#32 Learn to Fly Fish Still Water Part 1 of 2

Learn to Fly Fish Still Waters, or Still Waters run deep! Part 1 of 2

Thank you to all of you that are following my posts, on learning how to fly fish, or just learning to cast a fly rod. I hope that a few morsels of information have been helpful to you.

Up until now I have spent a fair amount of time talking about rivers and fishing for Trout on a fly, but today I thought I would spend a few minutes talking about still waters. Learning to Fly ish still water, or the old saying “Still waters run deep” is very true when it relates to fishing lakes or ponds.

The goal of this article is to help you better understand some of the ins-and-outs of fishing still waters. Fishing a lake and being able to read a lake is more of a challenge because you cannot see under the surface of the water. Now there is no way we can cover “everything” you will need, but let’s just consider this a primmer course.

Stillwater can refer to any “pond, lake or puddle”, or any other impoundment of water the is not currently flowing, by which we can see move.

But first a quick story from my past when I was learning to fish still waters.

In the mid 90’s I became obsessed with bass fishing with a fly rod. I would get up at 3:30 in the morning and drive 30 minutes to the lake and cast for an hour and half before the sun came up, and on rare occasion I would actually catch a bass with my fly rod.

I was starting from scratch I had no one to teach me I was just winging it, (literally). Imagine me getting to the water and looking out at a huge cove that covered about 2 mile of shoreline. I would just rig up my trusty fly rod, tie on a black woolly bugger, and begin to cast in any and all direction, until my arm fell off. This is how I began my still water fly fishing training. If after you have read my story you will be less like my younger self, and you will actually catch fish on a regular basis.

Will you fish the shoreline of a lake, or the bank of a local pond, are you going to fish from a float tube,  belly boat, or are you going to be on an actual boat. All of these choice will affect how you attack Stillwater fishing. In keeping with the name’s sake of the web site, we are going to discuss only a bite size amount of information today, too much information all at once can be counterproductive.

Quite ponds hold some big fish

Basic information on Stillwater:

Almost every lake or pond will have similar characteristics to them, for example the water is broken into several parts. First part which will be closest to the shore is called the (Littoral zone) or translated “the place where weeds grow”, because the sunlight penetrates enough to grow them. This zone will usually be no more than 15 ft. +/-.Next is the (Sublittoral zone) or the place where weeds stop growing because the sunlight is not strong enough to reach the deeper water. There is a few more, but these are the keys terms for right now.     Keep in mind that the larger the shallow areas of a lake, the larger the weed sections will be.

The reason the “weed zone” is so important is because that is were most of a lake’s food supply comes from. In our past discussions we said who lives in the weeds?. That’s right bugs, and who eats bugs, small fish, and who eats small fish?.

I think you get the point, so when you get to your local lake or pond, try to find where the weeds grow, and you will be closer to your fish. Remember shallow weedy areas are places where fish come to eat, like going to Denny’s for a quick meal. The deeper areas are places where cool waters, and mor oxygen are more abundant in the hotter months, so fish will seek out these places when the dog days of summer are at hand.

Places fish like to live:

If you take a quick look at the drawing you can see there is more than one place where fish will tend to hang out in Stillwater. When you take your next trip down to the water’s edge, try and see if you can locate some of the areas I’ve highlighted for you.

Lake Structure

Tackle, lines, and other trappings:

If you are going to fish a pond or lake you need to have the right fly rod and equipment for the job. If you have only a 7 ½ ft 3 wt. fly rod, you may struggle more than you need to, (not to worry bluegill are a blast on a 3 wt. rod) A good all-around fly rod for most will be a 9ft 6wt. rod with a floating line. I know there is a few of you who are gowning right now but hear me out. A 6 wt. rod is a great all-purpose rod for lakes, you can throw streamers and top water for bass, you can toss small flies for bluegill and even catch carp on a 6 wt. rod.

So, if you have a starter kit from Walmart or Cabela’s, you are ready to tackle that pond. Most of the started rod kits will have already come with a floating line, which is great to start with. A tapered leader, some tippet a few flies and you are off to the races.

Retrieves:

Let’s talk about a few different ways to pull the fly through the water or retrieves. The way you retrieve the fly will depend on the type of fish you are going after, but there is a few standard retrieves that well go over.

First is the basic strip retrieve you will simply cast your fly out in the water, and preferable near a weed bed, and you will simply just pull, or strip the fly line in with small 3” to 6” pulls on the line. This is usually done while fishing a small bait fish pattern, like a wooly bugger fly  to try and imitate the small fry or leech living in the weeds. Changing up the speed and length of the strip will make a difference; you will need to experiment.

If you are using a floating “popper” style fly you will do the stop and pop retrieve. You will cast your popper fly out into the water, and once it lands you need to wait about 5 to 10 seconds for the water to calm down. Once the water is calm you will give a quick tug on the line, in hopes of making a quick “popping” sound from the fly, wait a few seconds and “pop” it again all the way back to the shoreline.

If you are fishing with a small wet fly, you can do what we call the hand twist. Again, cast your fly out into the water, and let the wet fly sink below the surface of the water. Once the fly has sunk then you will simply use the palm of your hand to twist the fly line around your thumb, then your pinky finger. This is slow and twitchy retrieve that is lethal for trout during the right time of years.

Target species:

Now that you are bored to tears from my ramblings, let’s get a little more specific to types of fish.

I’m going to skip trout for now, but I will come back to them later on.

Bluegill, everyone’s favorite:

Almost every pond or lake in the Northen Hemisphere has Bluegill, or some other type of Panfish in then. Catching Bluegill on a fly rod is so much fun. Their flat bodies and willingness to take a fly make them the perfect game fish for a fly rod. To maximize your excitement with Bluegill they are best suited for a 3 or 4 wt. fly rod, with a floating line.

Bluegill love small floating popper flies, as well as small nymphs or small wet flies. Keep in mind that Bluegill have very small mouths and will only give your line the slightest “tap” when they take the fly. So, keep a tight line, or use a very small strike indicator, or fish a nymph using a hopper dropper set-up. Once hooked on a 3 wt. rod they will put a nice bend in the rod.

Bass of a fly rod, “hold on to your shorts”

Using a fly rod to catch either Largemouth Bass or Smallmouth Bass is a real thrill. These fish are pure eating machines and love nothing more than to eat a frog, duckling, crayfish, or anything else that will fit in their mouths. Your equipment will need to be up to the task, however. A 5 or 7 pound largie will rip the rod right out of your hand once it figures out it is hooked. My preference is 9ft. 8 wt. rod while Bass fishing, because it is enough rod to set the hook in their boney mouth, and also be able to keep them from swimming into brush piles or snags. A floating line is a good all-around choice because you need a lot of line mass to throw some of the large and bushy bass flies. If you use a 3 wt. rod for Bass fishing you have brought a knife to a gun fight, “good luck”

Mud Marlin

  Last up, common Carp, or “Mud Marlins”

If you have a local pond or lake in your area, you may see Carp swimming along the banks of Stillwater, or in a cove. There is a very good reason Carp are referred to as “Mud Marlins” of fresh water. Carp can grow to be very large. Here in Colorado in the pond near my house, I have caught Carp up to 40 lbs. (yep I said 40 pounds). These fish can be caught on a fly, but be warned, they are not easy to fool. If Carp are feeding in the shallows there are “SUPER SPOOKY” one misplaced cast, or a flash of your jacket and it’s “Game Over”.

If you do hook a Carp on a fly rod, you will be in for the ride of a lifetime. They are strong fish with lots of stamina and will bend a fly rod to the grip. Nothing less than 9ft. 6 wt. set up if you start out, a 9ft 3X leader with 3X tippet in muddy water, 4X in cleaner water. If you do decide to go after Carp, you will need to sight fish for them, which means you spot and stalk the fish, try to make a cast 2 ft. in front of their nose, and hope they see the fly creeping along the bottom, the whole time trying not to scare them off. Good luck I hope you can actually land one of these “Golden Bone fish”.

I hope I have not caused anyone to fall fast asleep during my 1900 word monologue, but there is so much information that you need to become the best Stillwater flyfisherman you can be. Over time you will hone your craft and be able to walk up on that shoreline and say to your friends, “that section over there is where we will catch fish”.

Again, if you have any questions or comments please feel free to contact me directly.

Tight lines

Gary, AKA LaMachine..