Although there is still a bit of snow up in the hills, winter is all but an unpleasant memory. On the other hand, sometimes I feel like the season, and the years, are just flying by all too fast. Maybe it has something to do with getting older.For a fair number of years now, I have been concentrating most of my fishing efforts on a group of small, adjoining lakes known as the Dee Lake chain. Each lake, in its own way, represents a plethora of different types of fishing opportunities.Dee Lake itself is a shallow little lake with fallen trees lining almost the entire shoreline. Island Lake, named because of the island at the far end just before the channel that leads into Crooked Lake, has two distinctly different weed beds on either side of the island that are inhabited by a multitude of sub-aquatic insects. Crooked Lake is little more than a wide channel that connects Island with Deer Lake, although fish regularly travel back and forth between the two lakes. Rising out of the dark stained waters of Crooked Lake are a fair number of deadfalls that make it dangerous to fish when the sun has gone down – when the fish are most actively feeding. The waters of Deer Lake are so clear that a bad cast, or too many false casts will most certainly spook the fish. Over the past three or four years I have made a concerted effort to try and figure out (and remember) how to read the waters of each lake.Quite simply, learning how to read the waters of any lake requires little more than a simple, basic understanding of how to identify fish-holding waters. Such an understanding is achieved, in part, by making observations and remembering/recording your observations so that you have an idea where the fish might be on subsequent trips.Ultimately, it is the ability to make a calculated guess as to where the fish might be – and what they are most likely to be feeding on.Although fish are relatively opportunistic feeders, I have found that they can also be quite selective. Fish are, by their very nature, relatively wary creatures. If you want to catch fish, you have to think like a fish. So look for areas where there is natural protective cover for both insects and fish, and you will likely find a number of fish hanging around – fish that feel safe and secure enough to venture out from their protective cover to go after something to eat. Now I know there are all sorts of very successful anglers out there who are, well let’s just say very diligent about gathering all sorts of information about when certain insect hatches come off and the migration patterns of fish feeding within a given body of water. I also know that if you save such information in a fishing journal, it can reap huge dividends. I’ve tried recording such information. But mostly, I’m just as happy when I find any sort of notation scribbled down on a piece of paper in my Woods fishing gear bag, and, am able to read my own handwriting.All I know for sure is that if fish appear to be rising to some sort of small, pale greenish-brown coloured insect with mottled wings lying flat along its back, I don’t really care if it’s a caddis fly or a horsefly, as long as I can match the natural with one of the fly patterns in my fly box. Because, after all, when it comes right down to it, knowing how to read the waters is as much about taking the time to make the observations as it is about taking time to write them down. More than anything else, I’m happy just to be out on the water casting my line – whether the fish are feeding or not.

Salmon Arm Observer