One of the greatest ongoing mysteries in fly fishing is why trout eat our flies at all. In a resource-rich river, what triggers a trout to choose our fly over the real thing?

Sometimes our presentation of the fly is so dead-on that it is purely convincing. A trout believes it sees another natural, so it eats. Other times, our presentation, or the fly itself, is unusual enough — without being threatening — that a trout is simply curious. It sees our fly as something that might be food, and it can’t resist the instinct to test something out.

So whether they’re convinced or curious, we find trout at the end of our line by fooling them on a fly. And sometimes, it’s that intersection of the two states that elicits the irresistible urge from a fish. Trout eating on the drop is one of those times.

Let’s talk about it . . .

The Drop

Flies falling through the water column — that’s the drop. But like anything else that matters in this game, the nuances are critically important.

How far is the drop?

What’s the speed of the drop?

And is the drop under tension or purely a free fall?

Anglers who are well-versed in various styles of fishing make the best fly fishermen. Experience and understanding of what makes so many fishing methods produce provides the dedicated angler unlimited avenues for creativity. Discovering crossover tactics or combinations of techniques is what keeps the fly fishing game fresh for so many of us.

How the flies, lure or bait drop through the water is talked about across fishing styles. And it pays to consider why and when a trout might eat our fly on the drop.

Still water and river anglers alike see the fish’s tendency to eat  as the offering falls through the water column. When a fish responds, the angler repeats and then refines the presentation until it becomes a repeatable tactic to be called upon from a list of the many proven methods for fooling a fish.

The drop is a deadly look. And in some fashion or another, it has produced in every way I’ve ever fished — from a spinning rod, to a bait caster to a fly rod.

Photo by Josh Darling

Drop Distance

Imagine a nymphing presentation, with the goal to get the fly very near the bottom — in the strike zone. The drop distance, then, is (nearly) the full depth of the column. Is the water three feet deep? Then the drop distance is about three feet.

Now imagine a streamer that has quickly gained the bottom in that same three feet of water. Sure, it dropped those three feet through the column, like the nymph, but nothing ate it. Now let’s jig the streamer up two feet and let it fall. That drop distance is two feet to the bottom. Jig the streamer up a foot next time, and the drop distance is cut in half.

This is the measure of drop distance. And for these examples, let’s stick with nymphs on a tight line and streamers.

After a nymph drops through the column and into the strike zone, we establish a dead drift. Then, maybe halfway through that drift, we lift the nymph six inches. If we relax the tension, we then have six inches of drop available.

A trout may well eat on this short drop, while the same trout may have rejected a longer drop on earlier drifts. These specifics are what make the advanced fly fishing game forever addicting to lifetime anglers.

Drop Speed

Let’s get back to that nymph in three feet of water. Upon entry, we want the nymph near the bottom. But how fast do we want it there?

This is another option for the angler — another decision in our hands that can turn an average day into an amazing one.

Do we want a drop rate of one-inch per second? If so, then we want the fly achieving the bottom on a three count. Or do we want it slower? Perhaps twice as long?

Slower drop rates give a trout longer chances to see the fly above them — more time for making the mistake of eating our fly. Faster drop rates take the fly through the water more quickly — the trout may see it dropping for shorter periods, but they see it drifting in the strike zone for longer intervals. These, again, are the decisions we make.

READ: Troutbitten | Six Ways to Get Your Fly Deeper

Adding more weight is just one way to get the fly deeper. Surely the most obvious, additional weight is a simple way to increase the drop rate. But there are others. Reduce the material resistance of both the fly and the line. Enter that fly and its companion tippet in just one seam to reduce the effects of cross currents. Or provide the fly grace to fall (slack), without tension from the line.

That concept of tension brings us to the last fundamental consideration for the drop . . .

Photo by Josh Darling

Free Fall or Tension Drop?

A fly can drop through the water in one of two ways: It can fall without tension — free fall. Or it can fall under tension.

And while a tension drop has varying degrees that might slow the drop and alter the progress of the fly, the free fall is exactly what it sounds like. It’s a drop where the fly falls, as though unattached to our tippet. And there is only one version of a true free fall.

How do we get the free fall? Understanding line, leader and tippet manipulation is beyond the scope of this article, but I’ve written a lot about using a tuck cast on a nymph and about leaders designed for the purpose of providing slack at just the right time and place for a nymph or streamer to free fall.

READ: Troutbitten | Design and Function of the Troutbitten Standard Mono Rig
READ: Troutbitten | Is a Soft and Thin Sighter Best? Not Always
READ: Troutbitten | Fly Fishing Strategies — The Tuck Cast

Likewise, a streamer that is lifted and then allowed to fall is following the time-tested tactic of jigging. Because, across all fishing styles, jigging just works.

READ: Troutbitten | Streamer Presentations — Jigging the Streamer

Lifting the fly is more straightforward. But how should that fly fall downward again? Do we want it to free fall, or should it drop under tension? Both presentations produce different results and responses from the trout.

By using various combinations of rod tip motion and stripping, we are in control of the drop on a streamer. Provide a touch of slack, and the streamer free falls quickly back into position. But hold a degree of tension to the fly after the lift, and the fly falls under tension, moving forward — or toward the attached line. These are radically different looks to the fish, and the trout’s day-to-day response proves it.

READ: Troutbitten | Nymphing — Free Fall and the Drift

Why Do They Eat On the Drop?

This is a question with more theories than sure-things. But one popular answer is that dead and dying baitfish fall to the riverbed.

Sure they do. And how fast is that fall? Do nymphs look the same when they die? And do trout recognize it?

Or, do trout take a fast falling nymph because it looks like a caddis swimming down to lay eggs? Some caddis species do this, but not all.

Does a hapless nymph, dislodged from its rock-hold and tossed around by the turbulence, swim down to regain a foothold on the next rock? Probably.

What other events look like a fly dropping through the water column? Not many. But perhaps that is enough.

And maybe — just maybe — a falling fly checks the boxes of both convincing and curious. Maybe trout eat on the drop because it looks familiar. And when you combine that with the various ways we can change the drop distance, the drop speed and the drop tension, we have enough tools and options at our disposal to make a trout very, very curious.

Fish hard, friends.

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Enjoy the day.
Domenick Swentosky
T R O U T B I T T E N
domenick@troutbitten.com