Tips for beginners Fly Fishing on a flat calm, sunny day

There's a big competition on at Rutland Water today, and I've been watching a flotilla of boats in the bay by my lodge and a few thoughts came into mind.
This is April 2014 and Dickenson's bay has been choc full of trout since the season began in March.



When I first brought a boat in here a while ago to see if the bay held fish, I was astounded at the number of eagerly feeding trout all over the bay but mainly right in close by the back, almost under the trees.
Mostly smallish, fresh stockies probably swimming here from Transformer on the South Shore of the peninsula, but with a few good silver ones mixed in.
This has been a guarantee* of excellent sport for a good few weeks and my clients have enjoyed fast and furious sport.
Back to the armada in the bay. The rules of the competition, in this case a Police Federation Match, are that the first 4 fish must be taken and weighed then catch and release thereafter giving each released fish a score of 2 pounds.
A useful tactic would be to catch 4 fish quickly (some of the stock fish are less than 2 pounds in weight) and keep catching all day to build up the 2 pound bonus weight.
However, it seemed to me that the boats in the bay weren't catching quick enough to achieve that goal. The reason is probably clearer from up here on my balcony with a clear view of the proceedings, but in the frenzy of competitive angling, the 'mist' can form and some basic fly fishing watercraft can be forgotten.
Dickenson's bay isn't deep, it's probably one of the shallowest creeks on the lake apart from a few lovely shelves and deeper spots. Recently the fish have been on the shelf as the bottom, easily seen as a light brown colour gives way to the deeper, darker water with a weedy bed. The weeds which flourished on the low water mark last year, approx. 25 yards out are still there, the winter just gone was incredibly mild and the weedbeds which hold huge amounts of food are still growing, as can be seen when you lift up the anchor against mountains of lush, food rich greenery. So that's where the fish have been. By the way, I do prefer to drift with the wind but with the recent breezy weather, a steady anchored boat has been more effective.
But, as we know, every day can be different, and today, we have bright, warm sunshine and no wind.
If you were a fish, where would you be?
Trout don't like bright sun. They don't have a peaked cap or sunglasses, or even eyelids. The water here is very clear and there are many predators looking for a trout-sized meal. In fact an osprey flew over the bay just now and decided it wasn't the pace to hunt. Probably because those trout which were happy feeding in shallow water during a good ripple on the water and an overcast sky, now, are finding the depths, in safety away from the sun.

Dickenson's Bay with 10 boats, 2 out of sight

Also, this bay isn't large and there are now 10 boats, each with 2 fishermen, casting away, motoring around and all congregated in the shallow areas where the competitors found fish in the days before, during their practice sessions. But those fish must also be getting nervous with the fishing pressure and will move away from all the commotion.
There are some fish being caught occasionally, usually by the boats either over the deeper holes or the ones on the periphery, ie away from the main concentration of anglers.
They are being caught on either slowly fished buzzers or similar flies suspended underneath a 'bung' or sight indicator. 'Pure' indicators are not allowed in competitions, so to make it legal, you can by tie a hook in it and calling it a floating fly. I often fished a 'bung' made from 15, yes 15 Cul De Canard tips onto a size 10 nymph hook. It works well and there's a good chance that a trout will take 'the bung' itself.
I've no problem with this, it's a mighty effective way of fishing buzzers how they really should be fished, that is, static. An occasional 'draw' lifts the buzzers and then let's them fall back through the water, and a nice ripple helps with a 'dangling' irresistible movement. Plus, it's a method using widely on the famous River Test, a purist water if there ever was one. They use a hi viz floating 'klinkhammer' and attach a sinking nymph to it. Watch the dry fly disappear and the trout has probably taken the sunken nymph. Great fun and very effective. I love to fish 'the bung'.
So, if the conditions, and I mean the weather conditions and the 'traffic' conditions aren't good for this location where should they go?
You could prowl around the edge of the main fleet and pick up fish moving to somewhere quieter, probably fining down to a 6 weight set up and perhaps a thinner leader. I wouldn't go lighter for the leader as the fish still pull hard, 8lb breaking strain minimum, but a more expensive, thinner make such as Orvis Mirage etc. The lighter set up will produce more delicate presentation. Many of the anglers out there are casting long distances but the lack of a wily presentation may easily spook any remaining fish.
You could stick around and wait either for most boats to give up and move away and also hope for a breeze to cover the shiny water in a camouflaging ripple. In a flat calm the fish see everything, boats, fly line etc at least ripple would disguise the anger and boat.
Or you could move. I probably would have seen the number of boats in there and gone somewhere else initially. In my experience I believe that that this particular bay on Rutland Water can take a maximum of 3 boats to fish well. More than that, certainly 10 plus boats will probably drive the fish out and into safety.
There have been other spots on Rutland which have produced big numbers of fish recently and these seem to have had a higher proportion of bigger, grown on fish. Transformer for example, with it's shallow bank and lovely dark drop off had held many fish with some real corkers of 4 pounds and over for me and my clients over the past few weeks. Finches down to Armley Wood, Armley around to Carrot Creek and Barhill are good areas now and at least on that bank, the water has been in the shade for longer. The water being shaded by the Hambleton rolling hills until noon.
The South Arm has deep water off Old Hall Point and again slightly in the shade, Gibbets Gorse and New Zealand Point.
On days like this when there's no wind and glaring sunshine, it's not going to be easy. All competitors could struggle and the tactics have to change. It's not a race any more. The initial plan to catch lots of fish and win with a large bonus weight may not work today and perhaps a different strategy could be worth considering.
Maybe to try and target bigger fish first then hope that the afternoon will bring a few cloud, a decent ripple and that this will induce the fish to come on to the take in more 'stockie-filled' locations, may be worth considering.
Where's that then? You ask. Well I could tell you but I'd have to kill you I'm afraid ;) Joking of course. I'd try a few deeper areas which normally would produce grown on fish later in the year, about May/June. The lack of severe frosts mean that those areas still have weedy beds and therefor are a magnet for wise old trout.
In the deeper holes at the top of the arms; off the Normanton or Sykes shore well out from the shelf; along the dam; around the towers. Risky gamble but often, 'he who dares wins' a couple of good fish may be several times the weight of 4 small stock fish and it may just win the match for someone today.  May not though, these are wild animals' after all and we may think we know what they'll do, but we really, I mean really don't know for sure at all.
Rob

 
* Sorry, we can't actually guarantee anything in fishing, that's why it's called 'fishing'...not 'catching'