How do you fish?

[Fishtales]

What is your line and cast setup? How are you fishing them?

I use a floating line, ten foot three fly cast off a five foot intermediate leader.

Top fly is a surface fly oiled with some Muclin to float. Mine is my own tying on a size 14.

Middle dropper is a winged wet, I use an Iron Blue Dun tyed with red thread on a size 12.

Tail fly a nymph pattern, mine is my own Hillloch Nymph either on a size 12 or a 14. If I think one size isn't catching when I feel it should I change for the other.

If the fish are right up on the surface then I change the tail fly and top dropper around and lightly Muclin the cast, not the droppers, to keep it near the surface.

Move every fifteen minutes to half an hour or so, you choose how long unless you are getting movement in front of you, and cast all around you and even back the way you came.

I always pull my flies. I cast wait a few seconds for them to settle and then long slow pulls allowing the flies to settle a little between each one. If I spot a fish rising in a sequence; to the left; a little farther along in front; to the right; back to the beginning on the left, then I will cast to that line and let the flies sit and wait for the fish to come along

Don't forget to fish along the shoreline in the direction you are heading. Cast a normal cast but get it as close to the bank as you can and fish it out before walking to the next casting spot.

Fish from the bank the wind is blowing off. Everyone says fish the bank that the wind is blowing onto as that is where the food is getting blown too but, if that is right, then the flies are hatching from the bank that the wind is blowing off, you also have the chance that terrestrials are getting blown onto the water. Anyway if you fish down the wind you will eventually reach the shore the wind is blowing onto

After you cast point the rod down wind, don't keep it in front of you or point it into the wind as this will fatigue you as you try and fight the wind, and when the fish takes don't lift the rod move it towards the bank parallel to the water. Lifting to strike means you have to lift the line from the water and fight the water resistance before the fly is set, striking down wind and parallel to the water pulls the line through the water and you are in contact with the fly quicker so it is set quicker.

Everyone has there own set of goto flies that they feel confident in, you just have to find yours and keep using them. Just because they aren't catching on one day doesn't mean there is something wrong keep using them. Don't keep changing flies to new patterns every five minutes, that just leads to frustration because no flies are catching The fly you just replaced might be the right one for the fish that is farther along the bank.

Everyone has there own way to fish and use flies that they have confidence in. This is my way, use it as a starting point and find your way. I spent two or three blank seasons before I settled on my way so keep at it and it will come eventually. I don't think I have used any other way for thirty years and I catch wild brown trout in the wild lochs all over the highlands, not every day but often enough to keep me going back

My Dry Fly



Iron Blue Dun



HillLoch Nymph



Alternative surface fly which I use occasionally.

Floating Nymph



A couple of nymph patterns I use on my local reservoir when the naturals are hatching.

Greyboy Nymph



Caenis Nymph



I use this shrimp pattern occasionally when fishing a river.

[arawa]

These days my set-up and tactics for smallish hill lochs are very simple.
An 8ft or 8ft 6in 3- or 4-weight rod with floating line to either a 9ft tapered leader or a 4ft furled leader and a 5ft level tippet of about 4lb.
A single dry; usually a size 14 elk hair caddis.
If fish are moving I try and target them. If not, I move around the bank casting at likely holding spots and watching for rises.
I am at the final stage of my fishing career where going fishing is more important than catching fish but my heart still jumps when a trout I am targeting takes my fly .

[Fishtales]

These days my set-up and tactics for smallish hill lochs are very simple.
An 8ft or 8ft 6in 3- or 4-weight rod with floating line to either a 9ft tapered leader or a 4ft furled leader and a 5ft level tippet of about 4lb.
A single dry; usually a size 14 elk hair caddis.
If fish are moving I try and target them. If not, I move around the bank casting at likely holding spots and watching for rises.
I am at the final stage of my fishing career where going fishing is more important than catching fish but my heart still jumps when a trout I am targeting takes my fly .

I use a 10 foot #7 as that is the rod I have always used

[burnie]

Interesting post, for me I now exclusively fish with only one fly on the line, whether after Salmon or Sea Trout or troots. I mostly trout fish with a 9 foot 5# weight Hardy Sintrix with a 5# Hardy double taper fly line. Flies on rivers vary so often, but if using a dry, it is often a Wickham's Fancy winged more often than not, it's a fly I've used for 50 years. Bibio tends to be my loch fly unless there's any Daddies about. I use exactly the same set up with a nymph, the only thing that changes is the length of the leader, usually just a length of 4kg Drennan Float fishing nylon, from three to five metres in length, depending on the wind, the venue and the fly.

[IanR]

Usually, 12 foot 6lb leader with two droppers, with a mixture of hedgehogs, sedgehogs and muddlers.

11 1/4 foot rod for the boat, 9 foot rod for the shore.

[Wildfisher]

Interesting topic on  which I have a ŕew things to say once I get home 

[Fishtales]

Interesting topic on  which I have a ŕew things to say once I get home 

Ooooh! That sounds ominous 

[Wildfisher]

Nothing sinister Sandy 

[Hill loch gold]

I fish a lot of different tactics on different rods and weights. Most of the lochs i fish have an abundance of food, imitative patterns of which insects are in the lochs definitely prove more fruitful than just pulling wets all the time for instance.
I usually always have at least 2 rods set up so i can switch between methods without faffing about changing lines and casts all the time.

On the harder lochs i think you have to be competent at fishing a variety of different ways to get regular success.

[ianmck]

My style is fairly basic and consistent these days.
A 9'6 7 weight rod, floating fly line with a leader around 12-15 foot. I use 4lb drennan subsurface nylon and fish a single dry, usually a large sedge pattern. Sometimes a small blank gnat if conditions dictate.
If nothing is happening, particularly in a flat calm, I will use very small weighted nymphs and fish a bit deeper. The weight of the nymphs also helps get the leader out properly when there is no wind assistance.
If I'm really struggling, I've been known to stick a booby on and strip it across the surface as fast as I can 

As much as I love the tradition of wet fly fishing, I rarely bother with it anymore as I don't find it particularly effective compared to other methods, unless you are fishing lochs crammed full of starving small fish.
The one exception to this is in very windy conditions, where I will use a bibio, kate mclaren or solider palmer and fish right up against the bank that the wind is blowing into. I have saved a good few blanks with this tactic. The windier it is, the more the fish seem to pack right up against the bank. Sometimes sitting just a couple of feet off the bank. A tiring method that requires a heavier line and shorter leader, but can be very effective when nothing else is working.