Matt Eastham looks at tactics and patterns he uses for springtime stillwater fishing.
Spring is now very much upon us and with invertebrate activity increasing daily, so too are the trout becoming more and more willing to move to our flies. As a die-hard river fisherman, most of my efforts are focused on wild brown trout and running water. However at this time of year, mass midge emergences on my local stocked stillwaters are difficult to ignore and with the 'evening rise' yet to kick in on the rivers, a few after work sessions spent pursuing stocked rainbow trout can provide some welcome sport for those of us who find it tricky to get 'full day passes'.
What makes the spring midge hatches so appealing for me, is the fact that although we are targeting stock fish, we have the opportunity to catch them in the process of feeding naturally, using suitably imitative tactics. I'm certainly not averse to pulling lures when needs be, but who wouldn't rather present a single fly on light, well balanced tackle, to a visibly surface feeding fish? Let's save the sunk line work for when really needed and enjoy some top of the water sport while it's so readily available.
Certainly late evenings at this time of year can be electrifying on waters with a healthy population of Chironomids. If the day is mild and the wind light, it's usually possible to catch fish right through the day on teams of buzzers fished almost static at varying depths as the pupae rise and fall through the water column on their convoluted way up to the surface. Personally I've never found that approach to be particularly engaging and if my flies are to be fished sunk, then I prefer to be moving them out of sheer need to be doing something rather than just standing there waiting for a pull; but if the air remains warm as the shadows lengthen and the breeze begins to drop off, then there's every chance that a co-ordinated emergence will occur and the resident trout explode into action in the very uppermost layer of the water. On my local waters such as Barnsfold and High Fairbanks Tarn, I've seen hatches so prolific that the tiny rings caused by hatching midge make it look like light rain has started to fall. The trout inevitably follow suit en masse and fin around casually, 'head and tailing' as they suck in emerger after emerger. A field day is on the cards right? Well yes maybe, but a few important points need to be considered if frustration is to be avoided. The following tips draw upon what I have gleaned over the years having learned the hard way myself. Bear these in mind and you may end up profiting from the spring midge bonanza to the tune of some hectic sport indeed.
"A quality rainbow to surface tactics"
1. Timing and location
It is a common sight on many small to medium sized stillwaters, to see anglers set up shop in one spot and remain there for hours on end - maybe due to proximity to the lodge, wind direction, ease of casting, or any number of other factors. However, there is no reason why adopting the wild trout fisher's mobile approach shouldn't reap equal dividends. Some might point to the fact that rainbow trout by their nature are nomadic rather than territorial and so it's more reasonable to stick to one place waiting the next pod of fish to pass by. Fair enough, but personally I'd much rather keep mobile and cover as much water as possible....and in the case of buzzer hatches I'm convinced this tactic pays off. Hatches can prove to be quite localised at times - we've all heard the term 'buzzer hole', referring to a patch of silt on the lakebed which supports a particular concentration of larvae. It pays to find out where the buzzer holes are on your water, the hot spots. A good giveaway is the behaviour of insectivorous birds such as martins and swallows; the feeding pattern of these is often in response to midge appearing, and seeing birds hawking about over the surface in one particular part of the water always warrants close investigation.
Timing is equally important. At this time of year, early in the season though it is, the most intense period of rainbow trout surface feeding often occurs right at last light. Even when previously steady sport appears to be tailing off as the light fails and the temperature starts to drop, it's worth sticking around because sometimes the fish switch back on big style very late on. Some of the most memorable evenings I can recall have reached their peak after everyone else had packed up and gone and only one or two of us were left. As recently as last month, I endured a torrid session which looked to be heading for a pitiful blank; I had fished badly, and with no-one else on the water having returned more than a couple of fish all day, I was all set to cut my losses and head home. Pure bloody minded determination made me sit it out though and I'm glad I did because the half hour of twilight yielded eight hard fighting rainbows when I found one corner of the reservoir in which a few fish had started rising. At that point, I had the full 20-odd acres to myself. So the moral of the story is: you've paid for your ticket, stick it out - it might just be worth it.
"Perfect conditions for an evening buzzer hatch"
2. Scale it down
River and stillwater disciplines are very much steeped in their own traditions it's true, but more anglers these days are inclined to draw from other branches of fly fishing to inform their own specific approach. You only have to look at the modern river fisher's nymph box to see this, with running water versions of the Diawl Bach for example, and various stillwater scene flash materials incorporated into many riverfly designs these days. Personally speaking, I have found one or two aspects of river fishing technique to be useful in certain stillwater scenarios, not least the use of long tapered dry fly leaders in tricky, flat calm conditions.
Late evening midge hatches often coincide with a sudden drop in wind speed and loss of surface ripple. With fish rising like mad everywhere, it would be tempting to assume the going will be easy, when in reality it can often be anything but. Whacking out a team of emerger imitations on a polytip followed by a few feet of 6lb fluorocarbon just isn't going to cut the mustard in this type of situation and many opportunities will be missed. Far better in my experience to approach the porpoising rainbows as if you were stalking river brown trout.....and that might mean fishing a single fly on a copolymer tippet as fine as 0.14mm diameter, well treated to remove any shine.
Set up obviously needs to be balanced to suit the lighter terminal tackle, but without going so light that the relatively hefty stock fish cannot be played quickly and efficiently to the net. I find that a rod in the 9' #5 to 10' #6 category fits the bill admirably, and paired with a floating line and tapered copolymer leader of around 12 feet long, is more than capable of offering a suitably subtle presentation when the conditions are tricky. It's worth remembering that although clearly on the feed, our target fish will have been covered all day by repeated multi-fly casts out to the 30yd mark and any advantage we can give ourselves may make all the difference when it comes to fooling them into eating our fly.
"Weapons of choice"
3. Presenting in 'the zone' - the critical inch
To me this the single most important consideration when targeting surface feeding rainbow trout during a midge hatch, but one that's all too easy to overlook. The 'head and tail' rise that characterises trout behaviour in such circumstances is revealing - it indicates that fish are sipping the struggling emerging pupae from out of the surface film. Not below the surface, nor bang on top of it.....but that 'critical inch' where the insect in the process of escaping its pupal shuck, lies vulnerable and struggling in a battle against surface tension.
Adult midge aren't exactly the most efficient creatures at getting out of their shucks and away, and during a hatch, many thousands of them hang in the surface film, sitting ducks for the feeding rainbows. With so much stranded food at their disposal, the fish can just fin along upwind, hoovering up the emergers as and when they enter their window of vision. To paraphrase Bob Wyatt, anything which doesn't conform to the 'prey image' which the fish are locked onto , will simply be ignored; not because it isn't an adequate representation of food, but because at that moment it just doesn't register on the trout's radar - it doesn't present the correct 'trigger'.
A full dry fly doesn't present the correct trigger, because it lacks the surface penetrating, sunk abdomen profile; and nor does a buzzer pattern fished shallow (say on a dropper in a washing line setup), because it doesn't create the surface tension dimpling effect of the natural hatching insect.
The answer then, is some sort of sunk abdomen emerger pattern and there is no better artificial for this application than the 'suspender buzzer'. It sound obvious I know, but if I had a quid for every time I've observed a fellow angler see fish at the surface and then set to work with a dry fly, then I'd be able to afford that Hardy Zenith I've been promising myself! It really is so critical that tying on a pattern which sits with the correct attitude in the water, can mean the difference between a frustrating blank and an evening to remember.
The version below is what I have come to rely on over the years. It doesn't look much I admit, and I've had more than one disparaging remark when I've shown it to curious fellow anglers; but rest assured that it is absolutely deadly, as well as floating reliably and being robust enough to withstand multiple captures. I prefer it to a cdc shuttlecock type pattern because it is so low maintenance, and although the foam tag might look ungainly, it provides visiblity to the angler - but the white colour means when viewed from below against the luminance of the sky, it blends into the background and doesn't put the fish off. I've had many memorable evenings catching large numbers of trout with this pattern, and if you decide to give it a try, I hope you will too.
Matt's Suspender Buzzer
Hook: Kamasan B100 #14-16
Thread: mallard brown sheer 14/0
Rib: fine black wire
Body: black krystal flash
Thorax: dubbing of choice
Tag: white foam strip
There really isn't anything too hard and fast about the materials list for this one, just tailor to suit your local midge hatches. Around my neck of the woods, small and dark is the way to go, so a size 16 hook is about right. I like to avoid solid black though because in my experience, 'black' insects are rarely so when examined closely. The dark brown thread and 'oily' effect krystal flash combine to produce a pleasingly dark off-black effect, which I like....but which in all likelihood won't make much difference to its effectiveness. Keep the thorax dubbing straggly and use a non-absorbent material where possible, to help prevent the low riding fly becoming waterlogged too quickly.
Tying sequence
1. Run on the thread and catch in a length of wire. Bind down in touching turns to a point well round the hook bend, then return the thread up to rear of thorax area.
2. Catch in the krystal flash and wrap in touching turns down the shank to the end of the dressing, and then return and tie off at the start point - so a double layer of the material. Trim off the tag end.
3. Follow up the body with open turns of the wire, then give the body a coat of Hard As Nails varnish and allow to dry.
4. Now slice a strip of foam from a 3mm thick sheet - approx 3mm x 3mm x 30mm long. Cut a point in one end as a tying-in tag. Offer up to the shank, just behind the eye and bind down to the top of the shank, back towards the rear of the thorax.
5. Dub forward with chosen material, to finish slightly behind the hook eye. Don't crowd the eye as we need space to whip finish under the foam tag later.
6. Gently ease the foam tag forward (don't stretch it!), over the thorax dubbing and secure with three solid wraps of the thread.
7. Finally, put in a three turn whip finish under the foam tag. This is more secure than whip finishing on top of the foam, and also serves to cock the tag end upwards slightly. Give the whipping a dab of varnish and then trim the tag end to length.
Job done! The fly should be adequately buoyant without any treatment although a smear of mucilin over the top edge of the foam doesn't do any harm. To rejuvenate after catching a fish, simply squeeze any absorbed water out of the foam and give a dusting of Frog's Fanny or similar; the fly will be as good as new.
Be sure to visit Matts excellent blog to keep up to date with his fly fishing adventures - North Country Angler Blog