With a growing interest in fishing rivers and streams, solitude is often hard to find. For those who want to escape the angler crowds, stillwater fly fishing (lakes and ponds) is a good alternative.
The good news is: there’s no shortage of Stillwater opportunities.
Strawberry Reservoir is not far away and can provide some of the best, and largest, trout fishing in the state. Lake Powell has made headlines this year for the abundance of striped bass jammed into its waters. Reports of catching 50-plus stripers a day has been common. Willard Bay is a healthy lake for whipers, a cross between a white bass and striper, known as, pound for pound, one of the hardest fighting freshwater fish.
Closer to Park City, Jordanelle, Deer Creek, Rockport, Echo and East Canyon have been hot spots for bass, perch, walleye and trout. Little Dell reservoir is one of the only places on the planet to have a healthy population of Bonneville cutthroat trout.
The nearby lakes can provide anglers with myriad options instead of just going to the Provo, Weber or Green rivers every week. However, fly fishing on lakes takes a little different skill set than on a river.
Long casts
Casting for distance is not as necessary in rivers and streams. Oftentimes, all you need is a 10 to 20 foot cast. Open water is a different story, especially for salt water fishing. There are some types of fresh water fishing that mimic salt water, such as carp fishing. Carp are sometimes known as the freshwater bonefish or redfish. Long accurate casts are needed to get to the fish without spooking them. In rivers, much of the fishing is getting the right drift, and a longer drift the better. In a lake, a drift equivalent is how much distance the angler is stripping in the line. Long casts provide more opportunity for the fly to be in the water. Sometimes a fish can be seen rising 50 or 60 feet away. If an angler can cast that distance without approaching the fish, he or she will likely avoid spooking it.
Developing long accurate casts require practice and possibly a lesson. A good way to improve that skill is to go to a park and place plates in a circle about 100 feet apart. Stand in the middle and practice lifting the line and casting to each plate. Soon you’ll learn how to generate enough line speed to hit the targets.
Match the proper fly line to the right depth
There are floating and sinking fly lines. In lakes, anglers will most likely want a sinking line, unless there is a lot of action on the surface. There are slow, medium and fast sinking lines. The darker the color of sinking line, the faster it will sink. Each condition could warrant a different type of line. Anglers need to get the fly to the fish and Sinking lines present the fly in the best way to fish subsurface.
Fly patterns and entomology
Bug life is probably a little different in a lake than in the stream, even if that same stream is feeding the lake. There are still mayflies, caddis and midges in lakes, but there are also more diving beetles, bloodworms and leaches. Flies representing minnows and leaches should often be successful.
Four zones of a lake
To understand what flies to use, an angler should understand where the fish are and what bugs live where.
The four zones of a lake from top to bottom are: the littoral zone, the limnetic zone, the profundal zone, and the bathyal zone. The littoral zone encompasses the area near the shore that receives sunlight to the depth where rooted plants stop growing. This zone has beetles, mayflies, caddis, and dragonfly nymphs and is also where minnows like to hide. For most of the year, this is where to fish. The limnetic zone is the sunlight part at the top of the lake away from the shore.
During hot temperatures, fish sometimes go deeper to get cool. When they do this they enter the profundal zone, the deep open water and the benthic zone, the bottom of the lake. This is where blood worms can be found.
Reading stillwater
Rocky structure, submerged trees, branches, moss, anywhere where something looks like it might give cover to trout or hold food should house some fish.
Presentation
Nymphs look like small aquatic bugs and streamers resemble leaches and minnows. Both require an angler to manipulate the line to simulate movement. Nymphs should be fished with short, slow strips and streamers can be fished with a variety of fast and slow strips. Personally, I like three quick strips and then let it rest for about three more seconds. However, if not successful, try a different pace, reduce or lengthen the strip. The fish will often hit it in between strips.
Distinguishing between rises
This is important for both rivers and lakes. Fish will rise for adult, emerging and dead insects (spinners). Small sips on the surface are probably spinners. Boils on the surface may mean they are hitting emergers. When they are eating emergers, the fish won’t quite come out of the river possibly revealing its back or fins. Hard splashes on the surface likely means the fish are hitting adults. Having the right pattern can usually mean success or being skunked.
These tips are by no means a guaranteed recipe for success on stillwater. It can be a different world than rivers and streams. The benefit of lakes and ponds are fewer anglers, larger fish and more variety species. It’s a good way to break away from the rivers and discover a new ecosystem.