Slow catches fish.

Fast is glamorous. Fast is easy. Fast doesn’t require as much nuance or patience. Fast catches fish as well, but fast is like the sports highlight: it happened and it was memorable. However the majority of the game was much more reasonably paced.

For every strike that follows a wake-inducing, double-fisted retrieve, there are dozens more that follow a slow hand punctuated with subtle taps and pauses. Fast has its’ time and place. Quickly turning to a blazing retrieve can be a sign of impatience. Perhaps it is a way of attempting to leverage effort into a fish biting. This, of course, is illogical. It is a classic example of working harder and not smarter.

There are plenty of reasons why you should slow down your retrieve under most circumstances. You know you should. Sometimes, though, it helps to have the why behind the what. Here are three things that might help you keep slow in mind when popping that popper or stripping that streamer.

What you imitate lives more slow than fast.

Baitfish can move quickly. Under certain circumstances a minnow can really move. But especially in freshwater, they often don’t. They prefer to zip out of immediate danger and into cover. Sculpins don’t live their lives torpedoing inches below the water’s surface. Crayfish hop once or twice, then take a break.

Imitation is the name of the game. So imitate. If you have to reinforce this concept by watching baitfish and other forage species; do it. Your quarry will attack wild, stimulating flies. Older (bigger) have been around the block. They know what to expect, and that is what they are looking for.

Your fly is always moving more than you think.

Good flies attract fish passively. Marabou pulsates, rubber legs drift upward, and feather fibers release bubbles trapped from your cast. All of that is incredibly seductive to a fish, and you don’t have to do anything to make it happen. The current does it. Even in still water, the delicate and unseen movement of the water makes a fly move enough to trigger  a strike.

Streamers bob, weave, and jerk as you are gently fishing out a steady upstream or cross-stream retrieve. Big rod-tip sweeps and kicks are often overkill. If anything, they can eliminate the nuance produced by a well designed fly.

The fish usually  prefer an easier meal.

This article is being written in early May… in New England. While bass, panfish, and trout are already really moving in the bulk of the US, most fish are just waking up around here. Although fish are simple creatures, they’ve been created to do a couple of things very well. They stay alive, they spawn, and they eat. Eating can’t put staying alive at risk. There is a metabolic equation that fish brains are capable of, wherein they can calculate what is worth chasing and what isn’t. In temperature extremes or harsh conditions, that means a fast retrieve necessitating a fast pursuit just doesn’t add up.

Extrapolate that all down to normal circumstances, and the truth remains: fish like slow. Slow means easier, and slow means more calories stay in the tank.