Fly Fishing Tips

Mid Season Tactics

The summer months can create their own difficulties, but as much else in fly fishing 'where there's a will there's a way'. This section will look at some of the ways to help improve your chances of catching.

The first thought must be the choice of water. For instance, if fishing during the day it may not be worth fishing shallower areas as the water there heats up fastest and to such an extent that any trout there will be almost dormant. Depth creates an easier way of life. Trout do not have eyelids and therefore seek out the deeper and darker water to avoid harsh sunlight.

The first tactic will not please the purists. However we do go fishing to catch trout and in very difficult conditions these tactics may be the only way to do this.

Having roughly established the likely depth we are going to fish we now have to choose the fly line that will allow us to do this comfortably. More often than not something like a Wet Cel II should do the job well. Adjustments to the actual depth can be done by either counting down or timing on a watch (with a second hand) prior to starting the retrieve.

A fly that is considered to 'shake them up' is the Pink Tadpole. This should be fished figure of eight style using an ultra-slow retrieve, this can be interspersed with pauses, allowing the fly to undulate. Another variant is the Purple Tadpole this can also be used to effect under similar circumstances.

Stillwater trout fishing has come a long way over the last ten to fifteen years. The days of the plain black and white lures and times when your fly line just sank of floated have now gone. Modern stillwater fly fishing has now developed it's own jargon with various complications, tactics and methods. Fine tuning these tactics has become a prerequisite. On stillwaters many anglers have overlooked the one of the most fundamental, simple yet deadly methods of all - the dry fly.

Dry Fly

The joy of dry fly fishing is that it needs little in the way of specialist equipment - a No. 6 outfit, and of course a floating line, being perfect. Fishing the dry fly demands that your fly line must float - right down to the very tip. The leader should be carefully constructed. A knotless taper of 12ft or more is considered the ideal choice. Tippet size should correspond to the fly size. To help keep your fly afloat the use of a quality floatant such as Gink or Orvis Hy-Flote is recommended. Both of these are pastes which liquefy with the hand's heat allowing exact placement. It is also important to degrease the tippet especially the last couple of feet. There are some who feel that this is intended merely to sink the line, however it also makes the line glint-free, which is just as crucial.

Now to the choice of fly. As with wet flies there are two main categories: attracters and imitators, sometimes these two types can overlap. Confidence is one of the hardest aspects of this method. If fish are rising then confidence should be high, however when no fish can be seen moving it can appear more difficult. Fish will however be attracted to surface patterns, especially at The Watch where due to the darker coloration of the water the fish spend a good deal of their time looking up. The Hopper (tying listed on flies page) is ideal as there are so many variations of size and colour.

Dry fly fishing in the evening offers the best possibilities. This often coincides, curiously, with many fishermen leaving the water. Trout can begin to rise on the tranquil surface. During high summer olives and midge play second fiddle to the sedge, which can be fished - static, twitched, running or a combination of all three. Rises can be near demonic with the water almost erupting, if this is the case then wake-making patterns like the Sedge are ideal. If the trout are 'nose and tailing' rolling or swirling then use a smaller design either based on the static Sedge or a Baloon or Female Caddis. Sometimes the rises may be nose or 'sipping' these tend to occur more in warm or muggy weather, and can be caused by a caenis fall or by pond or lake olive spinners, these can be extremely difficult to imitate.