Stillwater advice?
 

Hey all,

I get by when it comes to fly fishing dries but unfortunately am seriously struggling to try to get that to carry over to fishing trout on still water, can still coax rises once in a while but I am really looking for a point in the right direction when it comes to staple patterns and retrievals for nymph and streamers on lakes so that I can at least have a starting point and figure it out from there. any info for this frustrated angler would be greatly appreciated, at least until the season opens up on the fast water

:sign0176:

I find that most of the time the fish are rising in the morning or evening, it’s to midges (chironomids). Of course that’s not always the case, but pretty typical. Depending on whether it’s a hatch or egg laying, I do pretty well with a griffith’s gnat or a zebra midge unweighted fished just under the surface. I also will fish midges a foot or so off the lake bottom under an indicator. This can produce very well. Stripping or figure eighth hand retrieved streamers work good. The best advice I can give you is to watch videos by Brian Chan and Phil Rowley. These guys are stillwater gurus.

A blog with successful still water flies and a sentence or two on how to fish them. 2 pages.

http://dubbingloop.blogspot.com/

Thanks very much! The blog is a great resource to start from especially.

Appreciate it fellas,

You can often tell the fish are eating emergers when you just see their backs break the surface, not their mouths. They are eating the chironomids as the bugs are stuck under the surface tension of the water. The bugs are vulnerable as they work to push their way up through the surface tension to the air.

This my go to for central Alberta still water. Shoot it out on a sinking line, give it plenty of time to sink, then retrieve in short jerks.

http://www.outdoorsmenforum.ca/pictu...ictureid=11743

Phil Rowley has a great resource website
 

Northern Lights Fly Fishers recently produced a slide presentation on the primary natural food items that trout find to eat in Alberta's lakes along with fishing tips to imitate those items at each stage of their lifecycle. It also has embedded links to over 130 articles and videos for those looking for even more information. It was put together by some very experienced stillwater anglers with the help of an aquatic entomologist, a fisheries biologist, and an education consultant. There's some great photos in it too. It's well worth checking out.

What Trout Eat - Digital Version https://www.nlft.org/what-trout-eat-digital/

I have spent a lot of time here, great resource!

Have not seen this one before, it to looks amazing!

I can vouch for this. Peter and others put a lot of effort into this. If you're out the Muir Lake way all this info is condensed in colourful placards along the walkway to the dock/boat launch area...well worth the visit although the fishing there leaves much to be desired lately!

Fly fishing isn't my strength but it is pretty enjoyable and love to dabble in it. I really like bobber fishing and I think anyone could catch a fish in potholes with a simple micro leech and the willingness to get the fly to where the fish are. Early and late in the day and earlier in the season a 9-12' leader with a standard indicator will do but it would be worth your time to look into longer leaders and self release indicators that allow you to get deep.

That is pretty general, get into the chironomids and you can have some unreal fishing in the spring, backswimmer fishing in the fall is probably the ultimate imho.

I agree on the backswimmers. I take the week off after the September long on most years just to take advantage. I use floating backswimmers just to make it even more interesting!