What tactics do some of you guys employ at this time of year to specifically target the larger/grown on fish in our stillwaters? Are lures the way to go as there is less natural fly life?

welshy

there is still plenty of insect life still about i took a 5lb rainbow to a sz 18 buzzer on thursday and the water temp, was way down but as for the bigger fish give me 6, 2 lb,ers than 1, 12lb,er

Unless the stillwater you are fishing is clear and you are able to stalk, then you cannot really target a specific type of fish. Saying that, grown on fish are obviously a bit more savvy and have seen plenty of lures flashing past them and having become more switched on to natural food. So try some imitative flys and see what happens, you never know you could get a PB trout.

If the water you're fishing at has a good head of Roach / Perch Fry or even minnows, then these will attract the larger fish closer into the margins as they look to take advantage of this food source in order to put on weight for the winter. A minkie or suspender minkie will be an excellent choice in this scenario and you will be "matching the hatch" so to speak even though you're using a large lure. Other natural food about includes corixa, snails, shrimps so small hares ears etc are still worth a shot

Mat

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P.B's on fly
Rainbow-13lb Arnfield,Brown-8lb 2oz Rutland,Golden Rainbow-3lb Bellflask, Blue-5lb 11oz Stocks

you can still stack the odds on a bigger stillwater, IMO. get close to structure, Dam walls, towers, cages, harbours etc, and fish at fry time when the bigger fish come out of the depths! fish a bloody great fly on a Di7 that wouldn't shame a pike, and you'll occasionally hit a big brown, but as abel lover says, it's not an easy or accurate way of sorting out the bigger ones.

The best thing to do, is to check the stomach contents of a large fish, or alternatively check the larger food sources that inhabit the location where you fish.
large trout do eat small insects, but for best results, you will need to concentrate on the larger food sources, like frogs, crabs, larger snails, even larger terrestrials like mice, lizards, and larger locusts. It's no secret that large trout do feed differently, and will predate on the above, rather than expend a lot of energy on tiny insects. (this is a generalisation).
The problem when fishing these larger immitative food sources, is to know how the natural behaves, and fish it accordingly. It's also important to know where the big fish hang out in your stillwater, if you want to target them specifically. If you fish the standard flies that you would normally do, you will sometimes pick up the larger fish, but this would be more by luck than design, but to increase your chances of catching them consistently, you will have to change your fishing tactics.

Go where they live ! Both place and depth ! Don't forget , they only grow big if they feed where ordinary folks can't ( or won't ) fish .

Take care

Steve Parton

I gather that a lot of the bigger fish from Hanningfield come from the deeper water in the 'middle' of the reservior. Away from the usual haunts which are near the bank/dam.

Mainly caught on sinking lines and lures.

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I'm fairly confident I know the fish Welshy is after. I was there saturday and he was crashing about. Never got a chance to go for him personally but he is a beauty. We'll have to devise a plan between us. Give me a ring if your going.

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Location - Ospreylia