As I’m wading in the river and looking upstream, I intently watch one my best friends as he nymphs the beautiful river run in front of him that is loaded with trout. His fly presentation looks perfect: makes a flawless cast upstream, he’s nymphing right on the bottom where he should be, mends his line at all the right times to achieve a dead drift downstream, and is using the right size and pattern nymphs imitating exactly what the trout are currently feeding on. I watch him over and over again make perfect drifts but he can’t seem to catch a fish. Why can’t he catch a fish even though his presentation is perfect? Because he’s only fishing ten feet out in front of him.
I can’t stress enough how important it is to not spook trout while wading. Your presentation can be perfect, but if you scare the trout that you’re fishing for before you even cast, you’ll never catch anything. So how close can you wade to trout without spooking them? Well, that varies greatly and depends on a few factors described below.
The first depending factor is how noisy you are. Trout are incredibly effective at sensing movement and can feel the vibrations of you wading through the water. If you’re splashing water with your footsteps, breaking branches as you walk, and slipping off rocks, you’ll likely send every trout within fifty feet of you running for cover. However, trout are used to hearing natural disturbances so as long as the trout didn’t see you and the disturbances are occasional and inconsistent, trout will likely resume to feeding within a few minutes.
The second depending factor is the section of the river you are fishing. You’ll have to be extra quiet while wading through a very slow pool because noise will travel further in calm, consistent water. But you often can make a lot of noise while fishing a very fast riffle because noise will not travel very far because there is a lot of water disturbances. The currents are noisier, rocks also tend to roll along the bottom, and branches tend to bump into rocks more in fast water, so trout are also more accustomed to hearing more noise in fast water as well.
The third depending factor is water clarity. If the river is gin clear, trout may see you moving twenty five feet away. But if the water is very muddy, trout may not even see you when your five feet away. Other things to consider are what you are wearing and the location of your shadow. Trout can see color, so you want to wear natural colors that blend in with the background that you are fishing. For example, if you’re fishing on a heavily wooded stream, where a brown color that will blend in with the brown tree bark behind you. Trout are also very sensitive to shadows so you always want your shadow to stay off the water that you are targeting. Water that is moving fast breaks up the water’s surface so trout cannot see objects out of the water very far in fast water. However, in a slow pool with a very calm surface, trout will be able to see objects out of the water very easily.
The fourth depending factor is the direction you are fishing. Unlike our eyes which are both located on the front of our heads, a trout’s eyes are located on both sides of its head. This means trout can see about three hundred and thirty three degrees around their body and only have a very narrow blind spot directly behind them. If you’re targeting trout that are in front of you or below you, you’ll have to stay further back.. However, you can get very close to trout that are directly above you as long as you are quiet.
Considering all of the above factors, conditions, and provided that you are quiet while wading, I think the following wading distances are necessary to avoid spooking fish:
· Cast about thirty feet out and further in slow water.
· Cast about twenty feet out and further in fast water.
More information on trout nymphing can be found in my guide book SIMPLE NYMPHING FOR TROUT IN RIVERS & STREAMS.
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