Still Water Presentations

[Abalone]

I have been a fly fisherman ( sorta ) Since 1972 when I got out of the USN.
Dry fly fishing the Deschutes, Crooked river mostly.
Ok so the last couple of years I have gone all out. I did a ton of lake fishing there year with lots of success.
So I am learning.
What I am realizing is that presentation is a major part of being successful. I have been renting Videos lately from
the local fly shop. I am amazed at the number of ways there are to strip line.
Figure eight with Speed and variations, Short Strip, long strip, Jerky motions and Just let it drop tactics that
supposedly excite fish.
Until now I either trolled my fly behind my pontoon boat or I did variations of the Strip.

So what I want to know is: What is your favorite presentation. What is your secret and what do you do that has
your partner wondering WHY you are catching all the fish ?
I am convinced that it is the Strip that makes the difference.

[fishhead69]

I have found that with wteelhead,, there is no secret, just get it in front of their nose and if they are in the mood to bite it they will,,, now feeling that bite its a different story.
Low rod, just above the water, dirrect to the reel,none of that high rod trout stuff, only if your fishing with an indicator.
Most people who start out fishing for steelhead will fish the same water the gear dudes do.. Big no-no. You cant (well maybe if you use bike chain tippet) get your fly in the zone that way. Fish water that is just about walking speed or slower. I've caught fish in water that gear dudes have just cast OVER. Ive hears that those 60-80' deschutes casts are overfishing on alot of other rivers. In the rivers I fish,Clack, Mckenzie, Willamette, Santiam I rarely cast ofer 50'and if I do its usually to skate a dry.
Send me a PM and I will send you a link to a great article on fly presentation for stelhead.

[PTS]

Abalone, I assume you are interested in presentations for stillwaters. First, I will disagree with you, it isn't the strip that is most important, it is identifying the hatch (if any) and selecting the appropriate pattern to fish. However, when I am fishing a lake, I will use dries if at all possible, so I care what they are taking, midges, callibaetis, caddis, etc. and whether they are taking emergers or adults.

Your question is asking about subsurface presentations. Generally, that means fishing either the top few inches of the water column or near the bottom. Again, what is available to the fish? Most commonly it is midges or callibaetis, sometimes it is damsels, caddis, alder flies, hex's etc. I think the pattern you choose is the key. Match what the fish are feeding on at the time and where they are feeding. That can change throughout the day.

If I don't observe anything going on at all, then I often use a sealbugger. Now the problem is what color and how deep. Just keep changing and searching. Sometimes they do want it on the sink, sometimes as you raise it to the surface, sometimes deep and slow, sometimes as fast as you can retrieve, often when I swing my pontoon around. There is no one retrieve that is the answer. The secret to success is to be flexible, observe what is going on and keep changing tactics until something works.

[TheCamel]

There is no one retrieve that is the answer. The secret to success is to be flexible, observe what is going on and keep changing tactics until something works.



As a stillwater fly-fisherman for over 10 years, I have to agree with that statement. :applause:

There have been times when fishing almost side by side with my adult son, that I have been hammering the fish and he will struggle to get a hit, and we are fishing with the same lines and fly. Out of desperation/pity, I will trade rods with him and I will still catch fish while he gets nada.

[Abalone]

I agree with everything said above. Match the hatch is first and foremost, However; the retrieve is what seperates the men from the boys I believe. Retrieves can be Fly pattern specific such as Chironomides. I use a floating line almost exclusively when fishing lakes. This was one of my first important lessons and fishing the shoals or in the Shallows is very important. But what I see differentiates various fisherman is the retrieve. So I am trying to devolope a system of various retrieves to use when I am approaching Still waters. I am aware of a few such as the ones I listed above. I have nailed big fish by making long fast strips. Something I discovered by accident while reeling in my line. There must be many variations out there that I haven't thought of yet and I am just bringing it up for discussion.

[TheCamel]

Abalone:

I use a floating line almost exclusively when fishing lakes.



I am just the opposite. I fish a clear intermediate sink line 95% of the time. I will fish a clear floating line if fish are "gulping" midges just below the water line or rising to surface floating mayflies that are hatching or laying eggs. I think that the line on top of the surface will spook fish underneath when being stripped, due to its ripple effect on the water.

Another technique you might try is to get a net like used for a fishbowl or small aquarium. Tie it to a heavy weight monofilament line and let it sink to the bottom. Drag it through some weed beds, and then pull it up to exam what aquatic life the fish are likely feeding on. Then you have a better idea of what type of fly will match the hatch subsurface.

[PTS]

When I first started to fish stillwaters exclusively with a flyrod (25+ years ago) I listened to presentations and read about appropriate retrieves for damsels, dragon flies, callibaetis, etc. I have never found it necessary to follow those rules. I have fished any type of lake you can imagine all over OR and WA (btw, my favorite OR lake is East Lake followed by the Lava's). I will use any kind of retrieve pattern I can imagine and seldom the same one two casts in a row. If one works, I will try it again, but it won't work all the time so I change again. That's just me, and I am not saying I am right. But, I have flyfished for 50+ years, and I catch way more than my share. I am always happy to hear other opinions and will always try something new.

There is one best retrieve, and you discovered it. That is the "reel in". If I wouldn't look like such an idiot I would do that often. I have tried unsuccessfully to duplicate it by stripping. Another thing to do while trolling is to not put any action at all on the fly. Amazing how often that is the key.

I don't know what types of lakes you fish, but another important factor is the depth of your fly. You only use floating line. That will not cut it on a lot of lakes. I generally fish out of a pontoon and have two rods. One rigged with floating line and another with a clear stillwater line (intermediate). If you are patient, you can get deep enough with that. Very often, I see fishermen on lakes using floaters and not doing nearly as well as they could if they were deeper.

I will disagree with another standard rule. That is with sinking lines to keep your tip submerged while trolling or retrieving. That's usually correct but not always. You can't impart certain actions to your fly as well with the tip submerged as you can with it out of the water. Again, the "be flexible" rule.

Abalone, you mentioned on another post about the OFC ponds. I was an original member of OFC and should have bought the lifetime membership, however, I did 15 years which expired about 5 years ago. I enjoyed the Highland ponds when they were first acquired. Fishing on those is a lot different than something like East Lake. I would be happy meet you someday at the properties to discuss stillwater flyfishing. Right now, though, is steelhead season and I am after them every day the rivers are fishable. I an doing all this posting today because the river where I would normally be was a little too high this morning.

[mandinga]

strip speed is very important abalone...the strip speed is variable to what you are imitating and WATER TEMP.

There are so many things to know about stillwater, if I had to say that I had a "secret" it would be that I buy nice fins for my float tube so that I can troll my flies at a good pace...good excercise and have caught many many willing trout with the trolling method.


If there is a hatch PTS is right on, you must match that hatch. If a hatch comes off the first thing you should do is stop and look around for a minute...identify....change flies and then fish. I have seen so many people(including myself) keep fishing through a blizzard hatch because of all the trout feeding on the surface...thinking that it looks like they will eat anything. And alot of trout will eat almost anything, but the finicky trout are the ones you want to catch...finicky=big

[drbfish]

I fished a lake with PTS about a month ago, he catches more fish than anyone I have ever seen. It is silly how bad he out fished me. And, now we know his secerets, I am going to print them out!

[PTS]

Drbfish, You know I will never give out all my secrets. When you get as old as I am, can't see what bugs are on the water, and lose coordination, you have to keep some tricks up your sleeve. The only reason I caight a few more fish than you was because I spotted what would attract those fish to a certain area of the lake and got there first. It's about time we got out together to fish again.

[trout chaser]

Does anyone else like to cover a lot of water searching for active fish? I like to cover a bunch of water using streamers and stimulators looking for opportunistic fish. While this method isn't your classic match the hatch fishing, it has worked well for me on some of the larger SW Washington lakes.