Heya

I have been fishing (stillwater for trout) about 6 times in December and January to the same venue and have blanked 3 of those times, although one of those times the water was icing over as I cast so maybe it should not be counted! I was just wondering if this sort of blank rate was "normal" for the winter months or if maybe i should chuck my tackle on the fire and buy some golf clubs!!
The venue is your usual small stocked stillwater where usually when it is warmer you are catching anywhere from 2 to twenty fish in a day......... I know the water quite well having fished it since june last year and am usually capable of snaring a fish or two but this is my first winter fishing it!

Now the cold has been around for a few weeks, most waters down here are fishing pretty well, so I would say blanks should be a rarity on this kind of water.

Are others catching when you are not ? If so, go ask them what they are doing.

Winter fishing often requires a rather different approach than other seasons - very slow retrieve of deep fished flies being a key element.

Charlie

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which water are you talking about Lee?
ghg

Hi Lee, i'd guess you're using summer tactics? floating lines, small flies? One option is to slow everything down, use a heavier fly, or intermediate, and use something a little larger, in black usually. Of course there are days when small ptns will catch fish, but overall, in winter, i find a slow approach wiht heavier flies pays dividends.

Have you tried a black wooley B*gger fished slowly or a Zonker? I agree with Charlie that you need to fish more deeply and slowly when it's cold. When it's real cold I tend to fish a real simple streamer which is just a length of black rabbit fur tied to a hook with a few turns of lead wire to get it down fast and silver thread over the lead. Lots of movement from that long strip of rabbit hide which I tend to fish slowly with lots of twitches. Make sure the strip isn't too long though or you'll get a lot of hits on the fur and not on the hook.

Take care

Terry

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"He either fears his fate too much,
Or his desserts are small,
Who dares not put it to the touch,
To win or lose it all!"

Hi Lee
In my opinion it is not always a case of jumping in and fish the deeps in winter.As an example,it has been freezing tems up here and the fish are very high in the water and feeding really well in the top 4 feet of water on buzzers,nymphs and yes the old blobs aswell.very slow and static is the key and if there is ice on the water, fish right along the side of any ice, as fish will sit there.
As with all fly fishing find the depth and find the fish.Winter fishing can be hit or miss but overall can be really very good.Most of my anglers are hitting well over 10 fish in a session.But as I say fish are high in the water even when its cold.My deepest part is 15 foot.

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Kevin

I rarely find this the case, i generally find fish on the bottom, but in the shallows, say 5 feet or less. Reason being shallow water is normally warmer than deep. As for black i wouldn't take it as read, i would suggest colour is fairly irrelevant IMO, for example today i caught on white, yellow orange and black. As moray said, i think depth is the key. Also, fish the banks into which the wind is blowing, if there are any underwater shelves near the banks or steep drop offs they will hug these for protection from bitter winds, today i cast along the banks into which the wind was blowing with various colour catswhiskers on a small stillwater, i advised another angler to do the same, over 20 fish between us. (not to rub it in)

heya

thanks for all the replies guys, most of the stuff I have been doing, deep and slow, trying different colours etc but I guess it has just been slow fishing at the venue (lakeside fisheries in ranskill near bawtry) as other people have been struggling also, 3 anglers today only one fish! Usually this place fishes well when it has a good wind on it and today it looked perfect for fishing into the wind, i guess the fish had other ideas!

If you caught fish every time you went out-you would get fed up.
Having the few blanks now and again is good for you.
Too much of a good thing is------------------- "as they say."
Thats what fishing is about. Peter

An old Farmer friend of mine once told me that the silly tricks you get up to when you are young come back to bite you when you are old . Like wildfowling , fishing in the cold , rugby etc .. Now I am old I have come to realise he was absolutely right !

Rheumatic fingers will stop you nicely when you get past 50 - take care and watch how cold your hands get . Do be very careful - you may want to be fishing in your old age too !

These days I work hard in the Winter and fish more in the Summer - but after 54 years with the flyrod my obsession is rather more under control than it used to be !

Best wishes

Steve