Recently I’ve been amazed by the number of flies and rigs that anglers have left hanging on streamside trees and bushes. On one stretch of water that I frequent on a weekly basis, I’ll usually see a number of hanging patterns, so I wade across the stream and cut them free. The flies are in great shape since they’ve only been there for less than seven days (since the last time I waded across and cut them from the same spot). Sure enough, there will be in the same spots the time I show up. And it’s easy to wade across and retrieve the pattern, so I can’t understand why these patterns are left to hang.
I have heard numerous fly fishers criticize spin and bait anglers for throwing trash on the ground as well as leaving large bobbers and monofilament in the trees. This garbage becomes an eye sore for the next angler travelling through, and there’s always the possibility of a bird accidentally eating the bait or lure hanging on the tree. In that case, the tree becomes a literal “hanging tree,” where bird corpses hang. One year, I cut down four dead swallows that mistook a hanging fly for a live insect.
Keep reading here
