a river holding lie. But why would the fish prefer to, or ONLY rise at particular points in that route? No one will ever know. But it seems possible that some combination of bottom structure giving clues of security or familiarity, and perhaps simple habit, a spot where, because of the hatch, the wind, whatever, they associate that spot with food and therefore look up harder there, and take whatever IS there. In these rich, alkaline waters, there is something to eat in just about every inch of surface. Perhaps it is just timing. They cruise for awhile, then look up, then repeat, and it works out the same every trip around the circuit. Not all lake fish stake out and cruise, even defend, territory continuously or consistently, just as all river fish do not maintain and defend holding lies continuously. There is movement and change during the day from shallows to deep, or from active feeding on a heavy hatch to slower, more opportunistic cruising, and so forth. But, as with river fish, it is often the largest fish that do stake out desirable territory. And, most importantly to the fisherman, while the patterned, cruising, territorial fish may be only a fraction of the lake's population, it is exactly those fish that have developed a visible and predictable feeding pattern that are most vulnerable and susceptible. Also, understanding this pattern has, for me, solved a number of questions and puzzles I have developed over the years while chasing rise patterns in lakes, especially the repetitive rises in one spot, and has given me a whole new structure of thought, and strategy, in approaching these situations. I believe this territorial behavior breaks down in deep water when fish are cruising randomly just under the surface and have lost meangingful contact with bottom structure, and hold most true in shallow water when fish are cruising along bottom structure but still rising to the surface, especially when channeled along natural borders. In an open lake without surface clues, it would be impossible to identify and keep the fly in a taking point long enough for the fish to cruise back around. In the arid west, there are literally thousands of shallow and alkaline, that is, rich and productive lakes. Most of us can remember many times when we have seen rising fish, and mysteriously some rises seemingly always in one particular spot. That spot is not just where the fish was, but more importantly, exactly where in a few minutes that fish will be again, looking for something to which to rise. Trump Doyle McKenzie Flyfishers
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