Stalking lake edges

By Peter Langlands

One of my favourite memories of summer angling is sight fishing on lake edges. Trout cruise in the lakes shallows and become vulnerable to the quick-witted angler. Brown trout spend more time on lake edges than rainbows which habitually stay in deeper water.
Often when trout are cruising the edges they are on the move. They feel vulnerable and or may be chasing fast moving prey items. Often I have found that it is not so much matching the exact prey item that the trout are feeding, but making a delicate presentation that doesn’t splash on the water. For this reason a long tapered leader is required. 5-6x tippet is typical.
Good Polaroid’s that cut out side glare along with a wide-brimmed hat are recommended. They will help you spot the trout. It is important that you conceal yourself. Camouflaged clothing I best that blend in with the background. Often on windy days tout will almost invariably be cruising into the direction that the wind is blowing. You can use this to your advantage and often walking into the wind is recommended. Often trout will cruise right into the waves. The closer you are to the trout the quicker your cat has to be to hit the mark.
On calm days it I often worth doing away with n indicator and casting a lightly weighed soft hackle nymph in front of the trout, that will slowly sink the leader through the water. Often browns will spook at the sight o an indicator or dry fly. Other favoured edge flies are water boatman and the black and peacock. At times a small woolly bugger or Hamills Killer comes into its own. Lake edge fishing with nymphs often requires that you use a small fly. Lake edge fishing is one of the most challenging forms of trout fishing that I am aware of, like stalking bonefish on the flats. Your casts need not only to be accurate, but delicate and quick. Learning to be able to walk along the lake edge with some slack fly line in your hand without in tangling up is an important skill to learn. Avoid at all cost putting the fly line over the trout, have the leader turning over so that the fly lands about 1.5 metres in front of the trout, not necessarily right in front of the trout, but lightly off to the side, as to avoid alerting the trout with your presentation. Olive green fly lines or clear fly lines are recommended for edge fishing. Lake edge fishing is one of my favourite types, it really tests your skills and the whole experience is so visual, you see it all happening from when the trout is seen cruising to the sudden eruption of white water has you hook up. It pays to be quick -witted and allow the trout line as the first run with often happen with sudden power and lightening speed. Trout tend to bolt when hooked in shallow water which further adds to the excitement of fishing lake edge.

Soft hackle nymphs ill create an impression of movement as they ink in the water which will induce the trout to take. Sometimes a light twitch of the fly will also induce a strike, especially when fishing water boatman patterns.

Choosing the right lake I important as on some lakes the trout will remain edge shy or they may be primarily rainbow trout lakes with the trout staying in deeper water.

As lake edge fishing is best done when their I good light on the water for you to spot the trout fishing from 9 am to 4 pm is the best time. Look for areas where the lake gently shelves away. Sand flats interspersed with we patches are ideal, sand flats are also good. Stony margins with interspersed boulders are also good, but I have found fine shingle beaches with little future have fewer trout cruising over them. Other features to look for are a sudden change in depth, where there is a clearly defined drop off. Trout will often cruise on the inside edge of the drop-off. Trout like cruising along the edge zone where they is a change in the bottom type.