Bubbles

It has been a while since I've shared some tips to up your fly fishing game. While reading is helpful, it doesn't replace in-person coaching via a guided experience. I'm glad to help with that as well, of course. However, sometimes figuring things out at least a little on your own brings joy to the journey. If you need just a little guidance to steer your fishing in more productive directions, this blog post is for you.

While dead drifting (or otherwise) our flies on mountain streams and even larger rivers, we are normally looking for current seams. These changes in current speed (and sometimes even direction) are usually where trout like to hang out, mostly for obvious reasons. They can sit on the "slow" side, expending much less energy than if they sit on the "fast" side. When food drifts by, the fish can dart out, grab it, then go back to a more or less resting position. This is just part of very basic theory on reading water, something most of you have already heard many times.

The thing that has occurred to me recently is that very few people can recognize bubbles, or more accurately, bubble lines. Bubbles are often the best place to fish on a mountain stream. The slower the bubbles are moving, the better, especially if they coincide with deeper water. People also don't recognize back eddies. 

Most people look at current tongues, and while that isn't wrong, the focus is often on less productive portions of those current tongues. The heart of the current tongue will hold fish, sometimes even a lot of fish. However, the edges, precisely where those bubbles are, will generally hold a lot more fish.

Now, when I say bubbles, I probably should clarify a bit. What I often refer to as bubble lines on our trout streams are probably more like foam bubble lines. The bubbles are often small bits of foam that are floating along down the edges of the heavier currents. Most current tongues have at least one dominant foam/bubble line on one side or the other, but most have one on each side. The foam bubbles are generally white here in the Smokies. On tailwaters, this time of year in particular, they can take on a dirty white color sometimes even tinged with yellows or browns. In the mountains, that can also happen as more and more leaves fall in the streams, turning everything into a natural tea. 

Sometimes, these foam bubbles are swept into back eddies. These almost stationary foam bubbles that slowly swirl in a circle can be some of the very best spots...if there is decent depth. Brook trout in particular like eddies, but both rainbows and browns will utilize them also. 

Bubbles are probably most important in the transition seasons. Trout in the spring and fall are more likely to be in locations with intermediate water speeds. In the heat of summer, go ahead and throw your fly right in that fast current. In the winter, you better be fishing the slowest and deepest portions of a pool, at least if water temperatures are cold. But in spring and fall, fish will be transitioning between these two water types, and bubble lines will show you the way to the fish.

Along with those bubble lines, look for buckets. What I mean by a bucket is a small to medium sized depression on the bottom that is deeper than all the surrounding water. If there is a nice sized pocket with good current throughout with an obvious bubble line on both sides, the side that also features a bucket with the bubble line directly overhead will have nearly all of the fish in the pool. If the pool lacks a bucket, go for the deeper side, even if the current is uniform. 

All of this isn't to say that fish won't be on the shallow side or that fish won't also live in places other than those buckets, but that type of water will usually hold more and better fish than some of the more marginal water. In other words, if you throw 10 casts in a pool, put 7 on the better side and 3 on the less likely side.

Finally, all of this is well and good, but won't do you any good if you don't get out on the water. I hope these tips help, but the best teacher is simply putting in your time on the water. Get out there and fish!

Here are some examples of the bubbles I was referring to...

"The "bubble" line has been circled. ©2024 David Knapp Photography

"Up close look at the bubbles." ©2024 David Knapp Photography

"Smokies rainbow caught in a bubble line." ©2024 David Knapp photography