Wait for the right weather
If you're not the type of fly fisher who goes every weekend, whatever the weather, it would pay to carefully time your session so that you've got the right weather for a productive day on the bank.
Sudden drops in temperature can put trout off the food, but longer settled periods of cold weather are often good, as is a warmer day following a prolonged cold spell. The "warmer" weather can also trigger insect life into hatching, so you'll often find the fish more hungry.
If you can cope with the cold, you'll often find winter fly fishing far more productive than a day spent trying to tempt trout during the warmer months.
A warm day during a prolonged cold spell puts fish on the feed.Layer up to keep warm
If you want your session to last, you'll need to make sure you're well wrapped up. Wear lots of thin layers to trap warm air. Invest in a base layer, a fleece and a lightweight compressible insulated jacket (I wear a Patagonia Nano Puff, which is extremely cosy, but any one will do), and top it off with a rain jacket, or hardshell as they're often called these days.
If you get too warm, you can unzip your jacket or remove a layer until you get more comfortable. Keeping your neck warm with a Buff and wearing a hat will also make a massive difference to how comfortable you'll feel.
Wear plenty of layers - plus a hat and a Buff to stay toasty.Take two rods
Trout like cold weather so could literally be feeding anywhere in the water column, from near the bottom to right at the surface. Sometimes, even off the top.
On small stillwaters, a floating line could see you right all day, but it pays to take two rods one with a floating line and one with an intermediate. Not only will it save you re-rigging the rod with a different line, you'll also be able to cover more depths and use a greater variety of retrieve speeds.
Try black and green
For whatever reason, black flies with green heads or bodies tend to be very popular on stillwater trout fisheries over the winter months. Whether they really work better at this time of the year, or whether they just feature more in the catch returns books because more people use them is debatable. However, they definitely catch fish.
Don't overlook nymphs
Nearly everyone on stillwaters tends to migrate towards fishing lures when it gets cold, but it's actually also a really good time of the year to fish nymphs. Whether you go for buzzers, pheasant tails, hare's ears or diawl bachs, you'll probably catch. They also seem to attract more resident fish, like browns, than lures do too.
Fish slow or static
In very cold weather, the fish can get a bit lethargic but still feed. At these times, a static fly beneath an indicator - blob, squirmy wormy, chewing gum worm or egg fly would be my first choice - can be an excellent tactic.
Attach your indicator a few feet above the fly, cast out and leave for 20 or 30 seconds. If there are no takers, give the line a little tug and see if anything gets drawn in. If static doesn't work, try a dead slow figure of eight retrieve instead. It works well for cold and lazy trout.
Keep moving until you find fish
In cold weather, fish can often shoal up and may not be present across the lake. I've fished a few stillwaters where this has been really apparent - often because you can see the shoal of fish actively feeding, or because one angler is pulling out fish after fish.
There will generally always be fish cruising patrolling lanes around the lake, so if you observe the fish and present your flies in a high traffic fish area you'll eventually get lucky. But, while you're trying to find them, stay active and move every 10 or 15 minutes if your fan casting doesn't turn up any fish.
Stalk the margins
On stillwaters, if you creep around the margins very quietly to avoid spooking the trout, you'll often find fish lurking there. George's preferred tactics for fooling these fish is not to let them see him.
He'll stand 15 or 20 feet back from the edge and cast from there. The angle of the trout's field of vision means he'll go unseen and he stands a better chance of hooking up than the angler who's chosen to go and stand by the water's edge.
Arrive early, stay late
In the winter months, the fish will often feed throughout the day, but the best fishing is usually to be had first thing in the morning and last thing in the afternoon.
We try to arrive on the bank first thing, often tackling up while the sun's coming up, so we can catch the trout cruising the margins before other anglers arrive. If you're not an early bird, stay on later and fish until the light starts to fade. You'll often get similar results.
Keep your fingers warm
On really cold days, when the weather is so cold that your fly line freezes, and the water freezes solid in the rod rings, even the most hardy of fly fishers will want something to keep their fingers warm.
As a southerner living in the north, I'm rubbish at tolerating the cold, so I tend to wear gloves so I can fish for longer. I've tried lots of different types, including ones from Sealskinz, Patagonia and Simms and I've never found a great pair.
All of them will impact your ability to cast (as you can't feel the line) and prevent you from using certain retrieves, especially the figure of eight.
Some people swear by nitrile gloves favoured by car mechanics, others say you can't beat a hand warmer, like the lighter fuel powered ones made by Zippo. Whatever you choose, make sure you keep your fingers warm, otherwise you'll significantly limit your fishing time.
Get a good hat
A warm hat, and a neck warmer such as a Buff, can make all the difference to how you feel. I wear a fleece lined woolly hat with a peak on it, which helps provide better protection from glare and wayward flies, as well as keeping me warm. George likes a nice thick fleece-lined woolly hat with ear flaps to stay ultra cosy.
Comments
No comments yet. Go on, be the first to comment...