Fly Fishing with Chris Dore

In another chapter of getting my wife out fishing, I took the lovely Amy up to a local high country lake close to home this afternoon for a couple of hours throwing the fly around. There were several anglers already on the water and after chatting to a few of them was surprised to hear that the fishing was slow. Hot and sunny, however with gusty sou westers rolling down the lake, whitecaps peppered the choppy surface and so I figured maybe their casting or presentation was letting them down.

We went in at a vacant spot and I proceeded to show Aims how to work her spin gear before setting up the S4 for my own pleasure (I guide all week and cannot wait to break out the fly rod on my day off?! I must be mad). An AIRFLO Ridge Clear fast intermediate was my line of choice,to get beneath the surface chop and into the strike zone, allowing a tight, slack-free connection to my fly, important in windy stillwater conditions IMO. I started with a small Mrs Simpson tied to 5 feet of 6lb fluro to get the job done.

Pitching the fly across the drop off then immediatly stripping once to remove any slack in the system, I counted to 5 to let the line sink. No sooner had I hit '4' but BANG, I was into my first fit wee rainbow.

Second cast and I began stripping a short, fast retrieve and BANG, a quick strip-strike and the second fish was on.

This pattern continued over the next half hour or so with every third or fourth cast being hit by fish. So why werent others hitting them? I couldnt tell you... Most were nymphing beneath dries and maybe in the choppy water it just wasnt getting down to the fish, or providing the movement required by these fish? Maybe they werent getting the fly out and down into the 'bingo zone'. Maybe they just werent adapting to the conditions.

However, if you want an easy, effective and consistent method to hit fish in most NZ stillwaters, in particular shallower lakes, choose a fast intermediate line, a short section of fluro and a Mrs Simpson, Olive woolly buggar or similar small bully pattern and work the drop offs and weed beds. Vary your retrieve from short fast strips through to slow, 'figure 8' retrieves to see what hits and have fun!

Get some!