Fly Fishing in Summer
Fly Fishing in Summer
Fly fishing is a sport that conjures up an image in my mind of long balmy summers on the water (or in the water), fly fishing rod in hand and casting a long line with a juicy dry fly to a rising trout. That is sometimes a reality, however, most of the time, especially for those of us that fish still water stocked lakes and reservoirs, we find ourselves fly fishing for fish that we know are there but will not take any form of fly we cast to them.
Why is this the case?
Well, after many years of fishing in this situation and speaking to many many fishery owners, the reason seems to be a culmination of a lack of oxygen in the water and inactivity due to the heat! Yes, I said heat, I live in the North of England where the weather in the high of summer can be cold and rainy as it can be hot and sunny, you can never plan any outside activity in this country that can be spoilt by rain! So how can the weather affect these hardy steel heads and trout, and more importantly how can we trigger a bite in these conditions?
My answer is again to think like the fish, where would you go if you were hot and bothered and need some fresh air? You would try to find all of those things wouldn’t you, well, steel heads and trout will go to the best source of oxygen in in the coolest water, so we have 2 clues there.
Oxygen
Oxygen is made in various ways with water. It is sometimes pumped into big reservoirs and lakes to ensure a good supply to the trout and steel heads, but it is also found by river entrances, lapping shorelines and underwater streams. You can easily see the man made aerators, river entrances and lapping shores but you should ask the fishery manager if there are any underwater streams…you might be surprised with their answer! These are the places where we should be heading to, especially the man made aerators as the fish will congregate around these as they are a good way of ‘churning’ the water and produce found for the fish.
Coolest Water
Steel heads and trout will find the best water for themselves in summer and that normally means they are deep down, you may find you have to use a sinking line to catch these fish, so go searching for them. Ideally you should be fishing deep down near to a source of oxygen and you will increase your chances of catching in hot days by at least 10 times. OK, when the day turns into dusk they will start to rise and maybe take emergers or dry off the surface but in the middle of the day….go deep and bubbly!!
Best of luck
Carl
