There are two trout rivers an hour or so from home that I fish two or three times a week--mostly with friends, sometimes alone. The first couple weeks of the season were slow, an erratic assortment of small Blue Wings and midges.

Later the Light Hendricksons started and the streams rocked. I'd hit them one afternoon on one of my rivers and a late caddis hatch late the next evening on the other.

A big, persistent hatch of larger Blue Wings brought really good fish up one late afternoon several days ago. I caught a half-dozen or so fish over 12 inches, one that went 17, before storm clouds and a hard rain snuck up the valley.

Like I said, it's enough to make you suspicious.

Yesterday the sky was clear of clouds, the sun bright and the temperature was in the mid-80s. I got to the river about 6 p.m. and found a stretch where there were no cars at the usual pull-offs. That's what I look for now: Nobody.

By the time I had gotten into my waders and strung my rod, three cars drove up in a maelstrom of dust and gravel. A fourth pulled in just as I left for the river. I found a small riffle to fish and let everyone go by me. Later I caught up with the gang and was amazed.

From a certain vantage I could see upriver and into three of the very best pools that particular stretch of the river had to offer. Four of the interlopers were there, dressed about the same, tense, casting dry flies into currents that held no surface-feeding fish.

They were new, it was easy to see, inventions of the fly shops that had sold them their costumes, their rods and reels and lines, and the books and magazines they had read so earnestly during our snowy, cold spring. Only the meanest heart would not feel sympathy.

Don't get me wrong. It's OK to buy the paraphernalia of our sport, part of the magic is looking like somebody who doesn't live in the burbs or in a condo and struggle with the payments and the demands of urban life. And the people who own our fly shops are generally honest and helpful and will steer you down the right shopping roads.

And the rules! You have the learn the rules'how to present the fly, and read water, and the names of the bugs, land-based and aquatic. And once all that is done, you'll be glad to know, the fun in fishing as in life is fooling' with the rules and pushing the boundaries.

I have been both impressed and appalled by the content of fly fishing literature available to the beginning fly fisher. There certainly is a lot of it, and most of it is helpful. Some of it isn't.

Some of the education that's available isn't helpful either. There seems to be a grim boot camp mentality run amuck in the muck, a by-the-book obsession to create fly fishing robots. Relax, folks. Fishing is supposed to be fun, a lot of fun, and most of the fun doesn't have a lot to do with stickin' lots of fish or ripping lips.

So, here's the deal. Become a proficient fly caster through practice and focus on the water. Learn all you can about aquatic and terrestrial insects and how that knowledge can influence your fishing. Be educated also by the rivers and lakes you fish, learn their currents, their structure, their peculiarities as the homes of game fish.

And then start thinking about the fun you can have challenging the rules, becoming a creative fly fisher.

Here are some unruly behaviors to consider:

Stiff, high-modulus graphite fly rods are a pain to fish with if you're fishing small flies to trout on small streams. Check out the "softer" graphites being made or try a glass or bamboo rod. You'll smile more often astream, guaranteed.

Be sure that the monofilament leaders you use are turning over efficiently. Experiment with different tapers, or different leaders, if you buy the commercial ones. If you're fishing on the surface or just below, a longer tippet (three to four feet, minimum) will "soften" the impact of drag on the fly.

My friend Harry Rockwood crimps a small split shot on his leader a few inches up from a dry fly and fishes that fly on an across-and-down swing or even dead-drift to take fish that are feeding on emerging flies. Harry, why do you always tell me afterwards?

This is going to freak out the Camouflage Guys, but vastly more important than what you wearing when you fish is where you put your body in relation to the fish you are casting at. Especially in low (shallow) water situations, kneel to cast to feeding fish. A "River Runs Through It" pose, with fly line thrashing about in the air, has little to do with catching trout.

Hunker down and cast strategically to the fish you see feeding or to productive lies where you expect fish live. "Strategic" means not casting directly over fish, but rather taking a position downstream (usually) and off to the side so that the fly lands upstream of the fish and drifts over them, not your leader or line.

Most fly fishing folks think that the double haul is a casting technique used only in "big" water situations, when casting long distances or into a wind. Not true. Using an abbreviated double haul during short (10 to 30 foot) casts causes the turnover of the line to be crisper and helps the leader to straighten out faster over the target area. You might also practice using a single haul to initiate the roll cast.

If you pay attention to how fish are feeding on or under the water rather than on what, you'll be greatly and frequently rewarded. I've had it with discussions about whether the flies I use need two tails or three and I'm not interested to know what particular shade of olive is effective when fishing Baetis. I'm spending my time, thank you, watching fish eat. In other words, close enough is good enough when it comes to what my flies look like. I'm much more interested in where on a run or in a pool the fish are eating, where the bigger fish are, what the fish seem to be keying on--wing silhouette or behavior?--and how light affects the tendency of trout to take my fly.

For instance, lately I've been noticing that late on summer evenings when the sunlight on the water is bright the trout been eating darker flies (an Adams) more predictably than they have been taking light-bodied natural flies--even when they're really eating light-bodied flies such as Sulphurs or lighter olives.The lesson? If you're not hooking up with fish as often as you should be given the number of fish at the table, experiment. Fish that seem to be feeding on top, often are feeding just below the surface. Fish that look like they're eating from a hatch of mayflies, may in fact be stuffing themselves on drifting just-under-the-surface caddis pupae. Challenge both your inventiveness and your observations. When you think fish are eating duns on the surface, fish a nymph deep and see what you come up with. When caddisflies hover like dust over your favorite creek, check the surface of the water and see if the fish are really eating them or are they eating a spinner fall of olives that snuck in somehow.

Several recent generations of fly anglers have been duped, I think, by this axiom: if your fly isn't on the water, you won't catch fish. The truth is that you'll learn more about getting fish to eat flies when you're not fishing than when you are.

Step back and study where and how the fish are intercepting the flies they're eating. If the fish are not feeding on the surface, you'll have to imagine the food delivery on the basis of what you can see of the river's bottom. Take note of larger rocks, tailouts, eddies, etc. and project the drift of bottom food.

If the fish are feeding on the surface, watch the drift of the flies they're eating and where you'll need to cast your fly to get on that specific drift. Take notice of fish feeding off the main current lines; bigger trout (and other species) often congregate in eddies and tailouts where the eating is easy and they don't have contend with the force of the current. Trout especially will slide off the deeper currents to feed on insects in shallow waters that are currentless and where the flies are easy to see. They'll stay there feeding until they are spooked, so wade cautiously to get into casting position and stay low.

And, oh, yes: If you're really new to fly fishing, you might think about taking your new duds outside and scrunching them around a bit in your garden. Mashing up your hat and soiling your vest with mosquito repellent will help. And put some duct tape on your waders, a couple of pieces each on the upper and lower leg won't hurt.

All of that should please both the Old Pros--experienced fly fishers--and the Camouflage Guys. You gotta play by some of the rules.

Tom Helgeson is editor/publisher of Midwest Fly Fishing.