Hi peeps, just starting out on the fly fishing so forgive me for any silly questions.I was just wondering if there were any good times or bad times for fishing still waters.I did read somewhere about avoiding mid day if the sun was fully shining, but what about rain, windy ect ect do any conditions make it a bit pants, or whats the best times?maybe early mornings or late evenings.cheers for any help.Ian

well id say bit overcast with a slight ripple is a good bright sun and a flat calm tends to put fish of the feed and ealy morning and lateron in the day are good times for a bit of action but theres nout stoppin them from takin ur fly at anytime and in any condition

Surface movement is probably the most important thing on a stillwater. Overcast and in the region of 10 - 15 degrees temperature with a breeze is probably the optimum conditions. If its hot and flat calm, you've got to go deep to haul them up!

It depends a lot on the water you fish. Certainly a nice steady breeze and overhead cloud makes for good conditions, but do not believe the flat calm and bright sun being rubbish stuff. You can get some superb stillwater dry fly fishing in those conditions because the hatching buzzer gets stuck in the surface and the trout hoover them up.

I would suggest that the very worst conditions are sunny with a gusty south wind. This is total kiss of death on most stillwaters of my acquaintance.

Wind speed and direction plays a huge part in stillwater fly fishing. Early season I would always fish into the wind or as near to it as you can especially if the wind has been in the same direction for several days. This will encourage the fish to run down the wind to where the food is being washed up. The upwind side on the other hand is flat and clear and cold and the fish, being aware of the threat from overhead will tend to keep away.

In summer the upwind side could well be the side to fish as the water may well be cooler than the downwind side due to the tilting effect created by the wind blowing in a given direction for several days.

Really, the best thing is to fish under all conditions and accept the blanks. You will build up a fund of knowledge in a year or so which will enable you to better judge which conditions will give you the edge.

I don't post often, but I have to comment on the excellent post from Bobp above re weather conditions.

Makes perfect sense, clear and concise.

Nice one

Thanks for the info guys, and great write up bob.Only been out once so far so just planning ahead, and great to get some good knowledge from you guys.New rod and reel coming 2mo so very excited.Will be down the field practise casting before i go on sunday for first bash on my own.watchout.cheers again.

I agree with bob 100%, especially regarding the bad sun / wind combination. I think this is due to the fact that fish have no eyelids as we all know and the fragmenting effect of the sunlight from the ripple on the water will certainly hurt a trouts eyes more than if it was calm and the light was still.

One other thing I would say in my experience is that when there has been a sudden change in conditions usually caused by a change in atmospheric pressure, the fish can seem to go off the feed for a day or two while they re acclimatise so to speak.

Cheers

Mat

I'd agree with Mat regarding air pressure. Falling air pressure seems to affect the fish adversely, but that is usually associated with changing weather so the picture is not crystal clear. Fitful and changeable winds also seem to switch them off though the effects are not usually long-lived.

I fished at Farmoor 2 last Sunday and started off with a nice steady north east breeze. After an hour or so this switched to a more easterly direction. During the period when the wind switched there were no offers. When it had settled into its new direction there were a couple of takes, then the wind switched back to north east again and settled and we were back in business.

Swirly and gusty conditions make for difficult tackle control and may affect the fish. One of the real old time gillies at Chew back when they had them always used to say that you would never catch fish on Chew in a scuddy wind.

It usually pays to watch your local weather forecasts for a few days before your trip. You can get five day forecasts online and it is interesting to note how those forecasts can change if you check them out daily in the five day lead up to your trip. I just take note of wind speed, direction and temperature and that usually is sufficient.

Another good general guide when you arrive at the water is to look for the birds. This time of year if there are lots of swifts, martins or swallows swarming over the surface it will mean that there are buzzers coming off and the fish will probably be fairly high in the water. No birds, means not many buzzers and the fish will be deeper. Not an absolute, but it's a good indication that may give you a starting point in deciding what to fishwith and how.