ap·proach / əˈprōch/ • v. [tr.] 1. come near or nearer to (someone or something) in distance: the train approached the main line | [intr.] she hadn't heard him approach. | ∎  come near or nearer to (a future time or event): he was approaching retirement. ∎  [intr.] (of a future time) come nearer: the time is approaching when you will be destroyed. ∎  come close to (a number, level, or standard) in quality or quantity: the population will approach 12 million by the end of the decade. ∎  (of an aircraft) descend toward and prepare to land on (an airfield, runway, etc.): the single-seater plane hit a post as it was approaching the runway.2. speak to (someone) for the first time about something, typically with a proposal or request: the department had been approached about funding.3. start to deal with (something) in a certain way: one must approach the matter with caution.• n. 1. a way of dealing with something: we need a new approach to the job.2. an act of speaking to someone for the first time about something, typically a proposal or request: the landowner made an approach to the developer. ∎  (approaches) dated behavior intended to propose personal or sexual relations with someone: feminine resistance to his approaches.3. [in sing.] the action of coming near or nearer to someone or something in distance or time: the approach of winter. ∎  (approach to) an approximation to something: the past is impossible to recall with any approach to accuracy. ∎  the part of an aircraft's flight in which it descends gradually toward an airfield or runway for landing.4. (usu. approaches) a road, sea passage, or other way leading to a place.ORIGIN: Middle English: from Old French aprochier, aprocher, from ecclesiastical Latin appropiare ‘draw near,’ from ad- ‘to’ + propius (comparative of prope ‘near’).

4 Approach

Fish’s Position 84

Water Clarity 85

Light Intensity 85

Hatch Variables 86

Current Speed 86

Wind 87

Cover 87

Casting Obstructions 87

Current Maladies 87

Sound Vibrations 88

The goal of the approach is to place an angler [you] into the best position to present the fly without alarming the fish. The following variables influence your approach: the fish’s position, water clarity, light intensity, hatch intensity, current speed, wind direction, cover placement, casting obstructions, current maladies, and sound vibrations. After examining these factors, the angler’s choice of position is made; next, the actual approach takes place.

approach XIV. — OF. aproch(i)er (mod. approcher) :- late L. (Vulg.) appropiāre, f. AP- + propius, compar. of prope near.
Hence approach sb. XV.