The Rise: What can we learn?

I am new to trout fishing. The last two weeks I have been exposed to two different trout rises and takes. Neither time have I been able to observe what was on the water. Little brownish flys were in the air.

The first week I what I would describe as a ballistic rise (take). It was if rocks were being thrown in the water. Very large splashes and loud noise in the water were this rises trademark.

This week the rise was that of whale scooping up krill. The fish came to the surface with its mouth open, dorsal and tail fins above water. It would stay above water briefly and then quietly submerge. Again I did not see anything on the water but there was a cloud of flys above.

My buddy says it is different stages in the fly life cycle and I would agree, but what stages. Any help/comments are appreciated.

Mark, You might want to check out the Orvis web site. Go to flyfishing section, lower right hand corner is articles section, click on fly fishing guide, then go to chapter 7 part 1. talks about several different kinds of rises and what they might indicate. Hope these articles help you Terry

Were you fishing moving water or a lake? It's been my experience that trout make loud splashy takes when the bugs break the surface and are about to fly off. If they are taking the emerging insects they will typically not break the surface unless it is with their back. But if bugs were in the air then something was coming off or already finished. If the fish were keying on adult bugs, or spent bugs on the surface for that matter, you should have been able to spot insects on the water. I would fish a dry fly on top and an emerger on a dropper. And really exagerate the downstream drift as to let the dropper really emerge. The way the bugs fly about also gives you info. Were they flying erratically all around or were they sort of jumping up and down in the air?

Your whale scooping krill take makes me think of a still water farm raised stockers fish. Or a big lake or reservoir fish. I don't have much experience with them but I would imagine matching the bugs in the air and dropping an emerger would be the ticket.