Hi there,

I was wondering what make a person a good stillwater angler?

is it that they are good casters?
good line control?
good dept control?
covers the water very well?
Reads the water very well?
Able to adapt to different suituations?
Fishes the venue alot and knows where all the fish are?
Presents the fish what they are eating at that specific time?

Your thoughts would be much appreciated.

Fred "Stillwater Angler"-
over to you!

SharkeyP

If I were to order your points in order of importance and add a couple of my own, the list would be:

1. They are good decision makers.
2. They read the water very well.
3. They fish the venue a lot and know it well.
4. They have good depth control.
5. They are able to remember exactly what they were doing when that last fish took and replicate it again and again.
6. They are able to adapt to different situations.
7. Good line control.
8. Fish the correct fly to match available food items.
9. They are good casters.

I have ordered these points in relation to fishing one of the major stillwaters, ie. Rutland, Grafham, Chew, Bewl etc. where local knowledge can make more of a difference than at a smaller fishery.

When fishing big waters I feel the most important things to be doing are (in order of importance):

1. Be in the right area
2. Fish your flies at the correct depth
3. Fish your flies at the correct speed
4. Fish the correct flies

I feel that the fly itself is the least important aspect of these 4 because if you are fishing the perfect fly where there are no fish - then you won't catch, whereas you can still tempt a fish with a fly that isn't exactly what they are feeding on.

Graham

What's the criterion of "good" ?

If it means "of above average competence" I would say this is shown by the ability to catch above average bags for the conditions all season and on all sorts of waters.

Watson's Fancy has given us a very good list, to which I would add "he has a reasonable grasp of several techniques and can use them all effectively, even though he may have a favourite among them".

It certainly isn't simply catching large bags on the lure or the blob in early season or just after a heavy stocking of fish.

__________________
"In wine there is wisdom. In beer there is strength. In water there is bacteria." - German proverb
JH based near Southampton

Be a thinking angler. Ability to read the water and the other clues and make the right decisions are probably the biggest attributes of the more successful angler.

A good angler makes good decisions based on observation and intelligent reasoning. Trout are not geniuses, they're not really very bright at all, and all you need to do is work out where they are and what they are eating and then get your fly into that area.

Go with an open mind rather than preconceived ideas on where to fish and how.

Check the catch records or check with the staff to see which areas and methods are producing.

Look around you, see what flies are in the spiders webs, look at the nymphal shucks in the margins, see where the birds are working, check where the wind has been over the past few days and if you have been there before check your diary for previous seasons.

Remember that 20% of anglers catch about 80% of the fish, the others are just subsidising the ticket prices so don't be too quick to follow the crowd.

Local knowledge can be important and if you are not local ask a local.

Casting and presentation skills are all useful but if you are not casting to where the fish are it matters not a jot how well you are doing it. Fly choice can be important but if I had to fish with a limited number of patterns my catch rate would not fall by too much over a season although there will be odd days when I needed something else.

A big mistake made by many is to fish small flies on too heavy a tippet or dropper, they might be using the right pattern but on a heavy tippet the flies look wooden and behave unnaturally. Use droppers of the right diameter water knotted in where you want them not tag ends of a tapered leader construction which may resulting a No.16 buzzer being presented on 2x leader material in the Bob Fly position when it should be 5x.

__________________
“There is no more lovely country than Monmouthshire in early spring. Nowhere do the larks sing quite so passionately, as if somehow inspired by the Welsh themselves. There is a blackbird on every thorn and a cock chaffinch, a twink as they call him there, on every bush...... It moved me profoundly. I had been spared to see another spring, and I thank God for it.”

Oliver Kite
“A Spring Day on the Usk”
A Fisherman’s Diary

I have encountered people who I would consider to be very good anglers in several disciplines. Coarse match fishing, carp fishing and of late fly fishing. In all cases I think that there is simply a natural ability or talent that you simply have or do not. The fact that they can tell me exactly what they are doing, how they are doing it and why they are doing it goes nowhere to being able to emulate them. It is something that I have simply had to accept and do not really care if I am never going to be very good at it. I do it for pleasure after all, not to make a living.

One thing that I have found in common with all these people is their willingness to share what they are doing, explain their methods and be genuinely helpful. It make sense, they are not better than you because they are using some secret method, they are better simply because they do it better. I suspect secretive anglers are hiding a lack of ability that for reasons of ego or image they are unprepared to admit to.

10% skill.
90% luck.

I consider myself a lucky angler, mate of mine considers himself skillful, we usually catch about the same amount, but he really beats himself up when he falls behind, he even sticks his tongue out with intense concentration, always makes me laugh

I don't think you'd find many consistently successful anglers agreeing with this.

Luck undoubtedly occasionally plays a part but good anglers seem to be lucky when in reality luck has little to do with it.

__________________
“There is no more lovely country than Monmouthshire in early spring. Nowhere do the larks sing quite so passionately, as if somehow inspired by the Welsh themselves. There is a blackbird on every thorn and a cock chaffinch, a twink as they call him there, on every bush...... It moved me profoundly. I had been spared to see another spring, and I thank God for it.”

Oliver Kite
“A Spring Day on the Usk”
A Fisherman’s Diary

So if your % of skill increases does your % of luck decrease

Possibly its a matter of experience and skill increasing your luck

I personally am happy as classing myself as consistently lucky

is to come away from what ever water you are fishing and to have learned something new,and remember it,or to atleast come away knowing what you did wrong

fime