Its the time of year for me that plays tricks with my eyes and I always seem to forget about it. Spring can be tough with ever changing lighting conditions and the lengthening of the days and shadows. I often find myself in situations where even when fishing the same area for a lengthened amount of time I hit periods where it is just damn hard to see the fly. Thats when I start using this very simple and sometimes overlooked trick. I change all the post on my dries with high visibility materials. In the photo above you are looking at a batch of Ausable Bombers I spun up using different colored Calf Tail. The one I tend to go to most is at the bottom of the picture where I combine two different colors for a contrast effect. With that said I always have a few colors on hand during these conditions because certain colors will show up better in different conditions. Something so simple can make a big difference when it comes to being able to locate your fly in low light, particularly in the turbid water conditions we often have during the spring in my part of the woods. Its also great if you’re fishing with someone whose vision just isn’t quite the same as it used to be. I have not personally found a situation where I thought a fish was less likely to take the fly with these bright colors, I don’t subscribe to that theory. After all, if the flies work as designed the fish won’t see the posts if they are laying on the water as intended. 


fly fishing