's anything wrong with that, mind you).

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But there is no substitute for"fishing."

Two tips to consider: If you fish dry flies and they drag in the water as you float them downstream, the fish are unlikely to find them natural and appealing.

Make sure the presentation of your flies is as drag-free as it can be — that makes the fly appear more like the natural insects it imitates.

The second tip concerns how to make the flies like the Mosquito and Elk Hair Caddis move in a natural manner.

Mosquitoes land lightly on the water and tend to land on still or glassy water more than moving water. Consider keeping your line short and "dapping" the mosquito flies on the water.

And with the Elk Hair Caddis, change things up and don't always fish it conventionally. Let it drift downstream of you and then slowly retrieve the fly upstream (against the current) by "walking" it back to you. The reason is that Caddis flies will often move against the current in a skittering fashion laying their eggs.

The trout know this and you would be surprised how often this trick works.