Dan O’Neill is back with the 11th instalment of his River Whispers series where he goes over basic fly casting technique, he interviews Denis Goulding about rainbow trout, Anthony O’Neill gives an angling update of his own, there’s information on fly fishing for pike and a competition to win a Yeti mug…
“Allow yourself to be a beginner, no one started off excellent”
In this edition, now that we have picked our rod, reel and line it’s time to cast, we look at the pickup and lay down cast and some pointers and practice drills on our way to the perfect cast. This week’s expert is Dennis Goulding who speaks to us about rainbow trout fishing on lakes. We take a look at pike this week and where to start. Anthony is back to give us a run-down of his autumn fishing so far. New to the river whispers is our youth competition, see below how to enter for your chance to win a yeti travel cup.
The last couple of editions we spoke about what we needed to begin fly fishing. The only piece left was the reel. I look for a reel that will balance my rod correctly, its best to get a reel that of course will balance the set up and also has a reasonable drag system. Reels start at €30 I would advise getting the one that suits your budget best, ensuring it balances the rod is very important. Depending on what we are fishing for a good smooth drag is very important.
Our first cast
So here we are, we are on the grass or rivers edge to practice with our set up. I use wool when practicing as its much safer, I also wear my sunglasses or clear eye protection and of course my fishing hat. Lets practice at 35-40ft, the first thing i do is put a marker cone or a stick on the ground where i will be standing (stick A), I then go 35-40ft from that stick and put down another stick (stick B) which is what i will be casting to. When you hear “from casters foot “it means we take the rod length and leader length into consideration. Our rod is 9ft and our leader is 9ft, so we take 18ft from 35-40ft and that’s how much fly line we pull out of the top eye. (so, our rod butt is at stick A and our wool tag will be touching stick b).
• Rod grip – There are 3 main types of rod grip, finger on top, thumb on top then open grip where you just wrap your hand around the cork handle of the rod. I teach the thumb on top grip and i find 90 percent of beginners grab the rod this way. When gripping the rod don’t have a grip that’s too tight or white knuckle as its sometimes called. Whichever grip you decide make sure you have a relaxed grip.
• Stance – You will hear people say closed stance or open stance. There are reasons for using each one but for now for this cast and because we are beginners let’s look at the closed stance. What is closed stance – A closed stance for a right-hand caster is having the right foot slightly forward, for a left-handed caster its having the left foot forward. What is open stance – Open stance for a right hand caster is having the left foot forward, for a left-handed caster its having the right foot forward thus opening our stance. At the moment like mentioned we will stick with the closed stance.
The pick up and lay down cast (p.u.l.d cast) – With our line and leader straight out in front of us we are going to perform a pick up and lay down cast. It’s exactly as it sounds; we perform a back cast then lay the line back down. So below are the steps in shorthand,
1. The lift.
2. The back cast (to our stop at 1 o clock).
3. Pause to let line unroll.
4. Forward cast (to our stop at 10 o clock)
5. Lower the rod (delivery / presentation).
Talk yourself through the steps: First of all, keep the rod tip just a few inches away from the grass / water. We are going to aim to stop the rod at one o clock. We begin to lift the rod, once we see the end of our fly line move towards us, we begin our smooth acceleration towards 1 o clock. Keep in mind we start slow and finish fast, our rod is moving at its fastest just before the stop at 1 o clock.
Talk yourself through this as you do it. What is the reference to a clock about? We imagine the rod is a clock hand. If you’re a right-hand caster the clock is on your right, if left hand caster, then the clock is on your left. When using a thumb on top grip then watch the thumb and as soon as it points to one o clock your rod tip will be pointing that way to. As our line goes behind us, we must pause to allow the back cast to unroll. When our line has unrolled, we begin the forward cast. Same principal, smooth acceleration, start slow, finish fast. On the forward cast we are going to aim to stop the rod at 10 o clock.
So, we have come back to 1 and going to cast forward to 10. People use different times like 10 and 2 or 11 and 1. Learn to stop the rod at all the times. The shorter the distance between the numbers the tighter the loop will be. There is more involved in tightening the loop which we will look at later in the series, for now let’s take a look at working our casting arc and perfecting our rod stops.
Don’t forget when the rod stops on the back cast allow the line to unroll then the next move is into your smooth acceleration forward. What do we do when we stop the rod at 10 on the forward cast – This part is called the delivery or sometimes presentation, once we stop the rod at ten and our line unrolls, we allow the rod tip to drop parallel or just below parallel to the water /grass. This will give us a subtle landing and allow our leader to fully straighten. Tailing loops, what are they – The dreaded tailing loop and its many causes. Right so I have seen many reasons for tailing loops and there are many reasons for tailing loops, let’s take a look at the most common and the ones you most likely will bump into at the beginning. Overpowering the cast – If we start to quickly with our forward or back cast then we will for sure get a tailing loop, putting too much power in is also a huge problem (remember, start slow finish fast) and will show by causing tailing loops or even kick back on the line when it fully unrolls. Casting arc – So when we stop the rod on the back cast and again on the forward cast, we call that the casting arc. Generally, a wider casting arc (10-2) produces wider loops and a narrow casting arc (11-1) produces tighter loops. Learn to practice this and be able to control your loop size.
Denis Goulding on Rainbow trout
This week’s expert is Denis Goulding. Denis is a very passionate and successful angler, his passion shines through with each word on his angling blog. I was delighted that he agreed to answer our questions this edition.
Tell us a little bit about fly fishing on lakes?
The seasons or how you fish for Rainbow Trout is very similar to those of Brown Trout. The early season tactics of pulling bigger lures/wet flies work well for rainbows. Then we have the first hatch of duck fly around the middle of March, followed by the buzzer and olives in April. This can be top of the water fishing and rainbow trout love dry flys. if there is Mayfly on the lake you fish, you will have great fishing until mid-June. That is when the evening fishing starts with sedges, big and small. It really can be great fun. End of year fishing is daddies and floating fry like popper. this information i base on the few rainbow lakes we have in Ireland, the lakes that stay open revert back to some great buzzer fishing before Christmas.
Can you tell us a little about patterns and is there any go to patterns or universal patterns to start us off?
Ok well there are many fly patterns for rainbows, some to catch trout and more to catch the anglers. I will always go imitative when after rainbow trout. By this I mean, I try to represent the insect that is hatching as much as possible, be it buzzer, olives, sedges. We also have terrestrials like daddy long legs, cow dung flies etc. We then go to the aquatic side of things, shrimps, hog louse, snails and fry. So, you see there are a lot of food sources to imitate. So, if I had to pick 6 flies I would choose a small black dry fly on a size 14 hook, a brown sedge on a 12 hook, a pheasant tail cruncher, a red cheeked diawl bach and a black buzzer all on size 12 hooks. For early season and fry feeders I would have a weighted flashy minky and a weighted black lure in size 10 to 6 long shank hooks.
If the lakes have been recently stocked and orange blob is one for the cast.
When choosing a spot to start what do you look for?
From bank or boat i will always look for bird activity, birds will always let you know where the food source for the fish is, whether it is fry or hatching insects. Failing bird activity i will always fish the shore the wind is blowing onto; this is where the bottom is being stirred up and any terrestrials are being blown in here. Fishing from the boat, i always look for wind lanes as the food items also accumulate in these lanes.
What way should we set up, leader length, tippet diameter?
You can use various lengths of cast and various diameter of lines to suit the kind of fishing you are doing.
For nymph fishing, straight lining or washing line, anywhere from 6 to 10lb. 18ft cast, 3 flies spaced 6ft apart.
Dry fly fishing 4 to 8lb line 2 flies on an 18ft cast or 1 fly on a 16ft tapered cast to 4lb line
lure fishing 8 to 12lb line, 2 flies on a cast 15 to 20ft, depend on what you are doing.
The monofilament versus fluorocarbon debate will go on forever, i use them both.
Do you use a floating line or intermediate, as beginners what would be best for us?
That’s a good question, I personally have nearly as many lines as weeks in the year, from different manufacturers. Airflo, Wychwood, FNF, the list goes on. A beginner from bank or boat needs a floater, an intermediate line and a fast-sinking line.
What weight / action rod would be suitable for fly fishing lakes?
I use 10ft 7 weight rods for all my fishing for rainbows and browns, unless I am fishing very very delicately. Rainbow trout fight hard and if you want to put the fish back, it is better to use a rod that will help you land and return the fish as quick as possible.
Could you give us one beginner tip?
To be honest I could not. One tip is just not enough. When I started my fishing career there was really no information out there about rainbows in Ireland. Very few places had rainbows. I read the trout fisherman magazine, it was my bible and I progressed from there. Today there is so much information out there, but as with everything you need to be careful what you read. To be honest, join a club that have lakes and outings on them so you can learn from other members is a no brainer. Fish the commercial small waters that are open all winter long and maybe get some tuition from a guide/instructor. You will learn more from them in a few hours than you will in the first few years of fishing by yourself.
You can also look at my webpage denisflyfishingireland.com and read all by blogs discussing various techniques or you can email me at [email protected] if you want to book a day out on the small waters this winter.
Irish fly Fair this weekend
It’s finally here the 2024 Irish fly fair. I will be giving one on one tuition through APGAI to as many people as I can, keep an eye out for the APGAI flag and put you name down for some tuition. I am joined by a whole host of APGAI instructors. I am lucky enough to be doing a demo with Ray Mckeeman where I will be looking at some practice drills that will help us on our journey.
Go fishing…
