At another forum a keen fly fisherman told me the trick with fly fishing is figuring out where in the water column the fish are feeding and fishing that area with what there feeding on. Im not sure i believe fish are that a fussy eater but it does make sense to have your fly in the right place.

If the weathers hot, commens sense tells me the fish are going to be deeper underwater where its cooler. They can also see you too when its bright. Later at night when it cools down and the light goes down i notice fish start jumping for flies.

So how do you get your fly down to the right depth? Ive only really been using a floating line with 1 leader as thats all i have on that line with 18 inches or so of tippet. If i use a nymph/buzzer or even a bloodworm it does sink, how long will it sink for? will it keep sinking?

With sinking lines, will they just keep sinking?

This topic has gotten me quite confused, slinking lines, floating lines, intermediate lines, different sink rates.

How do you get your fly to a particular depth?

But cant fish see above them also? I read an article about how a fish sees and how they go for flys on the surface. The basics were that a fish's vision is like a skylgiht above and all around is mirrors. It only sees part of the fly infornt of it, like the legs sticking through the water and as it gets closer it starts seing more these trigger the rise then once it gets in its skylight off vision it sees the whole fly and can go for it.

But is that different with things floating in the water?confusing

Sinking flies will keep sinking yes, plus they'll slowyl start to pull the tip of your line under too (gold/tungsten heads etc)

If you carry on to stick to your floater with sinking flies.......The trick is in the time you wait before you start to retrieve, PLUS the speed of retrieve

The faster you pull in, the higher the fly goes in the water. Think of skaters behind a speedboat

As for sinking lines, intermediates usually sink at 1 - 2 inchs a second (and keep sinking)
Sinking lines, DI3 DI5 DI7 the number is just the number if inches sunk a second (these also keep sinking)

So by leaving it a certain time before retrieving, the flies get down to a certain depth.

I like the washing line technique to find them. Use a sinking line, 3 flies, booby on the point and 2 nymphs say? You get a nice U shape to fish through

Hope that helps?

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John Danter

That's a huge question you've posed mate....

Firstly all sinking lines will keep sinking if you leave them.....it's just the actual sink rate that varies (ie 3 " per second for a Di3, 5" per second for a Di5 etc)

When using a sinker you should aim to get the majority of your takes in the middle half of the retrieve...

This will mean that you are fishing at the depth the fish are holding at.

Also you will pick up some fish at the start of your retrieve that are higher in the water or come up to take the fly.

And at the end of your retrieve - the fish that are holding slightly deeper in the water.

It's worth remembering (if your flies are unweighted or boobies) that your top dropper as it's closest the fly line will fish the deepest; as it follows the line down.

If you repeatedly catch only on the top dropper let your line sink an extra ten seconds before retrieving...this way you should get all your flies at the right depth.

But sometimes they all take the fly as it changes direction - ie on the sweep up)

line markers are essential for the hang at the end of the retrieve, it allows you total control of your flies and depth..I have mine at 13ft (the easy way is to Tip-Ex a 4" section of your line and use it as a line marker....this will just scratch off with your nail if you put it in the wrong place)

Keep an eye on your sinking line as it enters the water, the angle will give you an indication of how deep your fishing

The trouts angle of vision will allow it to see up as you thought...but in this hot weather the fish may not want to come up in the warmer water..with less oxygen..so it's better to present your fly at their depth..

Although on the midlands reservoirs the fish are still quite high considering the temperature etc..

You could use a floating line and a weighted fly to get deeper...however everytime you retrieve the fly will rise in the water (especially so if you pull hard) so taking it away from the fish and out of the zone...so you need to compensate and fish a slightly longer leader (ie a 14ft leader with a goldhead when retrieved will present your fly anywhere from 5-13ft depending on the speed of retrieve and weight of the fly)

Just try to visualise your fly, and flyline and work out the depth their fishing at...and try to get it where you imagine the fish will be..

For example whatever line you choose, search the depths....let everything sink for 5 seconds......then 10 seconds....then 15 seconds etc...be methodical until you get it right.

Or ask someone esle who's catching

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the wind action on a floating line will always limit the depths to which your team will sink the saying "find 'em with lures bash 'em with nymphs",perhaps as a mantra rather than a religion is one that springs to mind if we want to catch fish we need to find fish

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Clive M

Fish have both monocular vision (see up) and also binocular vision (see forward) to answer one of your questions .I prefer to use the countdown method and this can be applied to any type of line you choose to use,be it floating ,intermediete or sinking.All you do is cast out and always fish in a fan shape so as you cover most water and count to 5 before you retrieve,do this for a few minutes and if nothing happens ,cast again and count to 10 and so on doing it in blocks of 5.
Also keep moving and dont stand in the same area all the time.Its not a case of the fly is not working but as you say it is depth find the fish and find the takes.before you cast again always hang your flies for a few seconds as fish often follow right in and just as your about to lift to cast they will grab it.

bear in mind different retrieves will give you different depth also,ie fast retrieve will not give the same depth as a slow retrieve.often will be higher in the water as it comes in faster.But fish move up and down during the day and wont be at the same depth all day long.

I hope this helps along with the other good advice already given.

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Kevin

Sweet thanks for the advice guys! I'll give that a shot next time im out. Im going to buy a few leaders aswell, the floating line is the only 1 that has a leader. My mate has just been using tippet and not very long tippet at that for his sinking line.