I often wondered how much fish looked up and out of the water. After fishing Woolly Buggers over the years, I have witnessed almost the same activity with trout and had them hit the Woolly Bugger upon striking the water...
I had an absolutely stoopid amount of fun up in Anchorage one evening with MissT. Now, before your minds wander into the gutter, realize that t also involved what were probably Silver smolts and a size 16 Adams. Not a single fish was caught, but dozens were coaxed into leaping full body lengths into the air. A good 4" or so. Followed by pizza and beer at the Mooses Tooth.
Good times...
There are few things while fishing that excite me more than having a fish rise to a dry fly. A couple of times a summer I have to go out and work the surface. The fishing in that video would be nirvana for me. An IPA and a Mooses Tooth pizza is always a good way to finish the day.
I was fishing a small stream with many small beaver dams and associated pools, As I wriggled through the willows I came upon a nice pool where what looked like small golden crane flies were fluttering above the water apparently egg laying. I watched for about 30 minutes as small brook trout would leap out of the water to grab them, very much like in the video except a few actually launched completely out of the water and caught them on the down side of the arc. I was so amazed that I watched til it got dark without casting a line. It will remain one of my most cherished moments in fly fishing.
I seen the same sort of thing during the White Fly hatch in late summer. one of the most exciting times I ever had fly casting for trout was a year when there was an over abundance of hoppers. For about a month, I had some of the easiest lazy dry fly fishing of my life. Only time I changed flies was when the current hopper fell apart - it would take around 40 or so fish to do and that is a good day in most places. Those sort of times on a stream are few and far between. I can count maybe six such days in 51 years of fly casting for trout and such. I seen some really interesting things while fishing. My most memorable was a fall day and a 12 point buck stood above a pool I was fishing- I was catching trout and he just stood there watching me for a good 20 min before taking another drink and moving on his way.