Q. I want to know which is the best approach to flyfish sea trout in big rivers? More...

Q. I noticed that you stated that when killing a fish you should use a priest. What is a priest? More...

Q. Most of my fish are coming off the hook. Where am I going wrong? More...

Q. How do you fish traditional wets? More...

Q. Can you advise me of the best leader material to use for buzzer fishing? More...

Q. Could you recommend the ideal set up for fishing a team of flies? More...

Q. What knot would you suggest I use for fluorocarbon? More...

Q. When fishing still waters should I use a full sinking line, sink tip or a sinking leader or just weight the fly? More...

Q. How can I actively target brown, rather than rainbow trout, in a mixed fishery? More...

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I'm an American who recently spent a great day trout and grayling fishing with a R.A.F. friend on the Avon river near Lynham. I was wondering if the Graying in the English chalk streams are a different species from the American/Alaskan Grayling (T. Articus)? Dave Falter

The European Grayling is Thymallus Thymallus and the American/Alaskan Grayling is the Arctic Grayling, Thymallus arcticus, as you know. If you want to find out more about this interesting fish, I suggest that you read Ronald Broughton's book, The Complete Book of the Grayling. You can read my review of it here at Fish & Fly.

In England the Grayling was regarded as vermin, particularly on the southern chalk streams, but it is now beginning to be better appreciated. This is in contrast to many European countries where it is held in higher regard than the Brown Trout. Terry Lawton

I want to know which is the best approach to flyfish sea trout in big rivers? In night fishing what is the best method to fish very deep pools (does the surface lure work in this type of water), rifles and runs? Antonio Rodrigues

On large rivers, sea trout can move around freely and are far less shy during the day. They often take a fly during the day, especially if it is dull or if they are lying in fast, broken water with riffles and boulders for shelter. Deep pools are usually less productive. Best times are dusk and dawn, during the night they are not exceptionally keen and indeed on the Tay here very few anglers fish for more than an hour or so after dark, because the sea trout stop taking and are probably too busy running. The runs into the tops of pools are the favourite positions and for our sea trout almost any black and silver fly size 12 or 10 will do the job. In normal conditions floating or intermediate lines are used. Sometimes more natural insect imitations are useful during the day and occasionally the sea trout will take dry flies, nymphs and goldheads like brown trout do. If the river is high daytime is certainly best and larger, more colourful flies and sinking lines are sometimes used. Ally Gowans

I am in the process of buying my first fishing tackle and starting to fish as a hobby. I noticed that you stated that when killing a fish you should use a priest. What is a priest? Secondly what sort of flies should I buy? What is the best place, do you think, for a beginner to fish? Martin Wright

A priest is a short cosh, made from brass, aluminium, wood or bone (stag horn) which is used to hit a fish on the back of the head to kill it. It is called a priest as it is used to administer the last rites to a fish. It is much quicker and more humane than trying to use a landing net handle or a stone - if there is one handy. The best place to start will be on your local stillwater. You will need to buy a selection of fly patterns including nymphs, lures and dry flies and in a range of different sizes. Your local fishery or tackle shop should be able to recommend a sensible selection. Terry Lawton

I have recently changed rods from a 9' 6" fast tip actioned rod to a 9' midflex one. Since I have changed, most of my fish are coming off the hook. Where am I going wrong? There's nothing wrong with the tackle - it's down to me. I fish on "top of the water"/buzzers. David Weatherston

This is an interesting question. My thought is that now you are using a slightly more flexible rod that when you tighten into a fish your are not applying quite so much pressure, as the rod is bending a little more. I suggest that you trying applying a little more pressure and, perhaps, delay tightening into a fish to give it a bit longer to take your fly into its mouth. But not so long that it has enough time to realise its mistake and eject your fly. Terry Lawton

Just a quick question: how do you fish traditional wets? Are they retrieved like a lure or just left to drift? Dave Cook

Traditional wet flies are more popular for fishing lakes and lochs than reservoirs and stillwaters but they can still be very effective away from the traditional loch. They were tied to represent a wide range of trout food as well as incorporating attractor elements. Originally most patterns were designed to be fished sub-surface although palmers are fished as bob flies on the surface. Wet flies can be fished as a team of two or three flies with a palmer on the top dropper that can be dibbled in the surface film where it creates a disturbance as you retrieve the team of flies, at varying speeds. Attractors with tinsel bodies are better retrieved faster and flies with dull, insect-like bodies slower. Terry Lawton

I enjoyed the article on buzzer fishing. Can you advise me of the best leader material to use for this method and using cdcs etc? I use Ashima fluorocarbon mostly, but I find it a bit stiff for dries. Carole Sanderson.

While researching an article on leaders I found some information in an American magazine that highlighted Dai-Riki Velvet as being extra soft, or flexible, and also Orvis Super Strong. Rio Universal Powerflex was described as Soft. One of these may be the answer to your problem. Terry Lawton

I have recently picked up my rod again after several years absence whilst working in London. Having moved to Bristol I'm enjoying the lakes around Chew Valley and have had reasonable returns on Diawl Bachs, Corixa and Pheasant Tails. The problem is as a lad my dad taught me how to fish only with single flies and I never learnt to tie teams (the most successful guys at the lake use teams of three buzzers) which seems like an effective method to attract fish on tougher days. Could you recommend the ideal set up - line, lengths, knots etc. as it's time I pushed my learning curve a bit to match the "bag-catchers". Also any advice you can give me relating to typical team patterns, methodology and strategy would be greatly appreciated! Jon Tripp

If you look at www.fishandfly.co.uk/ffedit0501.html you will find an article on leaders and dropper knots. Also look at the Knots Directory which is now nearly complete. I would also suggest that you buy a copy of Arthur Cove's book, My Way With Trout, as he shows you how to set-up and fish with leaders up to 30 foot in length. Also Henry Lowe has produced a series of reservoir guides. We have reviewed these and the Cove book. You can buy the reservoir guides direct from Henry Lowe, telephone: 01223-245886. I think that with a copy of My Way With Trout and either Lowe's Stillwater or Reservoir bank angler's guides or the boat fisher's guide, you will have most of the information you will need on lines, fly selection, tactics and finding likely places to fish. Terry Lawton

I was wondering what backing is for fly fishing and do you need to have it to fish? I was also wondering when making a needle knot, do you take the leader and put it in the eye of an needle and stick it through the fly line? Eric

Backing serves two main purposes:

1. It is used to fill-up the spool of a fly reel so that the fly line is as near the "outside" of the spool as practical. Reel manufacturers usually state the capacity of reels: 4# line plus 100 yds of backing, for example. This will then ensure that the reel is full.

2. The second reason for fitting backing is that it extends the length of fly line with an inexpensive and lightweight line. A big powerful fish, such as a salmon or steelhead, may well be strong enough to take all the fly line plus up to 50 or more yards of backing as well. Without the backing you would have to run after the fish to stop it breaking your leader.

Fly leaders are usually attached to a fly line so that they can be removed easily. You would not use a needle knot to fix a leader to your line.

What knot would you suggest I use for fluorocarbon? Daniel Olivarez

The choice of knots is, to some extent, a personal thing. The important thing is to try different knots until you find one that works for you and then make sure that everytime you tie it, you tie it very carefully. Do choose a knot that you can tie under all conditions - wind and rain, cold fingers etc. It takes a while to get used to the knotting characteristics of different materials, whether double strength or fluorocarbon. I find that the Trilene knot is very good for tying the tippet to your fly. The Surgeon's knot is good for joining lengths of mono and also the Double Grinner. Do have a look at the different knots in the Fish & Fly knot directory. Terry Lawton

After many years of spinning I turned my hand to fly fishing. I fish in many slow water streams and rivers in Sweden and also a large lake. So far I have been using a weight foward floating line and as I am a beginner with dry flies, to some degree of success.

My first question is when fishing still waters I have been told it is best to use a "buzzer" or other wet flies and as I am fishing areas near reeds, rocks and the banks, should I use a full sinking line, sink tip or a sinking leader or just weight the fly? If so how should I weight it so I don't spook the fish?

My second question is when in slow water I have been using only a floating line, 5 weight, and dries and I would really like to try streamers. But what line/leader should I use? I hope you can help me and look foward to further updates on your excellent site. Thanks very much. Wårik Sargent

To start at the beginning, the choice of line weight is determined by a fly rod's line rating which should be shown just above the handle. It will say something like: "AFTM 6#" (for a 6 weight line), or "9' for a 6wt line". Sometimes there will be two numbers 6/7 or 7/8 for example. If that is the case, you would use a double taper line of the lower weight/number and a weight forward line of the higher number.

The length of rod that you use depends, to some extent, on the size of river or lake that you are fishing and also the size of fish that you hope to catch. A good all-round rod for use on rivers and lakes would be 9' long for a 6# (possibly 7# but this is heavy for river fishing for trout) line. Just because you want to fish with streamers does not mean that you have to have a different length or weight of rod.

I can see no good reason why you should not fish streamers in a river with a 5# floating line and an un-greased or sinking leader to help get the flies down to the depth at which you want to fish them. As well as fishing streamers, you should be thinking about fishing nymphs upstream as this is a much more imitative method of fishing, particularly when you can see fish feeding underwater or there are no flies hatching and no fish rising.

When fishing buzzers in a lake in either shallow water or over rocks and other underwater snags, I think that I would stick to a floating line and a sinking leader. If you want to fish deeper, your could try a sink tip. Full sinking lines require a special casting technique to get the best out of them. With a sinking leader, or sink-tip line, you should be able to fish down to about 2m without any problems.

Flies such as wet flies and nymphs can be tied with lead under-bodies - lead wire is wrapped round the hook shank - to make them sink. You do not need to add lead to your leader to make your flies sink. (I know that the Americans are very keen on using split shot but it should not be necessary and makes casting difficult as well.) To make sure that your flies sink, buy weighted ones and ensure that there is no grease on your leader - in fact make a point of using a sinking compound on it.

If you go to www.fishandfly.co.uk/stillwater.html you will find three articles on stillwater (lake) fishing including two on buzzers. Also at www.fishandfly.co.uk/beginnersarch.html if you scroll right down to the bottom of this list of articles, you will find a number of articles that I have written for people new to fly fishing and on nymph fishing. Terry Lawton

How can I actively target brown, rather than rainbow trout, in a mixed fishery? Specifically large reservoirs (eg Bewl). Proportion of stocked browns perhaps only10 per cent but in two and a half seasons I've caught only one brown - summer evening dry/damp fly (exluding two browns taken same day at Grafham 'out of season' on fry). I tend to fish imitatively but it's not enough. Nick Jacobs

An interesting and challenging question to answer. If you are fishing from the bank and can see fish, I assume that you are doing everything possible to help yourself see fish in the water: using good Polaroid glasses (side guards can be helpful when the sun is at the side) and wearing a hat or cap to keep stray light out and help you to concentrate at looking into the water and so identifying fish. The next point to make is that you should learn as much as you can about the way browns like to live - for example they prefer colder water than rainbows - and then fish in areas that are more likely to hold browns and use tactics and methods that are, again, more likely to attract browns. It might be helpful to take a thermometer with you and check the water temperature. As reservoirs warm-up, you will have to search for cool spots and/or fish deeper where the water will be cooler. Concentrate on areas, imitations and tactics that are most likely to catch browns as opposed to rainbows. When it comes to fishing the most likely areas, as far as Bewl is concerned I would suggest that you buy a copy of Bewl Water, Angler's guide, by Peter Firth and Vernon Chapman. It costs £6.50 and it should be available from the shop at Bewl or direct from the publisher Henry Lowe, telephone: 01223-245886. Guides are also available for Grafham and Rutland. One final suggestion is to post your question on the Fish & Fly Messageboard and see what suggestions fellow anglers can produce. Terry Lawton

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