Low River Flows Are The Biggest Enemy to Drift Fishing For Trout

In the fall of the year, river flows are normally at one of their lowest points, which can make drift fishing much more difficult.  Why is it that low river flows are a problem?  Because, low river flows mean that you will get snagged much more often and getting snagged can be a frustrating experience.  Heck, it can become so frustrating that becoming snagged almost every cast has caused be to change my technique or just bag a day of fishing in some extreme cases.

So how should we approach the biggest enemy of drift fishing so that this doesn't happen to you? The first thing that needs to be done is to use less weight on your line.  As you probably know, we suggest using split shot sinkers or tape lead to add weight to your line and during the fall you should begin with less weight that you think you are going to need.  It's much quicker and easier to add weight that it is to re-tie you rig, so starting with a minor amount of weight is imperative anytime that you are drift fishing in low river flows.

Next we have making sure that you have plenty of "extra's" on hand anytime that you are drift fishing in low river flows.  Because low flows mean more snags, it also means that you will more than likely be re-tying your rig more often due to getting snagged on bottom, which means that you need to make sure that you have plenty of split shot sinkers, swivels, and extra gang hooks on hand for re-tying. I have learned from experience that the best course of action when I become snagged on the bottom is to simply grab my line with my hand, pull it until it releases from bottom or the line breaks. When the line breaks, I quickly re-tie and keep fishing, rather than trying to save a rig by getting upset or "spooking" the hole that I am fishing.

The bottom line is that the fall means that you are going to be dealing with low river flows and thus when it comes to drift fishing, you are going to get snagged on the bottom much more often.  The good thing is that the trout fishing is usually good enough that getting snagged and re-tying alot is something that we all will happily live with.