Locating fish is one of most difficult components to tackle when you are fishing stillwaters.  Once you located fish – it still doesn’t always mean that you will get them to strike your fly.  Let’s look at a couple of items to consider when fishing stillwaters.

Fly line choice – matching your fly line to your fly and retrieve.  We are usually fishing a fly that requires some sort of retrieve and using a floating fly line.  On those calm days where the water surface is flat, casting and retrieving your fly will create small wakes on the surface and will cause fish to become spooky or move them out of the area.  For those windy days where the water surface is choppy, the fly line will develop a bow (creating slack) and soft takes will more often than not go undetected.   Floating fly lines definitely has its place in stillwaters fishing – fishing dry flies and nymphing with an indicator.  An intermediate sinking fly line (i.e. Type II) could be the better choice because it will break the surface preventing wakes in windless conditions or avoid slick when the wind is blowing.  When nymphing without an indicator – a floating fly line will present your fly at an upward angle, where as an intermediate sinking fly line will provide a more level fly presentation.  This is acceptable if you are fishing a fly that is imitating an insect emerging from the bottom.

The speed of the retrieve is another key consideration.  Most food sources (except for baitfish) move very slowly in stillwaters.  From time spend fishing and experimenting on stillwaters, a slow retrieve will produce more consistently.  Also, I have noticed the slower the retrieve, the softer the strike will be.  When sight fishing shallow waters with nymphs, I have watched fish strike my fly without ever feeling a thing – removing preventable slack from your fly line is critical to increasing your hook-ups.   Holding your fly rod so the tip just above the water when retrieving a nymph, will help keep a tight line and detect more of those softer strikes.

Matching the leader to the fly is another key consideration.  Improperly matching the fly to the leader will make casting difficult, causing your leader to twist / tangle and hitting the water too hard – spooking fish.  My rule-of-thumb is “with a big or heavy fly lean towards heavier and shorter tippets / with a small or light fly lean towards lighter and longer tippets”.  If, I am not getting strikes – many times, I will change to a slightly longer or dropping down to the next size tippet and will experienced more strikes with the same fly.

Good Angling and Tight Lines,
Andy