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Un Matching the Hatch Techniques – How to Catch more Trout
OK if you have read my last post on matching the hatch techniques you may have wondered what happens when I have tried every fly in the box that looks close to the insects hatching but I am still not getting any takes. Well then that is when you change tactics and try un matching the hatch techniques.
When you are an accomplished angler you will have an array of items with you when fishing that cover all sorts of situations and in that arsenal, you will probably have different types of tippet or leader materials and you will be considering changing line colors. You may try floating your flies with floatants or trying to sink them further with different poly leaders and trying to get that all illusive trout to take your fly. It is times like this when you have gone through your usual changes that you are thinking it’s time to pack up and go home. However, rather than doing that there is one more thing to try.
So what is un matching the hatch techniques?
Just as before when we tried to match the hatch as closely as possible, this is when we now try to go the other direction and get something completely opposite to the hatching insects. This sounds easy but a bit of thought is required. You have a few things to consider the color, the size and the shape of the insect that is hatching. All these things need to be reversed or changed considerably to invoke a response from the trout.
For example, the insect hatching is a very small black midge fly, you may want to try something a lot larger and lighter in color or even try fluorescent colours which are worth a go to help get the trout’s attention. You can fish this fly singly or in a team of two or three flies. You can also try the other flies as close to the hatch as possible as before with the last flight on the leader your new un-matched fly. The trout will have seen your close approximations swimming past them and ignored them but then your exaggerated fly passes by them they are inclined to take a closer look and it is then that they may take the fly. As with all fishing techniques, there is no exact process for this you just need to try to learn how trout react to certain color and sizes when there is a hatch on that you can’t get a bite with when matching the hatch.
What about the fly movement?
Another thing to think about is retrieving type. You need to study the movement of the hatching insects and try to exaggerate the movement of the fly as much as possible away for the natural movement of the fly. You could be in the middle of a buzzer hatch and the water is still and the buzzers are coming to the surface slowly and getting sucked up by the trout very easily. You have tried to mimic the buzzer in size, color and speed of movement but you have not received any takes.
It’s now time to try the reverse and put on a large green or yellow fly that floats on the top with a bit of a wake when retrieved. This should encourage the trout to take notice and start to follow the retrieve. If they do take notice but still not taking try changing the retrieve by making it faster or staggered. Hopefully, you can come up with the correct response from the trout and induce a take. If the floating option is not working put on a gold head lure and sink it down to the bottom and retrieve it through the feeding trout.
I have stripped flies across a pool as fast as I physically could when nothing was happening and have taken trout when my fishing buddies were still trying to match the hatch. It has saved me a few blank days when nothing seemed to be working and it can do the same for you.
The secret to this technique is that there is no secret you just have to think outside the box and try something different. Hopefully, you too can be successful un matching the hatch.
There is nothing more exhilerating to me that watching trout feed and not getting takes to try something completely differnet to see trout swim after my fly and turn away till I come up with the correct approach and the line tightens. All that hard work pays off in the end.
Any comments or queries leave a note below, thanks for reading.
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Lot more to emulating in front of the fish than I ever imagined! For seasoned fishers!
It would be a technique that a beginner would leave until they had mastered the basic casts and knot tying etc. Then when things are not going to plan un-matching the hatch can be used to save the day.
Fishing has been a great sport for me. Love to get outdoors and relax along the shore of a lake or river. Fly fishing sounds like work! lol One that I need to get out and learn. Thanks for the inspiration, my fisher friend.
I love fly fishing most of all as you have to keep moving, changing and testing, keeping it interesting for me. I am not a lover of sitting on the bankside with a rod or pole for hours at a time. Seems like a waste of time but I know loads of anglers love it and it is useful for disabled anglers to get out and try the sport who can’t wade in a river or are confined to a wheel chair.
I should add a disabled angler can of course fly fish from a platform or flat bottomed boat or of course the bankside and many fisheries now offer these for them.
These are intriguing concepts Mark. The more I read your posts the more I realize what an art, and a challenging one at that, fly fishing is! I love fresh fish and since I live on a river that is a challenge I have my work cut out.
One of my neighbors told me her grandfather would just go out to get a salmon for supper and be back in a short time. Now every time I see a fisher I ask them and it is always “no luck.” Except for dipping for kiack when they are running in the spring. That is easy for even a beginner.
As you have said before they are re-stocking your river so hopefully after a few years you will be able to catch and keep a few fish for the pot. There is more to fishing than catching fish as I keep saying, I have been at it for quite a while now, worked in a tackle shop for six years and I’m still learning. Every year new products, techniques and rules come into play so we as anglers have to be a flexible bunch.
We have the same problem with the walleye here on Lake Erie. Yesterday they were taking Husky Jerks trolled at 2 mph. Today no takers. That’s when we go to our bag of tricks. Sometimes just changing speed works, sometimes it’s the presentation depth or it could be the color of the lure. I usually get on the phone and find out from my fishing buddies what is working for them.
Its the sport that keeps us guessing that’s why we do it. If you are truly dedicated then you will do whatever it takes to get a catch.
The hunt is perhaps the best part to fishing….find them, get them biting…..then move for some bigger ones….all in a days fishing…match or don’t match it all depends on what the fish are telling you….they have a very subtle language….lol
Yea Tim the hunt is definitely the best part. Working out what they are telling you is not always clear though and takes years to master. Thanks for reading!
Fly fishing certainly takes more creativity than the normal style of fishing. I guess that’s what lends the intrigue of it all. thanks for the explanation.
Lisa, there is more to fishing that catching fish, it is not just fly fishing but the extra art of trying to match and un match the hatch can be a sport all on its own. The art of tying your own flies then going to a lake and catching trout on them is fantastic, it gives me a buzz that lasts for days. Thanks for stopping by!