Sight fishing trout in lakes

Kiel talks us through one of the most exciting – and challenging – forms of flyfishing.

I find sight fishing one of the most enjoyable ways to target trout on lakes. Constantly busy, hiding, looking, searching. Thinking. Watching for any signs of movement, rises, tails or boils.

Planning the approach, choosing the right conditions, choosing the right bay, even the right day.

For me, it’s more about the hunt than the catch; counting fish sighted rather than fish caught.

If you stood on the edge of a lake anywhere stripping wet flies blind, you might catch more trout, especially on those cold, windy, cloudy days. However, to quote Mark Weigall, “Life’s too short to flog wets.” Once you’ve upped your sighting game, I’m sure you’ll agree with Mark.

The feeling of finding a trout, figuring out its beat, choosing the right fly (even tippet), landing a cast without a spook or a fly in a tree, then to watch that same trout come over and inhale your fly, is something very special. At times it helps me sleep – or keeps me awake for hours!

Now, I don’t want to come across like a purist who will only fish dry flies on sunny days to 10 pound trout in the backcountry. For those who know me, I’m far from that. I’ve been known to throw rocks at fish that won’t eat my fly after the sixth fly change. Even tie on a worm fly when no-one’s looking.

But these days, I do choose to sight fish when I can, even on those dull days.

It’s for the hunt. Hundreds of challenging factors to contemplate. Always busy, always busy-minded. I think it’s partly about the constant movement, scanning the water, observing the behaviour of birds like swallows and gulls, and generally taking it all in. It’s amazing how much you learn just watching trout: where they like to sit or cruise, what they are feeding on, how they’ll react to movement and noise.

It can be daunting arriving at a lake’s edge, looking across a vast expanse of water and not knowing where to start. But hopefully, after reading this, you’ll have more confidence in your sight fishing.

Polarised glasses (aka polaroids)

First off, I can’t stress enough how important it is to have a decent pair of polarised glasses. If I got to the water’s edge on a day trip and realised I’d forgotten my polaroids, I would jump back in the car and drive home for them.

Polarised glasses filter out the horizontal light rays, allowing vertical light to enter, resulting in a reduction of brightness and glare off the water’s surface.

These days, polarised sunglasses can get very confusing: tints, colours, glass or polycarbonate. The polarised part of your glasses is a laminate. Higher end brands will have a better and stronger laminate. Glass lenses will be more expensive than polycarbonate but more durable. Overall, I’d steer clear of the servo sunnies and invest in a good pair.

Rain and good polaroids do in fact go together.

I wear lighter-tinted glasses 85% of the time and I’d be on the water over 200 days a year. Smith Low light yellow lenses would be my pick due to the amount of dull light days I fish in. If I had to choose an all-round colour or tint for both sunny and dull days, I’d opt for a light brown or amber lens. I’d also recommend frames that wraps around your face, limiting light shining in from the edges. But be sure to try on frames before you buy: avoid ones that rise up or slip down the bridge of your nose, or that pinch behind the ears, or that fog up too easily if the fit is too snug.

You can also get photochromatic lenses, which adapt to changing light conditions while staying polarised.

And if you need a prescription, check whether your preferred brand offers this option. Some prescriptions with general brands limit choice of tint and colour.

Overall, choosing polarised glasses comes down to personal preference and budget, but they are a must.

For related accessories, wear a brimmed hat or at least a cap to keep your polaroids shaded – and dry in the rain. (Yes, I wear polarised glasses in the rain.) Another big tip is to carry something with you to clean them – alcohol wipes, shammy, anything non-scratch like that. Clear vision is paramount. Also, attach your glasses to a comfortable, secure strap or lanyard of some sort so you don’t accidentally lose them in the lake.

Looking for trout

Now you’ve got your shades sorted, it’s time to look for a fish. In the early morning, the sun’s just started to rise and it would be almost impossible to sight a fish subsurface in the limited light. Time to look for disturbances; look for a trout giving itself away.

Looking and listening for the subtle rises of midge feeders, daybreak on Great Lake.

Biggest tips I can give you here:

  • Don’t wade if you can avoid it.
  • Walk slowly.
  • Take your time and look for anything different.

At this time of day, or the opposite end (dusk) I’ll often be concentrating on the shallower water, where the trout will use the cover of low light to feed. As well as conventional rises, look for the subtle swirls of trout feeding or moving subsurface. Tails slowly sticking out looking like small weeds waving. These trout will move slowly in shallow water so as not to give themselves away. Reeds or flooded grass parting will indicate a trout moving, feeding on anything from midge to frogs, baitfish to damsel nymphs.

Not only look for something different at this time of day, but listen too. Have an ear out for that clip or kissing sound, a dead giveaway that a trout’s fed off the top. If you notice any ripples or waves, keep a keen eye on which way they’re heading.

If you’ve started fishing the lee shore with wind over your back and ripples heading away from you, watch out for shimmers, flat spots, peaking wavelets or wavelets heading the wrong way. These disturbances can only mean a few things: floating weed (in which case the shimmer will stay the same), waves hitting a barely-submerged log, rock or reef (eventually obvious as not a fish), someone threw a rock near you… or a feeding trout.

Again, you’ll need to take your time to tell one from the other, especially in low light. Concentrate and stay in hunting mode.

As the day grows closer to sandwich o’clock, the sun’s getting higher. This is when I would make my way round the lake to an area where I can get the sun behind me – not a guarantee of good visibility into the water, but worth a try.

Sun behind, Lake St Clair… but note the lack of subsurface visibility beneath the cirrus cloud reflections.

As you’re doing so, make a note of likely spots: weed-beds, a fertile bay (e.g. black silt or soil), a rocky outcrop, foam lines or wind-lanes to name a few. Anywhere you think there might be extra trout food.

What if full sun is limited?

In the trout fishing areas of Australia, we can’t count on the perfect sight fishing conditions of constant full sun. In fact, it doesn’t happen often. This is where you’ll have to use what you’ve got, the weather you’ve been dealt.

A windy, wavy dull day would deter most sight fishers, but there are a few tricks to keep up your sighting sleeve.

An approaching storm or dark cloud in the background will take glare off the water, making it much easier to see in.

You can also use the faces of waves to look through like a window. This takes practice and seems strange at first, but gradually your eyes get used to the moving windows – like looking into the face of a wave on a beach, but in miniature. (Of course it works even better in sunlight!)

The wind is your friend! Looking into the wave faces on Lake Eucumbene.

Low wind ripple is very hard to see through, but if you’ve literally got waves, you have that window. Yes, it’s best in sunlight, but also works without sun – especially if you add a dark backdrop like forest or storm clouds.

Other situations

If you’ve got any sun, the trout generally stand out more – though don’t expect them to be like goldfish in a pond. Brown trout can look like faint golden bars, rainbow trout like silvery torpedos. For those who aren’t colour blind, also look for the reds and pinks in rainbow trout.

Same fish, a few seconds apart. Half close your eyes and have another look. Sometimes, just waiting and watching will allow a trout to reveal itself, simply because of its changing angle relative to you and the light.

Overall, you’re looking for anything different or strange in all that water, while remembering that it’s a trout’s job to not be seen.

A tip I was given years ago, which has really helped me sight more fish, is don’t waste your time and energy looking where you can’t see. Concentrate on where you can see. If you’re walking a bank and can only see into the water 3 metres out, don’t waste effort trying to see 4 metres out – you’ll miss that fish only half a metre off the bank.

All the while, walk slowly, searching. Even stopping at times when you have a really good view. Regularly recheck the best direction for spotting. It will change depending upon backdrop, substrate (e.g. light sand versus dark weed), reflected white cloud, where the sun is, and whether it’s behind cloud.

Use anything you can to see clearer. As already mentioned, a great example of this is a darker backdrop in the direction you’re looking. Looking towards a tree-lined shore will eliminate glare giving you a large window to look into. Even the refection of a single tree can give you a useful mini window.

The reflection of a tree in the background opens up this view of a trout – to the left, glare robs most visibility.

The opposite will happen when looking towards a light backdrop such as a clay cliff or a sandy bank.

Where possible, elevate yourself. The higher off the water you are, the easier to see in. However, keep in mind that you’ll stand out like a large dangerous silhouette to a trout – especially when you go to cast.

So if you do use elevation, move extra slowly and hide behind a rock, tree or bush if you can. Crouch if possible.

The best of both worlds – a spotter up high, and an angler down low.

Even fish in pairs, taking turns as spotter, and put some thought into fishing with a CB/UHF radio. Patience is key here – with a spotter to give you warning of an approaching trout, the one casting should have a bit of time on their side. Set a trap and wait.

Things to scan for

Observe each shape, colour or movement. Green backs, spots… Trout sometimes have a white trim on their fins, look for that. A dead giveaway for me is a trout flaring its mouth, feeding or at times apparently doing the trout equivalent of yawning. I’ve also seen trout do this territorially, flashing their white mouths to show other trout who’s boss.

Spots, shape and movement helped give away this trout on a cloudy day.

If you’ve seen a feeding trout cruising, but lose it in difficult light, watch for that white mouth.

Looking for trout shapes will help, anything roughly the right shape and size. A lot of times, that’s a stick or a sunken piece of tree bark, but other times, it’s a trout. Don’t move on until you’re sure.

Look for slight movements. Tails waving or fins moving.

On lighter coloured lake beds, such as light green weed or sand, look for a trout’s shadow. The trout may be well-camouflaged in these areas, but they can’t help casting a dark shadow.

The cast

Sometimes, like when fishing with a spotter, you’ll have the luxury of time to get your fly in the right spot at the right time. Mostly though, the window of opportunity is limited. Practice those quick, accurate casts. If possible, no false casts; or at worst, one false cast. Rod, line and arm movement burns up precious seconds, and increases the risk of the trout seeing you and spooking. Always aim to lead the fish, rather than land the fly right on it. The calmer and brighter the conditions, the further ahead of the trout you should present your fly.

The take

To up your catch rate, it’s very useful to be able to see the trout eat your fly. This is pretty easy to do if it’s a dry fly.

Watching this rainbow eat the dry was fairly straightforward. Subsurface eats are harder to pick, but sometimes you have to try anyway!

It’s harder with a subsurface wet fly. While an indicator can help, a sight fisher is better off watching the actual trout for the eat (they can spit a fly-below-indicator eat before the indicator moves). Look for that white mouth about where you think your subsurface fly is. Failing that, the ‘body language’ of a deliberate and committed movement towards where your fly is, can be worth a strike.

Striking on a subsurface eat when you can’t actually see your fly, can be a hard thing to pull off. In fact, it’s usually a gamble of sorts. However, the alternative of doing nothing is also a gamble. I’d rather take the risk for a possible hookup.

Practice

Of all the forms of flyfishing, sight fishing is probably the one which most rewards practice. The more you do it, the more you’ll learn what to look for. Having confidence that you can see or notice a trout, will make you try harder, and in turn lead to more sightings. And repeating those quick, accurate casts can only improve your conversion rate.

When sight fishing lakes, practice makes (almost) perfect.