Help With Fly Patterns for Brown Trout (Lake)

[5shot 0]

I would like to try and target Browns in a local lake, and would like some suggestions on Fly Patterns. These are not Lake Run...they are resident in the lake. This lake is DEEP...like 300ft in some places, with a rocky/gravel bottom (where it can be seen) very cold water and not much aquatic vegetation. I have been trying streamers and other wets, fished on a sinking line.

I know there are some big ones in there, since the state record came out of there many years ago, at 22 lbs and the record still stands. I am sure that was trolled with gear though. The lake is does not get much fishing pressure, but I have not been able to connect with a Brown yet.

Any help would be appreciated.

[Piker20 0]

Sounds similar to many Scottish lochs. The trout that turn into fish eaters, will get big and are often caught in deep water (+50ft) on trolled baits. For the typical low nutrient water, shallow is never too shallow. If you are wading try to cast tight to the banks before you wade in. Many more fish than you think will be in at your feet. When you are happy you have covered, fan like, close in, wade out if needed and look to fish in the 10ft up zone. UK browns will often attack a dry or high fished wet even when nothing is showing /no hatch is on. They are territorial and you need to cover the yards to find fish. Browns won't come to you. Once you've caught one, its worth couple more casts around that spot before moving. Lots of bank anglers I known cast, step couple of steps right and retrieve. Cast step retrieve. Etc. If the water doesn't hold a lot of forrage, you would do worse than stick on a black pennell or a march brown in a #12 or #10 and go from there.

[Piker20 0]

Meant to add, look around areas of water running into the lake, and the are around the original stream bed if there is one, flowing in and out of the lake ends.

[dontheo 0]

I think it also depends on the lake and food sources.

[Piker20 0]

Yep but assuming the trout breed in there, the smaller ones will all be around similar places as the lochs local to me. In autumn when the trout gather toward spawning time the bigger ones appear closer to the near margins but spend a lot of time deep chasing char and trout. The water struggles to support a head of big fish due to low vegetation = low insect life. So the fish that are not eating fish will be around the shallow water where sunlight brings some insect life and algae to eat.

[5shot 0]

Thanks Piker20. I will do some more scouting on the lake and see if I can locate any feeder streams. We will be in a boat, as the edge of the lake is very steep and heavily wooded, so we should be able to comb the edges easily.

 

Do you guys fish for them in the spring much or only in the fall?

[Piker20 0]

My season starts April and finishes Oct so we are still cold in the April and then by Aug Sept we have daylight almost right through night here. I've found its best to never start too deep for wild browns and then go deeper if no bites. Or if two of you in boat one fish up, one down to see what is working. Have a look at loch style fishing and make a drogue for slowing your drift.

[Piker20 0]

Lookout for terrestrials blowing in off the woodland and if there are any areas deer or cattle drink and muddy the water try there too.

[5shot 0]

here's an image of the one end of the lake with a small creek entering. You can see from the elevation lines of the bank and the lake how steep the bank is and how quickly the water depth drops off.

 

[5shot 0]

My season starts April and finishes Oct so we are still cold in the April and then by Aug Sept we have daylight almost right through night here. I've found its best to never start too deep for wild browns and then go deeper if no bites. Or if two of you in boat one fish up, one down to see what is working. Have a look at loch style fishing and make a drogue for slowing your drift.

 

 

I have been doing some reading on Loch Style - makes total sense, and I am going to give it a try this year.

[Piker20 0]

Where the creek enters would be my starting point going blind as nutrients wash in and food. The trout may use that for spawning if its so deep all round. Best of luck and let us hear how you get on.

[DryFlies4Life 0]

I doubt your lake is anything like our lakes here on the west coast of Canada, but our lakes are also drop of fast and are extremely deep, some so deep the bottom has never been found. The primary method of catching is trolling deep, much like piker said. As for fly guys they tend to stay away from the fiord lakes sticking to lower elevation puddle lakes, However some of the funnest summertime dry fly action I've ever had is at creek mouths. There are different types of creek mouths, some will hold fish, some wont. The first thing you want to find is if water runs year round, if it does good. Next thing is does the lake drop of quick, the best drop off drops to 15 feet within 10 feet of the shore. Next thing is the shoreline. The shoreline should not be marshy. The best shoreline is where the creek flows out onto a gravel beach then into the lake. Resovoir lakes generally don't have good creek mouths becuase the drop off gets submerged and the lake moves up into valley creating a slow gradual drop off. One of the best things about creek mouths is in summer the surface warms and the trout move deep, except near the creek mouths where the cold water flowing in keeps the trout on the surface. As for fly patterns, nymphs fish under an indicator in the current would be productive. Leech patterns would be good genral attractors, the egg sucking leech is a local favourite where I live. As for the summer drys get real fun. Any attractor dry flys like Adams or humpys will work. Black ants can be extremely productive when they hatch. Put your flys right up the creek and start your drift into the lake, even if the creek is only ankle deep. Once I was exploring a beach where a creek flowed I caught a small horse fly that tried to bite me. I placed it in the small creek and watched it drift down the creek towards the lake. Much to my surprise a large rainbow came straight out of the lake into the small creek just to get the tiny fly. Just shows trout will do anything to get food when hungry.

[Simon Lidster 0]

Why not try a kick sample in the creek? At least that way you'll have an idea of the natural food available to the trout.

 

Simon

[up2nogood 0]

I would like to try and target Browns in a local lake, and would like some suggestions on Fly Patterns. These are not Lake Run...they are resident in the lake. This lake is DEEP...like 300ft in some places, with a rocky/gravel bottom (where it can be seen) very cold water and not much aquatic vegetation. I have been trying streamers and other wets, fished on a sinking line.

I know there are some big ones in there, since the state record came out of there many years ago, at 22 lbs and the record still stands. I am sure that was trolled with gear though. The lake is does not get much fishing pressure, but I have not been able to connect with a Brown yet.

 

Any help would be appreciated.

If I didn't know better it sounds like Wade Lake in Montana, but the state record was 29 lbs. ,and was caught in 1966. Wade Lake does have big browns, but all I really catch there is rainbows, once in awhile a small brown. Your lake sounds much like Wade Lake.

[5shot 0]

Sullivan Lake in NE WA. The record was from back in 1965. My uncle went scuba diving in there back in the 70's and said the fish were so big that it scared the hell out of him.

 

A friend of my dad fished it 20 some years ago and caught only a very small fish (on a fly). He decided to troll it, and a nice sized brown hit it. When he reeled in the fish a monster came up and slammed the "bait". He only brought in half a fish.

 

I don't know if the fishing is like that any more, but I would like to try it out! I have not seen anyone fly fish it besides my dad and I, and very few fisherman trolling it either. With the depth, I would like to think that there has to be some giants hiding in there, just surviving and waiting for me to fool them.