I'm not a stillwater guy at all, I dabble when the rivers are high, but that sounds fairly normal? Just maybe need to get a bit quicker at leader changes, maybe consider a second rod set up?.

 

Bad eyesight and shaky hands makes fiddling with knots quite a chore!! I think a second rod is the answer.

 

and was the guy that was catching changing?

 

LOL no! If I was getting a fish every 15-20 minutes I'd not be swopping about either, he was in the right peg at the right time, a down wind gentle breeze had pushed quite a few of the lake's fish into the corner and he was the only one able to take advantage.

 

I do very little Stillwater fishing as well, and when I go fish are likely to be catchable on floating lines.
Two setups are the way to go, one for your dries/ emerges and another for the quiet spells with something subsurface on, no need to waste time changing leaders etc.

 

I see people changing every five minutes and get nada, they are wasting a lot of fishing time. I very rarely change, maybe once or twice at a push, I prefer to change my location. For me constantly changing is like false casting, you get bugger all if your flies are not in the water.

 

I very rarely go over 12 feet for a single fly leader, Use a tapered leader, that will help with turnover, anything over 15 metres away from you will be difficult to hit on a surface pattern,hpld your rod around waist hight dont have the tip hovering above the surface, when you have a take on a dry wait a milisecond ( the old saying was to say God save the Queen, now King, I dont know if the one letter will make a difference) Lift into the fish solidy, dont yank back.

Playing a fish to softly will mean you'll lose more than you land, even on light tippet, I wouldn't go below 6lb on a stillwater. When you make contact, play the fish hard, bend your rod into him, 9 times out of 10 you'll be out gunning your quarry.

 

When I'm fishing stillwaters, especially from the bank I'll always take 2 rods. 1 set up with a single dry fly (usually an emerger or suspender buzzer in size 18-20) to cast to rising fish and another rod with a couple of nymphs or wets on either a floating line or sink tip (muskins, buzzers or spiders sizes 12-16). Or if they're not catching I'll change the nymphs to a couple of apps worms usually black and red or red and olive. Having 2 rods saves the need to swap leaders.

 

I think this is the way I need to go, it makes a lot of sense, I'm not happy dragging lures through on Di 3's so two floating lines would keep me happy enough. BTW why & how do you use a sink tip line effectively?

 

I have spare spools with leaders on ready to go, nip the fly off, wind in, switch spool, new fly on, good to go, it's no quicker than tying knots but it saves adding or cutting.

 

Finding your own way of adjusting the leader to suit your method is part of the game.

I often use a 12' 4x tapered leader (the very cheap ones are fine) as a base. I usually cut a foot or so off the butt and point and add a few extra feet of 4x tippet with a figure-8 knot. I can use the downward knot tag as a dropper and the point fly is around 3' away, total length about 13'.
I usually start with #12-16 flies and if I ever feel I need to go smaller I can add a couple of feet of 5x, again with a dropper if needed.

If I decide to go to heavier, say to a big sedge or to pulling wets, it's easy to clip off everything back above the the highest knot shortening the tapered part back further - until it's as thick as 6lb Ultragreen - and add that as tippet/droppers.

The bit you clip off can be stored on a foam rig spool complete with flies - always carry a couple.
I love the idea of having a few premade leaders on spools like Ohanzee, but never remember what is on the spool and the base leaders I use are cheap as chips. I buy the multi pack cheap ones off Amazon.

At the end of the session I clip off back to the tapered butt so next time I add whatever is needed for the day. I will still have the foam spools with the flies from last time so if I think they are still ok I will tie these back on - a figure 8 is possible with flies tied on - you can pull them through the loop OK.

You just find what works for you on this!

 

Some great ideas there, thanks!

 

45 minutes of leader faffing in half a day of fishing on stillwater seems perfectly reasonable to me. If you are chopping and changing with no plan just in the hope of something happening that is a bit different but if you are reacting to conditions or observations that is what it is all about.

While it is true that the flies have to be in/on the water to catch fish it is also true that giving the water/fish a rest while you are adjusting your set up can be a very good thing too. While you are retying this and that and choosing flies the water in front of you isn't being disturbed by your casting, fish may move back into the area. Also, when you are actually fishing you tend to only focus on what is going on directly around your flies. Time spent faffing gives you a chance to look around a bit more widely.

There is also the question of fatigue and maintaining concentration. If you do eight hours straight casting and retrieving you will take your eye off the ball at some point, almost always when a fish takes! A change of set up or even stopping for a cuppa gives you a chance to relax and stay sharp.


Andy

 

That pretty much how I see it, this venue is tough going especially when trying to fish 'naturals' and its catch and release and I've figured out that you get half a dozen good casts before the fish spook, or indeed one or two bad casts before you need to rest the swim. With a few anglers on the Lake the 'rests' get less and less effective and after a few hours I tend to target individual fish on the dry or emerger patterns, at the moment just catching fish is less important than how I catch them, I'm not too sure how long that will last but for now I'm happy enough fishing the top couple of feet of the lake. Thanks for your input!

 

Also this time of year foam daddies and fry patterns are your friend, whilst these are dries they sit subsurface and should be moved.

When you are seeing the occasional consistent rise but it not bubbling you can assume there are a lot of fish on the top 5 feet of water.

A good approach is to fish a Daddy on point, with one or two bobs bits behind him, ( if not ginked up a bob will sink), if you are a novice stick to two flies about 7 feet apart on a 12 foot leader.

Once you cast out, give a few quick strips, the daddy will cause some disturbance before very slowly sitting below the surface, the bob will pull him down lower the more static you remain. Because both flies are buoyant, you will always remain in the taking zone

Alternate your retrieve with strips, draws and pauses. When you get a knock, don't strike, move or keep moving your flies, until you lock up.

 

This is probably going to sound really lame but I have to ask, from the rod tip down the line to the leader then the tippet is the first fly the 'point fly' then others after that droppers? Or does the point fly sit on the end of the tippet and the droppers are tied in between that point fly and the tapered leader? Sorry if this sounds a bit basic but .....

 

I can answer this with some authority!
When talking about a three fly cast.
The bob fly is the top dropper.
The middle fly is the middle dropper.
The point fly is the one at the end.


Your's
Bob Middle Point.

 

The place I was fishing regularly was a 5 ha very clear pond, a former quarry, with very natural surroundings (bushes, trees, marshes....). Trout were quite warry here but anyhow after some time spent in the lake they were very focused on insect life and barely divert from diet of the day... It must be noticed that sooner or later the fish tend to always observe the same behavior, years after years. The fishing in this type of put and take water is mostly about good presentation at the good depth. Be sure that fish will very fast associate some colored jigging, bouncing, wiggling thing passing by to danger... Meanwhile a dead drifting little fly will be taken freely.
I use to take only one rodline #5 or 6, with a long leader (two times rod lenght), braided (pêche à soie) and then mono down to 12% (but 16% with large flies at mayfly time, or with daddys); final section used to be long (up to 1.5m) as discretion was a real necessity here.
Depending on fish activity and season I was using usually a small light nymph #16 for sight nymphing, a suspender #12 or a small hare's ear #14-16 (very lightly greased at times), sometimes a sedge#12-16. Other solution was a set of buzzers: one small black semi floating one (e.g shipman) #16 on the bob and a buzzer larvae #12 0.5 to 1.5m on the point, depth depending on fish activity. This second solution was used when I was sure the other won't work, especially when activity was limited. In the end when it was needed to go deep (lake was down to 6m) it happened I used a small beaded nymph and let it drift in the wind. In this case I was increasing the leader's diameter as the fish used to hook itself on the line's belly inertia.
Lures and streamers? Almost never...
When all goes right, there's little time spent for rearranging/untangling leader.

R

 

Well typically if you take a few minutes changing your leader, most of us will sit—> so you rest the water and you are much less visible on the bank…

In my mind this is why your first casts were the most successful…

Try casting and then crouching/sitting, minimise casting/false casts, just leave your fly out there…