flufflinger

You said it! The best flies to fish are the ones fish want on any given day! Sounds obvious I know but if you can watch the fish you learn a hell of a lot quickly. If they are smashing into fry fish a lure, if they are sipping buzzers then use buzzers. The key thing is to put the fly where the fish want it, so on deep waters in very hot or very cold weather you may need a sinking line. You can still fish nymphs on a sunk line though!

Within an hour of Birmingham you can reach Willington, or Loynton fisheries. For more info visit. www.willingtonlake-troutfishery.co.uk For Loynton go to www.midlands-flyfishing.co.uk and check out the fisheries page. Yes this one is my site and if you need a guide anytime or some advice drop me a line! Tight Lines Steve

Another good bloodworm pattern is the flexi floss bloodworm and on the surface a big sedge pattern is great for late summer and autumn fishing. I used to catch big carp regularly at one lake on a pearl thorax PTN late June and July as the fish chased pin head fry in the margins post spawning. I've never experienced this elsewhere though!

I have used poppers (mainly home made as previously described) for a number of years, catching trout, pike, perch, chub and even carp after they have spawned! Wait until the autumn and fish poppers to fry bashing trout. Home made or purchased you will have fun for sure.

Thanks for the feedback so far! Keep it coming. I myself enjoy fishing waters from small lakes to large reservoirs, small streams to large rivers. My ultimate is stalking fish in clear water. I have to say catching larger than average trout for a given water by stalking is rewarding. Catching large grown on or wild fish is great and often challenging, particularly when stalking. In the last couple of years I have found blind fishing a little boring. I agree that fish stocked in poor shape are not pretty and fight like a brick. This goes regardless of size or water. Large recently stocked fish in good condition will fight well (at least they will if the water is not cooking them as it currently is) and in small to medium waters often wise up quicker than fish in large waters due to greater angler numbers per acre. When just stocked any fish can be easy, so can wild fish if the fishing pressure is low. I've fished streams where wild browns would grab anything you threw at them. The reason? No one else bothered to fish for them! Something to think about?

I will be running fly fishing courses for novice and intermediate fly fishers at Willington Lake Trout Fishery near Derby this summer. For further information please visit http://www.midlands-flyfishing.co.uk/blog/...ng-courses.html Tight Lines Steve

I posted this discussion on fly fishing for big trout in February at http://www.midlands-flyfishing.co.uk/blog/...-big-trout.html I would be interested in hearing what everyone hear thinks about the subject.