im going tomorrow to fish a still water, up to now i have only fished lures am i right in thinking i should now be fishing wet flies or nymphs this time of year.

can anybody give me some advice on best way to fish them

thanks

Scottratt.

Myself, it is about this time of year that I start dusting off the lures - Cats, Zonkers and so on. As a rule of thumb, the colder it gets, the deeper and slower I fish them although as always, the key is to systematically try different depths until you find the one they're feeding at.
Which stillwater are you heading for?

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"Take not out your 'ounds on a werry windy day" Surtees.

Good advice from Bill, don't neglect the depth. This time of year, they can be lethargic. Having said that I had 14 at a local still water today. In the morning it was quite hard going, they were very deep and wanted the flies very slow.

In the afternoon, they were chasing dabblers, just under the surface as fast as I could retrieve them, great fun.

Be prepared to change tactics..

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Eddie
"We look to Scotland for all our ideas of civilisation."
Voltaire

im up near carlisle. got some cats and damsels which do you think would be best? should i be using a sinking or int line or stick with floating?

Both should work, I always start on a floating line. However it will depend on the depth of the water you are fishing. You may need an inter to get down to them.

Bear in mind, although you are retrieving the same, i.e figure of eight, the fly will act differently on a floating line than it will on an inter.

Good luck..

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Eddie
"We look to Scotland for all our ideas of civilisation."
Voltaire

Both lures will take fish throughout the year - personally I never do particularly well with damsels, probably because I don't fish them very well A cats is always my go to lure but if a stockie is in a mood to take a lure I reckon it will take anything it hasn't seen too often.
The best bet of course, is to ask at the lodge and ask other fishermen.

What line to use depends on several factors. Personally, unless the fishery is deep and the fish are lying deep and you need to get the fly down to them fast, I'd stick with a floating line and a weighted lure on a longish leader if you need to go deep - and an unweighted lure if the fish are feeding high in the water. (This is for pulling a lure)

If you want to fish nymphs, you could use your inter line with a washing line setup and a slowish retrieve (look up washing line). Depending on how they want them, you could also try them static on a floating line.

Keep trying different depths, different retrieves and keep moving round until you get some offers.

If you've the time, nip into John Norris in Penrith and have a chat with the lads there - one of them will know your fishery.

Tight lines and let us know how you get on

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"Take not out your 'ounds on a werry windy day" Surtees.

thanks for the advice, not been fishing long so could use all the help i can get

had a good day, netted 5, 2 got away biggest on 9lb so was very happy with that.

had nothing all day tried cats & damsels then went to a small black gladiator and all hell broke loose, was getting a lot of takes just couldnt quite get them in. all on an int line and a slowish retrieve. all in all very happy with the days fishing the 9 pounder coming in as i was on my way to the car park to pack, thought i would have a couple of casts at a different spot on the way....

will try and upload a pic if i can suss how to do it

many thanks for the advice again

Well done nice to see the newbees catching makes it all worth wild.

TT

Great stuff. Well done indeed
I'd never heard of a black gladiator before.

You've still not told us where you went. Alderneuk perhaps?

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"Take not out your 'ounds on a werry windy day" Surtees.