The Bro’s flyrod had a good bend in it, because a nice trout was at the other end of the line, and not for the first time that day. He was sitting in his canoe on our favorite pond, which at the time he was sharing with a few other anglers, none of whom were having any success. The pond was calm and voices traveled, so the Bro could hear someone in another canoe say, “Jeez, he’s got another one!”

The Bro is a watchful guy. The reason he was catching fish when other anglers were not, was that he saw what was going on, both on the water and in the water. On the water the silent rises, with only the occasional dorsal breaking the surface, indicated the trout were feeding just under the surface, taking emergers before they could wriggle out of their shucks. So the thing was, if you didn’t get a look under the water to see what the trout were feeding on you probably wouldn’t catch any fish, because they were being highly selective. This is a first principle: match the hatch. Yet it’s amazing how many anglers simply guess at it and don’t take the trouble to watch carefully, to look under the surface. The Bro is patient. He takes the time, makes the effort, instead of just paddling out there and whipping the water. So he catches fish.

That day, the big trout were munching on a small delicacy matched by a size 18 emerger. Nothing else would do, and when the Bro found a good match in his flybox he started getting results. He didn’t get a lot of fish, but the ones he got were quality, the sort of fish that anglers ice down and rush to taxidermy artist Dave Footer.

Catch the fly first. Then you’ll catch the fish.