Fly, Spin or Go Home?

[robmason]

[Fruin]

I voted for persisting with the fly. However, it would have to be something that would stand out with all that colour in the water.
I would probably only hang around long enough to get an idea of when the colour would start to go out the water (ie. if I carry on will I catch the water clearing).

High water is only a real problem if it is carrying colour and debris. If it is clear, then you always have a chance of fish.

[wilbert]

Depends on how far I had traveled. If it was my local river I would give up and head straight for the pub. If I had traveled for an hour or so I would give it 2 hrs with the fly and then go home and head for the pub. I can see a pattern emerging here.

[zeolite]

Got my best sea-trout on a spate river when the colour was just like that. Mind you it was with a worm.

[exerod]

If thats the Exe your best bet is to go home and earn some brownie points for later in the season

Looking at the grass in the margins it looks clean enough for the fly if you can find some smooth shallow water to fish it in. Is it just me or are the classic flood water lies like fords, bays where the cattle drink and extensive gravels where the oyster catchers nest much more common in the books than in real life

Tight lines

Andy

[Bogyoch]

Definitely continue with the fly! I have had the odd fish in hideously coloured water that even those with spinners have shied away from. A bright yellow piggy seems to do the trick.

[elwyman]

Go into a deep depression if that was the Tweed and I'd paid a fortune to fish it!

[elwyman]

davewallbridge said:

If I can just about see my wader boot in 9-10" depth of water I'll fish on with confidence. Even small flies fished relatively fast in a summer spate will catch under such conditions.

Dave.

Interesting to compare notes here.

I am confident of fishing fly, and have caught fish, when I can just see my boots when wading up to my groin.

I will have a go with fly, when knee deep and I can see my boots - usually a big fly fished slowly in tails and slack water - but I can't recall catching on fly in such dirty water. Spinner certainly.

[charlieh]

elwyman said:

davewallbridge said:

If I can just about see my wader boot in 9-10" depth of water I'll fish on with confidence. Even small flies fished relatively fast in a summer spate will catch under such conditions.

Dave.

Interesting to compare notes here.

I am confident of fishing fly, and have caught fish, when I can just see my boots when wading up to my groin.

I will have a go with fly, when knee deep and I can see my boots - usually a big fly fished slowly in tails and slack water - but I can't recall catching on fly in such dirty water. Spinner certainly.

I think I'm somewhere between SS & E'man. On the Wye, a good rule of thumb is that if you can see your boots when you're in to just over your knees, you've got a fair chance with fly.

However, I had an interesting lesson in how rules are made to be broken a few years ago. The river wasn't too high, but visibility was only about 1' or so - there may have been a bit of an algal bloom, I think. In the conditions, I was surprised to see my host put aside the spinning rod and pick up the fly rod. But as he fished down, a fish came to the fly without touching it. Changing to a smaller fly, he went back and fished down again, and hooked and landed that fish.

He later told me that he was fishing a particular lie where he knew that, at that height of water, the fish lay on top of a large flat rock and hence were closer to the surface than usual. He said it was the only place on the beat where he would have expected get a fish on the fly in those conditions.

Of course, that sort of thing depends on detailed knowledge that only comes with a lifetime of fishing a particular bit of water. But there are perhaps a couple of lessons to be learned. If the water is dirty, it may still be worth fishing the shallower places with fly. Also, as Dave says above, even in dirty water, you don't necessarily need a big fly. In that instance I think the fish took a size 10 - just the same size as one would have been using in clear water at that height and at that time of year.

[elwyman]

Did I mention I'm only 3 feet tall? ;D

Seriously, it's interesting to hear other peoples experiences on this, and learn.

I'm remember arriving at the Elwy once to find it really filthy- that horrible light brown 'hot chocolate' colour, with visibility just a few inches. I caught a grilse and a sea trout within 15 minutes from a shallow backwater, just below the fast neck of a pool, on a big Toby. I had almost turned around and gone home without a cast.

[robmason]

It's perhaps worth mentioning that most of Devon is covered in dark red soil. My pic does not do the colour justice. The visibility was less than 2 inches! I dipped yellow, orange, silver, red tubes in the water- all lost straight away.

Andy your comment about fords is spot on, but even they where unfishable on monday!

[exerod]

elwyman said:

Interesting to compare notes here.

I am confident of fishing fly, and have caught fish, when I can just see my boots when wading up to my groin.

I will have a go with fly, when knee deep and I can see my boots - usually a big fly fished slowly in tails and slack water - but I can't recall catching on fly in such dirty water. Spinner certainly.

The Tamar never gets that clear! Yet the fly works well enough there, well it does for other people
I like to be able to see the bottom in two feet of water before I fly fish for salmon, but for seatrout I'm happy if I can see down 8 inches. I claim no logic in this!
On the upper Exe peat stain has no effect on the chances but the same level of colour due to silt kills the fly fishing dead, yet the spinner will still catch.

Tight lines

Andy

[elwyman]

If we get a very reddish peat stain on the Elwy it kills all fishing. Not a browny stain, but red - acidic I suppose.