floating line tactics

Floating lines come in a whole range of weights and styles. Double taper, Weight forward, shooting head and others. Each has its place and use. For Sea trout fishing a line that you are familiar with is probably the best to use. Fly fishing after dark can be very difficult if you are not completely familiar with your set up. But with each the principle of use is the same......to catch fish. Floating line techniques involve using a range of flies that will fish in the first foot or so of water. Fishing heavy flies on a floating in order to fish deep is not recommended. This will be discussed in the sunk line section.

How do we go about fishing a floating line. Firstly fly choice is important. If you fish in Wales then a dropper fly is often used, further north not so. This is purely angler preference. If using a dropper fly then balancing this outfit is important. Use equal distances between flies and fly line to ensure good turn over and presentation.

The technique popularly used for Sea trout fishing is one of casting at forty-five degrees to the river and letting the flies swing round in the flow. This can often be deadly but there is much more to floating line fishing than this.

Firstly, fly speed. When the fly has swung across the current it will slow down in the settled water and drop within the water column. If contact is maintained with the fly during its passage across the river then when the fly approaches the slacker water a retrieve can be made (be it single draws or figure of eight). This will keep the fly up in the water and any fish that has followed the fly may be tempted to take at this point. Secondly, line speed. The line

when cast across the river will form into a curve. This will then increase the speed of the fly (which makes it look unnatural).Forming an upstream mend in the line will allow the fly to come across the flow much slower giving a fish a vastly more natural looking lure. Finally, fly depth. Once the line has been cast across the flow then the fly starts to move. If this is too quickly then the fly will skate across the surface of the pool looking unnatural (this is converse to surface lure fishing). Casting at forty-five degrees often causes this especially when river flow is fairly quick. Casting a much longer line downstream at a more acute angle will allow the fly to fish more slowly and at an appropriate depth. These are only guidelines and may not be appropriate to your usual method of fishing but if attention is paid to fly speed, depth and line speed then your chances of success will increase.