A good friend of mine has recently taken up the sport as a result of a birthday present guided river trip.
He has now had casting lessons and kitted himself out but has so far been unsuccessful in a couple of trips to Albury so I am taking him out in a couple of weeks.
In the meantime, I have tied him a few flies and am sending them over with a summary of how I would go about approaching a small stillwater I did not know.
Having seen quite a few new joiners on here, I thought it might be helpful to them, too. I don't think there is an attachment facility so I have just cut and pasted all the text. I apologise if it is a bit long.
I also realise this is a very basic approach designed for someone who can only use one fly at a time. Hope it is useful to a few of you. Here goes :
Fishing a Small Stillwater in Summer
Most important considerations :
1. Where in the lake there are the most fish ?
2. What depth are they feeding at ?
3. What can I catch them on ?
Locating the fish
You can’t catch fish that are not there and they are never evenly distributed so this is the number one challenge. Not too hard to solve on a small water but a bigger deal at Rutland or Grafham !
When I go to a new venue I always ask in the Lodge where the fish have been coming out, and grill anyone I meet for advice. Being on the fly forums I will also normally post questions there as well, before I even set off.
The wind will also dictate where you fish, especially until you are a proficient caster, so look for areas where you can get it off your left shoulder so that the line is blowing away from your head. Most importantly keep an eye out for any fish being caught and see if there are any spots available nearby. Always keep moving – much more than half an hour in a spot without a fish, or sign of a fish, and I would look to move.
Working out depth
This is trial and error and/or experience. Basically in winter and early spring they will often be deep but from May on unless it is really hot or very bright they are normally in the top three feet.
Depth you are fishing is governed by :
- What fly line you are using. I have about a dozen that all sink at different speeds, important for boat fishing but a floater and maybe an intermediate sinker are all you need for small waters in the summer.
- Any weighting in the hook or fly. Goldheads or other weighted flies sink quite quickly so the longer you wait before starting the retrieve, the deeper it will fish.
- Speed of retrieve. Slow or static and the fly will sink to the bottom or close, faster and it will fish higher, especially on a floating line.
I would normally start near the surface on a cloudy summer’s day and gradually try deeper if I were not catching.
Fish movement is also a guide. Fish “heading and tailing” or “slashing” suggests they are near the top. High jumps out of the water indicates they are coming from deep. No fish at all visible also suggests they are deeper (or absent !)
Tactics and Fly selection
Lures
Most small waters have a proportion of recent “stockies” - fish that have gone in very recently. These are usually pretty stupid and chase bright colours as soon as they see them, at least until they wise up, which may only be a matter of an hour or two from the start of the day. Small water fish get to see a lot of flies most days
For this reason, I would usually start with a lure (bright thing not imitating anything edible) on a small water. Far and away the two best in summer are the white/chartreuse marabou weighted lure (lots of names for this style) and the orange blob, with black and green as a backup. The reality with both of these is that, in clear water conditions, fish will see either of them from many yards away and it’s not uncommon to catch first or second chuck with them. In fact, after ten casts around a spot, you can assume that if nothing has taken it, they probably won’t. Some days/venues they want the white, others they want the orange but they are both absolute killers. In cold conditions the black/green patterns would be best.
My first 10-15 minutes in a given spot would involve these, trying different angles out from your position and different depths. I would start with white, then switch to orange. If no fish or pulls, I would assume there is nothing there or they are too smart for this tactic.
Nymphs
Even if I have caught on the lure, I would be very surprised to keep catching on it in the same spot, so after 15 mins, you either have to move or change tactic (sometimes just changing lure colour will immediately get you another fish). If you have caught on the lure it is probably best to move a spot or two along and see if you can find some more uneducated fish to take the lure. Repeat until you have caught limit !
In the event you have not caught, you could move or try a change to something more natural ie something that looks a bit like what they are actually eating. To help with this decision, look for flies in/on the water (especially daddies or adult damsels) or shucks in the water (remnant of a chironomid nymph or “buzzer” after it has emerged into the adult insect). If you see anyone catch, ask them what they are using.
At this time of year, I would probably move to a damsel next and fish it like the lure – medium to slow retrieve – in many ways it looks and behaves like a lure but also resembles a food item. As it is not so obvious, I would give it longer, maybe 15 mins before changing again to a daddy – these are remarkably successful all year round and not just in daddy season but through September and October. With a goldhead on they obviously fish deeper and during the heaviest daddy spells can be fished right on the surface with a “dry daddy” version, but I find just subsurface to be most successful..
At some point, you either will not have caught on lures and these larger nymphs and, if you have tried a number of spots and varying depths will probably need to try a nymph that imitates something more specific such as a chironomid larva or “buzzer”. There are many buzzer imitating patterms and I have provided you with three – black buzzer, pheasant tail and diawl bach (welsh for “little devil”).
The black buzzer is great when the fish are deeper and definitely on buzzers and the other two will fish shallower as they are not as slim or heavy. With all these flies the retrieve needs to be very slow and it is also possible to fish them static under and indicator or “bung” (a bit like float fishing). This can be a very effective method and one I will show you when we meet up, as it allows you to suspend the fly at a particular depth or when you get into multi-fly rigs several flies covering all depths.
In the case of both the pheasant tail and the diawl bach, they have the advantage of being generic in that they also can represent small fry, corixa, shrimp, etc so are not as specific as the buzzer. With both of these, it is worth keeping them on for longer as the fish will neither see them so soon or wise up to them. If fish are genuinely feeding on one of these food items, you can conceivably catch on them all day long as they do not rely on the novelty factor as much as lures.
Overall plan
The game plan on small waters, therefore, is relatively simple – find out where the fish are, catch a few quickly on the lures and then expect to spend the remainder of the day on nymphs. Personally I set up two rods, one with each so that as I move position I can have a pull through with the lures to see if I can get a quick fish or two and then give it a serious half an hour on the nymphs. If nothing, I move on. This is not necessary at the moment for you, but just makes things a bit quicker.
The most important thing is to keep your eyes and ears open, looking for others catching, fish rising, etc. I am never ashamed to ask others for information or advice and unless I am absolutely caning fish myself will pretty much always enquire what depth and fly someone has caught on.
Good luck !
Charlie
Beginner's Guide to Fishing Small Stillwaters
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