Lake Fly Fishing

[okotoksfly]

So I have the river fishing techniques down pat, but I want to know what the difference is when it comes to fly fishing on lakes?

Would I still use the roll cast? But any help with techniques would be great.

Thanks

[goldscud]

Different bugs in a lake so you need to use different fly patterns to "match the hatch".
Type of cast you use just depends on what obstacles are around you. I rarely use a roll at any time whether on a river or a lake.
There is a number of different types of fly lines you can use in a lake as well (floating, full sink, clear intermediate sink, floating line with indicator).

[0liver]

sink tip with a damsel, indicator and toss it around as you would in a deeper pool in a river, with a quik jerk before your fly hits the surface, it will whip-lash it sub surface right into the strike zone.

this is all saying that there arn't any risers, if theres risers you can pretty much just toss anything anywhich way and strip it in across the surface..

x2 on matching the hatch, take a walk along the shore and look for shucks and when out on the water pay attention to the different bugs drowning on the surface/hatching from sub surface.

like I said earlyer, damsels work great for the potholes west of e-town..*cough muir cough cough*

[Salty-flyfisher]

Are you fishing from a boat?
I have done a lot of fly fishing in Lakes and ponds from a belly boat, pontoon boat and kayak.
The big difference is that you don't have much current to deal with but might have wind on the surface. Dry flies might need a small twitch to get the fish to rise. Cast the fly and wait, wait wait...
For wet flies you might need to add a sinking leader or a sinking line depending on the depth of the fish. And the retrieve is important to give the fly life and the speed of retrieval need to change.

Good luck!

[Dust1n]

deffinity differnt bugs as mentioned. = differnt retereves.figure8's and strips.
for the lakes if there is a decent hatch going on theyll be rises. as mentioned with dries skating a caddis will work sometimes if they wont come to the surface.using BH nymphs with fast strips work good just before the hatches.
indacators are lazy ways of fishing lakes but work great if you know what your doing. tiny cronimids under a indacator.leeches are a sure thing for lake fishing trout. theyre in just about every lake and is a major food source just about all year. shrimps work just the same but needed to fish a little deeper.
most of the trout in stocked ponds will be just under the surface eating mosquitos that fall in ect.
i never use roll casts unless if there is a tree behind me.

[0liver]

x2 the leech patterns :P

[Doc]

Originally Posted by okotoksfly

So I have the river fishing techniques down pat, but I want to know what the difference is when it comes to fly fishing on lakes?

Would I still use the roll cast? But any help with techniques would be great.

Thanks

Here's some articles that should help you out.

Floating Lines For Stillwaters

Stillwater Retrieves

Finding The Strike Zone

Cheers,
Doc

[winged1]

wieght forward shooting line, stouter leader, plenty of practice to keep lots of line up and allowing it to pay out at the end of your cast. Give it a chance sink down, way down before retrieving in short jerks. Roll casts won't get you the distance you want or need, unless your spaying, but that's a whole different game.

[Tungsten,]

Roll casts are what you need to get your 20' leader to the surface, once its air born then its a regular cast.