Where do you suggest I fish for trout?

Choosing a place to trout fish, apart from the convenience or cost aspect, is really all about the size and type of water you will feel comfortable at.

As a relative novice or just someone who likes a slower pace of life, you might find being faced with either the vast expanse of hundreds of acres of water at a reservoir or the difficulties posed by running water, a bit daunting. Therefore you might feel most comfortable to start on a small still water.

Small still-waters

Quite a few small still waters are in my view very under-rated. Probably because some others are really so artificial as to be quite off putting.

On a good small still-water you will find fewer rods and the less the fishing pressure the more freely the fish will rise. This makes the fishing a bit more expensive but it is worth it.

The other good thing about smaller lakes is you don’t need to be able to cast too far and can usually catch fish with nothing more than a floating line and single fly fished off a reasonably manageable nylon leader, all of which is easier to handle than some of the gear needed on bigger waters. If the fish are down you can fish the fly wet (ie let it sink) or if they are rising you can fish it dry.

At Little Saxbys Farm and Chalybeate Springs, both of which have lakes of one or two acres only for example, at the right time of year, the countryside is just breath taking, the water is crystal clear and with prolific fly hatches including the famed Mayfly, there is even some spectacularly good dry fly fishing.

The beauty of a small lake is that, one, it keeps still! You don’t need a constant change of casting direction. Two, if the wind blows the wrong way for your casting, you can always nip around to the other side.

Large still-waters

Even if you love fishing smaller waters as I do, there comes a time when a change or new challenge calls.

A bigger loch, lough, lake or reservoir can be very exciting to fish but you will need to master several new skills. You will need to learn a casting technique called the “Double Haul” which is a method of giving you much more distance out of your normal overhead cast. This will allow you to reach further and cover more water.

You will also need to master the use of sinking lines, as the fish might be anything up to 20 or 30ft down in the heat of the summer or cold of the winter.

And finally, you will need to learn all about fishing from a boat, because at certain times of year a boat is the only practical way to be able to reach the fish. “Loch style drift fishing” is the technical term for the method. You sit facing front on a thwart board, whilst the boat drifts side-on down wind held square either by a boatman or by a drogue – a sort of underwater parachute - fishing as you go. It all looks pretty simple but again really needs a little expert help before you start.

River fishing for trout

Flowing water, from the tiniest trickle to largest stream, whether bouncing over rocks or meandering gently through meadows, holds a special fascination for me.

As that most famous of angling books first published in 1653, The Complete Angler by Isaak Walton so beautifully put it “Fish and the inhabitants of the watery element were made for wise men to contemplate and fools to pass by.” I can never pass by a river without stopping to peer into its depths.

But fishing on rivers holds yet more challenges for the fly-fisher.

You will often need to cast very light lines and tiny flies with pin-point accuracy. You will also need to be able to cope with a constant change of direction. Then from the tactical point of view you might be needing to overcome drag as the current pulls your dry fly round like a speeding boat, or to find depth quickly with a leaded nymph in fast flowing water.

Trout fishing on rivers is usually classified either as just river fishing or Chalk Stream fishing.

Chalk streams

I know a lot of folk who have found their first experience on a chalk stream, apart from the stunning beauty of such places, more than a little disappointing.

The first thing is the price and unless you are paying at least £100 and more usually in the region of £300 per rod per day, it is likely not to be much good. Keep upper most in your mind that the cost reflects the rarity value, often a good deal of snob value and the cost of upkeep in relation to what should be only a small number of rods fishing. The cost has little or no bearing on the number of fish you will catch.

With the exception of a small number of beats that commit the sacrilege of stocking natural wild brown trout waters with much easier to catch rainbows just so that rich Corporate types can say they “bagged something for their buck”, the whole point of a chalk stream is that it is b….y difficult! It is a serious test of the fly fishers skill.

Fishing a chalk stream demands pinpoint casting with very delicate presentation, under often impossible conditions and a very keen and experienced fishing eye. To get the best out of it, it also helps if you are a keen naturalist as well. No, not the one that takes their clothes off, the one that takes a keen interest in entomology (aquatic fly life) and the natural world.

This is the fishy equivalent of a really good wine. If you are the kind of person who relishes a good wine and will sip it gently savouring the delights of the history, the region and the extraordinary conditions that make such a good year, a day on a chalk stream could be your kind of heaven. If on the other hand you don’t really give a fig where the wine came from provided it tastes good and has the desired effect, you might find fishing the chalk streams rather over-rated.

River fishing for trout

Fishing more conventional rivers can be both ridiculously inexpensive and just as productive if not more so.

In Scotland for example, on most of the salmon rivers, the humble trout has in times gone by been regarded as vermin. So the trout fishing was made more generally available through a number of local associations

Even today for a matter of a few pounds you can fish some fabulous streams with real hard fighting wild brownies which will take an upstream dry fly in a good hatch just as it will a leaded nymph fished across and down.

Similarly good fishing can also be found throughout Wales, Ireland and the more remote parts of England.

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