Dry Fly Fishing on lakes is an often ignored technique. While it can be less effective than fishing subsurface most of the time, on the right day, it can be the way to go. When you do get a take, especially up close like in the video, it’s awesome fun!! This video clip was filmed at Bushyleaze Trout Fishery in the Cotswolds. It’s a venue that provides good Dry Fly Fishing, especially during spring. The method is one owner Tim Small suggests people use. When we filmed this, the venue did not allow catch and release. We obtained permission to film a couple of release shots. You can at the time of writing fish catch and release at the venue during certain periods of the year as specified by the fishery. If you would like to see the full video, you can do so here.

Key Points: –

I have no idea why Steve sounds Italian at the start of this video! The subconscious movements made whenever he talks straight to camera are however part of an ancient ritual “fish dance” known to guarantee success.

Taking the positives when fish come unbuttoned! (And not saying a naughty word.)

Identifying spring surface food sources, where fish are eating them and flies to use. I.E. know where and what they are likely to eat, then go put it there!

You may notice Steve’s leader lying on the surface during close up sequences of fish eating dries (and not). This is particularly evident when fishing flat, calm water. From the anglers view point on the bank the leader close to the fly was not visible. What you see on your screen was filmed at 6X magnification. This was the first time (filmed around 2010) we had seen this discrepancy and have since seen that much of the time we think the tippet section is sunk, it is actually in the surface film. It changed our thinking and we rarely degrease the leader since this time. Only doing so as an experimental change when we receive an obvious refusal or two.

As well as being great fun, dry fly fishing is a good way to make your fishing day last longer where catch and release is not available and the fish are feeding at and close to the surface. From the number of fish you can see swimming in some close ups and totally ignoring the surface fly, you can guess it would have been very easy to catch four fish using nymphing tactics. Equally, as a lesser used technique, dry fly fishing can score really well on catch and release waters, where most anglers use subsurface tactics. If you would like further help with dry fly fishing, lessons are available here.

Best Fishes

Team MFF