Stillwater Tactics
In a stream, trout are relatively stationary—they find shelter from the current and sit in one position waiting for food to come to them. In lakes, ponds, and reservoirs, trout are constantly on the move, both to find food and keep oxygenated water flowing over their gills.
Stillwater trout do not roam the entire acreage of a lake. They are attracted to food-rich areas to maximize their feeding opportunities and—depending on the season, temperature, and size and depth of the lake—they also collect in the lake strata that are most comfortable for them.
Trout prefer water temperatures between about 55 to 60 degrees F. Brown trout tolerate (and even seek out) slightly warmer temperatures while brook trout and cutthroat trout thrive in cooler temperatures.
Lakes with frequent water temperatures of 70 degrees and above are warmwater lakes, more likely home to bass, panfish, and other species.
Deep lakes. In small, shallow lakes the water temperature is fairly constant. However, in deep lakes and reservoirs, the surface temperature can be intolerably warm for trout while the water temperature 40 feet below the surface is perfect.
This is because cold water is more dense than warm water and stays near the bottom, and because the radiant heating effect of the sun only affects the surface layers. This stratification results in layers of water with the warmer layers generally on top and the coldest layers toward the bottom.
If you are fishing a deep lake with stratified water temperatures, finding the fish becomes a depth game. You’ll need a boat, float tube, or pontoon craft to get out over deep water, and a full-sinking line, or a floating line with a long leader and strike indicator, to get your weighted nymph or streamer deep to where the trout are.
With sinking lines use the countdown method cast as far as you need to reach the bottom and then count “one one-thousand, two two-thousand, three three-thousand” and so on to allow the fly time to sink deep to the colder lake levels where the trout are. Retrieve your fly slowly so the fly travels horizontally through a specific depth, and doesn’t rise quickly toward the surface.
Begin with a count to ten, use that for 15 minutes or so, then graduate to a count of 15, and so on. Once you find where the trout are, you can reliably count down to the same depth to catch many more.
Another way to find the bottom quickly, and adjust your fly depth accordingly, is with the help of an electronic depth finder, which also gives water temperature information.
To determine the depth without a depth finder, attach hemostats to your fly and leader and drop the rig off the side of your boat or pontoon. Strip off line until you hit bottom, then mark the depth. With precise knowledge of depth, you can start at bottom and fish your way up through the water column until you find the level at which the fish are feeding.
In shallower lakes and ponds the temperature and depth is relatively constant and trout focus on specific feeding opportunities more than water temperatures.
In high mountain lakes, the “warm” shallow edges of a lake may never rise above 50 degrees F. On big lakes in the late fall, winter, and spring, the deepest parts of the lake are often too cold, causing the trout to venture into the shallows to find food.
These are the best seasons and situations to pursue trout in stillwaters because the fish are in their comfort zone, feeding happily at depths that are best suited for a fly rod and floating line.
Inflow. If it is hot outside, fish gather near inflows because feeder streams often bring cooler, or at least more oxygenated, water into a lake. Even when there is no temperature advantage to the inflow, the current sweeps food into the lake.
Use stream tactics such as a nymph and indicator rig to drift your flies from the stream into the lake. Pay particular attention to the area where the stream shallows drop off into the depths of the lake as fish tend to cruise there in search of easy meals.
Outflow. An outflow doesn’t bring food into a lake, but it’s often a shallow area with a gradually increasing current where the lake falls away into a stream. Trout take advantage of the current They sit in the moving water and watch for food items like midges, mayflies, and terrestrials drifting toward them.
An advantage for fly fishers is that the area where the current quickens is by nature shallower than the rest of the lake and affords more opportunities for sight-fishing. Approach these areas slowly and with a low profile, watching carefully for feeding trout. As with an inflow, don’t cast directly to a stationary trout. Use the current or wind drift to bring your fly to the fish.
Shore and shallows. In big, deep lakes in warm climates, trout are often deep and difficult to reach. In small alpine lakes, the deepest part of the lake is a winter refuge only. When the trout feed, they seek out the shoreline and shallow flats where the sun penetrates to bottom and stimulates the food chain.
The shore is also a constant food source for trout where ants, beetles, and other terrestrial insects fall or blow into the lake from nearby vegetation, or where insects like damselflies migrate from the lake depths to the shoreline to hatch.
The best strategy is to approach the shore cautiously wearing polarized glasses and a baseball cap to block sun glare. In lakes with good trout populations, you’ll see trout cruising the shallows.
Copyright © 2012 Intermedia Outdoors
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