Rainbows In Spring/Early Summer: Stillwater Tips

[Gerhard]

WK,


Except for the dry flies why are you using such small flies?


I love flies tied on the following size hooks:


6, 8 and 10...


I have cleaned a 450gr trout and found a frog in its stomach.


Trout are not afraid to take larger flies. Especially big trout.


I love a Red Eye damsel tied on a no 6 long shank hook...


Make sure your knots are done properly because the trout hit them at full speed... 

[Ziggy]

Does all Stillwaters in S.A. contain stockies? Yes and no as there are quite a few dams/lakes with wild fish in them. Fish that has reproduced by themselves for a number of years.

Trout do  not breed in still waters - unless there is a suitable breeding river running into the dam/lake - like Wolf Avnis dam

[WalkersKiller]

Gerhard, I prefer using smaller flies, becaues I do a lot of dry fly and nymph fishing in shallow water and during hatches and the only way to get the trout during massive hatches is by using small flies. My pb Rainbow, 2.4kgs, was caught on a size 18 RAB, my fathers PB Rainbow, 2.7kgs, was caught on a size 22 flashback nymph.

When I fish wet flies, I prefer size 10 -14 sizes, had most of my success on these flies. I use larger wet flies during the spawning season to annoy the fish into getting a take. The dams and lakes that I have fished and been unsuccessful with size 6 and 8 flies, as soon as I put on something smaller I get takes, just personal preference as well.

The only 2 flies I use for trout larger than a size 10 these days are Zonkers and Lake Dragons. 

[Gerhard]

Gerhard, I prefer using smaller flies, becaues I do a lot of dry fly and nymph fishing in shallow water and during hatches and the only way to get the trout during massive hatches is by using small flies. My pb Rainbow, 2.4kgs, was caught on a size 18 RAB, my fathers PB Rainbow, 2.7kgs, was caught on a size 22 flashback nymph.

When I fish wet flies, I prefer size 10 -14 sizes, had most of my success on these flies. I use larger wet flies during the spawning season to annoy the fish into getting a take. The dams and lakes that I have fished and been unsuccessful with size 6 and 8 flies, as soon as I put on something smaller I get takes, just personal preference as well.

The only 2 flies I use for trout larger than a size 10 these days are Zonkers and Lake Dragons. 

Interesting to see how each has his own way of targeting trout on fly...


Size of fly is one thing..


Then its lines...


Then its the speed of the retrieve...


Time of the year...


My PB is a 2.6kg hen on a no 8 olive hammils killer on a sinking line on a early Feb morning last year.


As long as you having fun with a bend fly rod in your hands and a trout leaping who cares how you do it... 

[WalkersKiller]

Exactly, I agree with you there, dont think there are any set techniques it all comes down to what you as a fly fisherman are happy to use or do! Fly rod bending = eternal happiness!

[E.T.]

Small Rainbow caught on a 2wt using an Epol Fly.....




Geez, I miss those glasses. Not even a shuffle down the rapids could take it off my face, real shame that I had to go sit on them by mistake. Never have I had a pair of polarized glasses that could spot fish like these could. Ocean Waves, truly magnificent.

[WalkersKiller]

Very nice fish, its a pity about the glasses though...

Koos why dont wild trout, the ones in streams, grow to the sizes of stockies? I know wild trout do not get fed but the average size in comparison is quite different, where as in american streams and lakes they grow larger than in stocked dams...

[E.T.]

Very nice fish, its a pity about the glasses though...

Koos why dont wild trout, the ones in streams, grow to the sizes of stockies? I know wild trout do not get fed but the average size in comparison is quite different, where as in american streams and lakes they grow larger than in stocked dams...

Most of the Trophy Trout in S.A. comes from Dams and Lakes, thats true. There was a monster of a trout caught a year or so ago in Swartwater Dam. The thing with dams is that, especially those with trophy fish has the right climate and enough food for them to grow to epic proportions.


The big fish you refer to elsewhere in the world has to do with the fact that most those fish are Sea run that goes up into the rivers. There was talk and still is some talk or a myth if you want to put it that way about a certain trout stream in the Western Cape with Sea Run Trout from time to time.


We do have rivers in S.A. with 70cm fish. Two of these are in KZN and then I know of water in Lesotho with fish just as big and bigger. The thing with Lesotho is that it's high altitude water and the reason why these fish thrive is the fact that they are so remote and the angling pressure is non existent.


There is also a Smallstream in the Eastern Cape, where your eyes will hang out your forehead like Viennas, when you see the size of the fish in it.


If S.A. was way cooler and our oceans like the ones in Europe and pollution was not a factor, we would have people lining the banks of the coastal rivers to catch Salmon and Sea Run Trout.

[WalkersKiller]

Awesome info, very interesting to know!!!

[E.T.]

In stillwaters you will find especially during warmer months that it sometimes is impossible to revive a fish. This is not because the fish was played too hard, it's merely because the oxygen gets taken out by the sun in the shallower parts and when you take that same fish to deeper cooler water in the same dam, your chances is that much better in reviving it.


I once had a trout swim back to me 3 times. Every time I would hold it under water give it time to revive and let it go. I kid you not, it would swim 2 meters away, turn around and come back to me, almost asking for a hand. So yes, I have caught a trout without a fly more than once.....Bwahaaa!!!!

[WalkersKiller]

 

I have had many long times reviving trout in warm conditions, recently took me almost 10 minutes to revive a 1.5kg fish, the fight was about a minute...

[E.T.]

I have had many long times reviving trout in warm conditions, recently took me almost 10 minutes to revive a 1.5kg fish, the fight was about a minute...

The thing that sucks major, is when you release a fish and it decides to go lay upside down on the bottom in some grass 3-4 meters from the edge. What do you do? You swim and you can't believe how much of everything that cool water down there has.......

[WalkersKiller]

  I remember that photo Koos!

[E.T.]

That pic you remember was another occasion, that fish on the 2wt, had me dive in swim down about 2.5m and I swam that fish to live. I dove in wearing only my undies. When I got out I also put my hand down my front like MJ, to make 100% sure that everything was still there.


That water was "Skilpad" Koud!!!!

[WalkersKiller]