am a novice at this game, have had modicum of success over the summer on reservoirs, lakes etc with all sorts of flies. Now the colder weather is here am struggling to get catches - any advice re tactics, leaders, flies, methods would be greatly appreciated.

Where are you located and what sort of waters are you fishing ?

If you search "winter fishing" on this site you will find plenty of useful advice, eg;

temperature in the cold

Winter Fisihing

winter trout fishing

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

A little-known method in the harsh winter months is to groundbait the area you're fishing with warm water.
As we all know, there are optimum feeding temperatures for trout, in the summer it was often too hot & now, would you believe it, the blighters refuse to feed because it's too chilly!
The water-baiting method only works on smallish waters & you must fish in one spot, as the warmer water soon gets cooled by surrounding cold water.

-You need to fill a reasonably large tank with boiling hot water, try to insulate it if you can, so it stays warm. 100 litres is a good start.
-Head to your local fishery, find a likely spot not too far out from the bank (see below) and away from other anglers & the fishery owner
-Start groundbaiting the area you intend to fish by flinging cupfulls of the now warm water into the target area. The lid of a thermos flask is good. Avoid throwing the lid in the lake, as this complicates matters somewhat.
This method will raise the water temp in the immediate area & this time of year, the change in water temp can induce a fish to feed.
-Have an excuse ready in case anyone asks about the 100-litre tank.

Good luck!

Hi Mate,

This time of year i keep things simple.

Silver & White Hummungus (and booby version)
Black & Silver Hummungus (and booby version)
2-3" Cat booby
2-3" Black & Green booby
Minkie
Minkie Booby
Crunchers..

Fish an area for 30 mins then move 50 yards and cover as much water as possible...Fish slow

I usually opt for a Floater or Intermediate with hummungus's on a 10 - 12ft leader and a figure of 8 back

Or a Minkie on the point with 1 cruncher on the dropper ...again figure of 8 slow

Last resort is a DI-5 with 10ft leader and a booby at 4ft and 10ft then...figure of 8 back...

Cheers Rob

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Hello Riser123 welcome to the forum. Keep it simple and slow down your retrieve. At this time of year the fish may be a bit deeper in the water try sinking lines

Tightlines.

wully

what do you mean by "booby version"? should I use an intermediate or sinking line?

Welcome to the forum, A booby is a fly with two big polystyrene balls for eyes usually fished close to the bottom fished slowly, only drawback is the fish tend to swallow the fly so retrieving the fly out of the trout might be a slight problem. If you are fishing fairly deep you could use di3 ( sinks 3 inches per second ) or a di5 ( 5 inches per second ) and use something like a Cats Whisker which is an alround fish catcher and either fish it slowly or speed up the retreive, good look, ck