The Five-step Run

Always have a plan when you approach a run in the river.

When I’m reading water and approaching a run in a river, I like to use a five-step approach.

Say there’s a rock creating the run against a bank; a current seam sweeps outside the run and an eddy forms inside toward the bank. How do you plan your casts?

If you’re like most anglers, you’d like to catch two or three fish out of this run, so step one is to cast to the tailout of the seam. You’ll often find the biggest fish here. Be cautious and deliberate; shallow, slower water tends to make fish–especially larger, older fish–more skittish and selective.

Step two and three are casts following the seam upstream, toward the rock. Odds are the biggest fish in the run is somewhere in this area if he isn’t at the tailout.

Another place the big boy might be is in the eddy, likely feeding against the current, facing downstream. That’s my step-four cast, into the eddy, paying out line back toward the rock as the eddy sucks it upstream.

Step five is a well-placed cast or two on the cushion in front of the rock. Always fish the front of the rock and the front of the run.

Always have a plan when you approach a run in the river: where to cast first, where to cast last, where you intend to land a fish, if hooked. “Making it up as you go” is not a plan…

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To read more fly-fishing tips from Kirk Deeter, check out The Little Red Book of Fly Fishing.