How To Catch Trophy Trout
Anglers have been fly fishing lakes for centuries. Nevertheless, most fly fishermen struggle when stalking trout in stillwater. That shouldn’t come as a surprise when you consider that most fly fishermen hone their skills with floating lines, light leaders, and tiny dry flies on moving water.
In the mid-’70s a new floating device made lakes accessible to all anglers. The belly boat (float tube) arrived on the scene and revolutionized fishing on lakes that were virtually unchallenged and a mystery for fly fishermen. However, only a handful of anglers committed to the pursuit of big trout were successful; most were not. That’s because a lot of anglers venturing onto stillwater lacked the skills and knowledge lake fishing demands. Many used a trial-and-error approach and caught a few fish, but most were unproductive.
Pursuing stillwater trout means learning the functions of multiple fly lines, understanding how to fish varying depths, and using suggestive patterns that represent a host of aquatic food sources along with retrieves that emulate the natural movements of the prey species. Knowing the effects of nature’s external forces that control and stimulate trout behavior is also an important asset.
If you are fishing stillwater for the first time, you can only learn the knowledge and skills necessary to be productive on the water with rod in hand. Then and only then will your chances of hooking trout, especially the bragging-size variety, improve. The time you spend on the water builds confidence and eliminates fear of the unknown. With experience, you’ll no longer feel overwhelmed by the size of lakes; which line, fly, or retrieve to use; what depth to fish; which food sources trout feed on; and, of course, the biggest mystery of all, where to find trout.
Anglers struggle to consistently catch trout for many reasons--from poor casting to using the wrong type of fly line to fishing at the wrong depth. The good news is that they can overcome these problems easily. Mistakes of this kind are common to first-time stillwater anglers. I know, I’ve made them all. Fly fishing lakes over the past 30 years has taught me many lessons, some of which I learned from mistakes or using unproductive methods. We can learn from every outing.
The following are the ten most common mistakes made by stillwater fly fishers, followed by their solutions based on my approach to fishing lakes with flies. Keep in mind that there is no one way to fish lakes; lots of methods will work. However, some work better than others.
1. Problem: Failing to move when conditions or trout behavior necessitate change.
Solution: Cover more water, and the odds are you will catch more trout. Most anglers fail to recognize changes in trout-feeding behavior that cause the fish to move to different areas of the lake or to different depths. I have a simple rule. If I’m not getting hits, I move. When the strikes drop off, anglers need to consider other options. Did the trout move, change food preferences, retreat to deeper water, or did you put them down? If you were fishing a prime spot and the fishing slows, rest the spot, seek out new water, and return later. You can bet the trout will.
Copyright © 2012 Intermedia Outdoors
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