... due to weather etc?

The reason I ask this is that at the beginning of the year I set myself a goal of catching more fish on dry flies.
I'm happy to say that I've more than achieved this goal and probably two thirds of the trout I've caught so far in 2011 have been off the top.
(compared to maybe 1 in 10 the previous 2 years)

I'm sure some of this is down to improved technique and willingness to start off with a dry fly rather than waiting for rises.

BUT I'm convinced that I'm seeing considerably more surface movement this year than in my previous 2 years of fly fishing.
In the past I'd read stories in Trout Monthly about prolific rises and manic dry fly action and just think "well I've never seen anything like that, maybe I'm fishing the wrong places"
But this year on most of my trips I've seen at least a bit of surface movement and in some cases long periods of confident rises.

So what I'm wondering is, has this just been a very good year for fishing dries?
And if so, why?

(FYI: most of my fishing is stillwaters in Kent, East Sussex and Essex)

Be interested to hear the thoughts of people with a few more years experience to draw on than myself.

Cheers

Dan

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In a world where most men seem to spend their lives doing things they hate,
My fishing is at once an endless source of delight and an act of small rebellion.

Perhaps you are just noticing things more now that you are looking for surface activity?

You're spot on about weather having an effect, air temperature, water temperature, barometric pressure, sunlight, cloud, etc etc.....

Rather than looking at it on an annual trend I just see it as a daily thing throughout the year. I've seen fish feeding at the surface in the winter, and seen nothing on lovely summer nights when you would expect the water to be bouncing with fish. It really can be that unpredictable.

If you are used to fishing droppers with wet flies or nymphs then have a go at casting several dries. This was a technique used in the past on the Clyde (and elsewhere obviously) where anglers would cast anything from two to five identical dry flies over a well known lie, in an attempt to simulate a hatch and provoke a response.

There are no rules to say you cannot stalk fish with the dry fly when there is no surface activity.

Agree with this.

Used to start a rise on wimbleball years ago as a teenager with daddies. Find a bank with the wind blowing off it onto the water and walk through the grass sending the daddies up into the air. Had many a trout soon after lol

Thanks for the tip GFL, I was going to ask a quite detailed question regarding your suggestion about teams of dries but instead of confusing this thread I'll start a new one in a bit.
Would appreciate your advice on it, give me 10mins...

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In a world where most men seem to spend their lives doing things they hate,
My fishing is at once an endless source of delight and an act of small rebellion.

My local club stillwater is well stocked at present and has had almost no surface activity this season. We would normally have fantastic sport with shipman's etc at this time of year but the only fish being caught are on a black line and blob.

I'm blaming it on weather conditions and feeding opportunities lower in the water column.

I would say that this has been the worst year for dries for a long time.
I had 2hrs today on my club loch. I saw a small amount of fish rising and decided to try dries. I really should have fished sub surface, but thought I would give it a try. Had 4 offers out of the blue and missed the lot !!!!!
Any fish I saw rise, and covered never came back.
There have been some huge rises at certain times, like an evening rise to sedge but the daytime rise has never materialised all season.

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It is in truth not glory,nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting,but for freedom - for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with his life.(Declaration of Arbroath, 1320)

My local club water has been very good on dries (black gnats) and suspender buzzers, even had fish take when non has been showing.
April saw an explosion of beetles and the fish gorged themselves on them. Must point out that at other times, when conditions appear perfect for a good rise and plenty of fly life, things have been very quiet. Poor show of hawthorns but seen some pond olives, more than previous years.

One of my fellow club members, an angler of long standing, blames this on the current practise of feeding stocked trout on sinking food pellets.

The trout become accustomed to bottom feeding. He claims that, in years previous, when fish were fed on floating pellets, the top of the water sport was far better.

An interesting viewpoint. Anyone else able to add weight to this argument.....or refute it?

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Cheers
Don

I think it's nonsense.

I very much doubt this. Our fish are from the same source as previous years and they are not being reared any differently.