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Please read this article in conjunction with the companion article fly fishing tips.

Loch style fly fishing is fly fishing over the lee side of a boat with the wind at your back with the boat side onto the wind, using a system incorporating one or a number of flies. It is a technique that is well suited to individual or teams of flies and has applications for both surface presentation of one or more flies right down to dredging the depths with fast sink lines and shooting heads.

I was introduced to loch style fly fishing when I became involved in competition fly fishing through Fly Fish Australia Inc. and I now regard it as one of my preferred fly fishing techniques and certainly a way of targeting fish that I was not previously aware could be caught.

Tackle and set up

Whilst most 9 or 10 foot #5 to #7 weight fly rods can be used for loch style fishing you will get a lot more enjoyment and success out of it if you choose a fly rod that has a powerful butt action that will help you handle larger fish, yet has a tip action that is sensitive enough to cushion what can be quite hard strikes, will absorb the antics of hard fighting fish that often go ballistic when hooked using loch style tactics and of course, particularly for competition fishing, where even small fish often count, will allow you to control and stay in touch with smaller fish.

I have settled on #6 weight fly rods for my loch style fly fishing and have a few fly rods that fit that criteria above. Not surprisingly overtime I have settled on a couple that I regard as my "default" loch style fly rods. My favourite one is a relatively inexpensive Strudwick Riverstone Tournament fly rod with a fantastic action that balances a powerful and nicely integrated butt and a beautifully sensitive tip action which transfers the power of the butt action yet provides heaps of cushioning effect. Unfortunately Strudwick went out of business so you will have trouble getting one of these fly rods. My second default loch style fly rod was, middle of the range, in terms of price and is a G.Loomis GLS HLS fly rod. It has the same sort of blank characteristics as the Strudwick but the tip action is not quite as sensitive as the Strudwick. If there is a limitation to these two fly rods it would have to be that if it is really windy the sensitive tips make it harder to punch a fly or team of flies out.

For social fly fishing I would suggest that if it's that windy you should pack up and go home but of course for competition fly fishing that is not really an option. For those windy conditions I suggest you have on hand a #6 weight 10 foot fly rod that still has the powerful butt section but has a much firmer tip that can be loaded up to help you still present your fly or team of flies. The compromise there of course is that you don't have the benefit of the sensitive tip in controlling fish. I have 2 fly rods that I use in those situations. The first is a G.Loomis GLS black classic and was the first G.Loomis fly rod I purchased probably 20 years ago. It handles wind extremely well and is one of 2 rods that I typically include in my competition kit. I also have an alternative fly rod for windy conditions. That fly rod is a Hardy 10 foot #6 weight Zeneth Syntax fly rod that I purchased sight unseen on reputation. I expected it to better than my existing "default" loch style rods mentioned above but unfortunately it fell short in that role because the tip action is just too firm. It is however a very nice rod and has a tip action that is close to ideal for it's now designated use as a windy condition loch style fly rod.

Lighter rods may be fine as a loch style rod option but if you get onto a bigger, well conditioned fish, you can waste a lot of time getting it to the net and will often struggle to land a fish without stressing it so much that it can't be successfully released to fight another day. Heavier rods on the other hand have heavier tips that make it harder to stay connected to smaller fish that dance all over the place of course heavier weight fly lines are heavier and have thicker tapers and are more visible making presentations less stealthy ... it's all a compromise.

Shorter rods will do the job too, but you limit your ability to dibble the fly and restrict the length of leader you can use and still comfortably net fish.

For me the reel is more important in loch style fly fishing than in other forms of trout fly fishing. Not only should it hold the line on a large arbour to mitigate line memory but should also provide you with the ability to quickly change fly lines. Some people like reels with spools that click off but I have always used a reels with modular cartridge systems. I favour modular cartridge fly reels for 3 reasons. The first reason, but not the most important, is that it's a cheaper option that buying a non modular fly reel and a number of spare spools. Modular or cartridge reels generally come with between 3 and 5 spare cartridges included in the price and in any case additional spare cartridges are typically very inexpensive whereas each spare spool for a non modular cartridge reels generally cost around half the cost of a reel. The down side with modular cartridge fly reels for many is however that there drag systems are supposedly not as efficient as more expensive non modular cartridge fly reels. I don't see that as a problem at all as in all the years I have been fly fishing I have never adjusted a drag when fighting a trout preferring to palm the spool to control fish. All I regard as being required on a trout fly reel in relation to drag is the ability to set it so that the drag applies couple of pound of pressure on a fish mainly to avoid a spool over running in the event of a bigger fish making a good run. With the above in mind the fly reels I gravitated to 10 or so years ago were BFR Modular 75 Titanium fly reels. There still available and I purchased two more, each with 3 modular spools, just last year for less than $300. I now have 9 reels in action and at last count had 28 fly lines spooled up covering #3 weight right through to #8 weight lines. All the reels and of course all the lines are interchangeable which provides me heaps of flexibility (and back stops) for my trout fishing in rivers and lakes and my bass and estuary fly fishing. A further advantage of modular cartridge fly reels is the ability to change fly line quickly.

Lines

I like to carry a full set of lines for loch style fly fishing but for me the most important fly lines are those designed to sink. If your serious about your loch style fly fishing I suggest that as a minimum you should have an intermediate a density compensating type V sinking line and a floating line.

Whatever you do buy good quality lines only as the cheap lines often have short lives, a lot of memory, inferior coatings and some are poorly graded (i.e. #7 may not be a true #7).

For floating lines my current preferences are scientific angler XPS/GPS Trout Taper fly lines but of course there are heaps of good dry fly lines on the market these days. Whilst floating lines come in a wide range of colours I have found that olive colours are the most versatile closely followed by grey.

You will find that you can't be competitive without a range of sinking lines. Ultimately you will need various sink rates so that you can fish a range of depths. Intermediate lines have a sink rate of around 2.5 inches per second and I prefer truly clear lines rather than opaque or the so called "clear camouflage" lines. My preferences are Cortland for colder winter waters and Scientific Anglers for more temperate waters.

There are a lot of faster sinking lines available and they are typically described as type 3 (around 3 inches per second) down to type 8 (around 7 inches per second). Beyond that there are shooting heads but they are not legal for competition fly fishing. For my faster sinking fly lines I like the Scientific Anglers Mastery Series uniform sink fly lines, but again, there are may other good choices out there.

Don't forget to load the line onto the reel on top of good quality backing. You will need as much as it takes to fill the reel out so that when the fly line is added it loads the reel to within 5mm of the rim of the reel. To get the reel properly filled I like to put the line on the reel first starting with the leader end at the reel and then add the backing onto the butt end and to fill the reel with backing until it's loaded to the 5mm of the rim of modular spool. I then run the whole lot off in the back paddock and put it back on the reel, this time starting with the backing.

Finally don't forget, from time to time and particularly after fishing water with any sort of scum, to clean your lines. Not only does it extend their life span but it makes them much easier to use.

Leader set up

I like to attach a 20mm long Maxima Ultragreen monofilament loop to the end of each of my fly lines. I like that loop connected to the fly line to be about 2/3 the thickness of the tip of the fly line which works out at about 12.5kg for 6 weight fly lines. The butt section of my loch style leader leader is made up of two two feet lengths of monofilament or fluorocarbon tippet material. At the fly line end I use two feet (60cm) of tippet of between 0.37mm to 0.33mm thickness depending on if it's Maxima Ultragreen monofilament or Grandmax fluorocarbon followed by two feet (60cm) of 0.30mm to 0.26mm thickness again depending on if it's Maxima Ultragreen monofilament or Grandmax fluorocarbon. I use this butt section set up for two reasons. First because the heavier line makes a better connection to the small loop at the end of my fly line than thin tippet material and secondly because the slightly heavier butt section definitely helps turn over my team of flies. To that butt section I tie two arm spans (5.5 feet or 4.65 meters in my case) of tippet material. My preferred tippet material is Riverge Grandmax fluorocarbon and most of the time I use 7.5lb which is 0.185mm thick but occasionally on dirtier water where it wont matter or on water where there is reputation of big hard hitting fish I move up to 9.5lb which is 0.21mm thick. I use a surgeons knot when joining sections of leader and tippet together. Tie the surgeons knot carefully and even if it’s between two tippet materials of different thickness or between mono and fluorocarbon it wont fail. The droppers are about 20 cm long and the fist dropper is about 40cm below where the butt and the tippet join and the middle dropper is in the middle between the top dropper and the point so basically the droppers are around 1.2 meters apart. The distance between the flies is very important and on balance I would say that four feet or 1.2 meters is about optimum. Any closer and the flies may spook fish but any wider it becomes harder to cast the team and when you do go to land a fish the bob fly has to be precariously close to the top runner when your netting a fish. I suggest you experiment and come up with a compromise that suites your casting ability and style and of course the weather conditions. As a general rule however I suggest that if you have to make your flies closer than say three feet in dirty water or four feet in clearer water then you would be better dropping down to a two fly rig with a wider gap than a three fly rig with short gaps between the flies. Anyway with this type of leader set up you can pull your point fly up close to the rod tip and swap lines via the loop to "locked loop" connection which at that stage will be half way down the rod. I am a strong advocate of using a lefty's loop knot I connect dry flies to my tippet because that knot allows the fly to swing or swim freely and because it's dam strong when tied carefully. Unfortunately that knot is not allowed for competition fish so the knot I use for that is the uni knot or alternatively the locked blood knot. I often pre-tie a couple of teams of flies and just wrap them around individual blocks of closed cell foam so that I can change a full team of flies over pretty quickly.

My basic loch style leader leader set up for a 6 weight outfit is repeated below:

1. Fly line with 20mm monofilament loop on end.
2. First butt section of 60cm of 0.37mm Maxima Ultra Green or 0.33mm Grandmax fluorocarbon. This is connected to the fly line loop with either an open loop or an open loop closed with a locked blood knot.
3. Second butt section of 60cm of 0.30mm Maxima Ultra Green or or 0.26mm Grandmax fluorocarbon connected to the first butt section with a surgeons knot.
4. 3.3 meters of tippet connected to the end of the second butt section with a surgeons knot. The first dropper is 40cm down the tippet.
5. The middle dropper is 1.2meters further down the tippet.
6. Droppers are 20cm long.

Vary your leader set up to suit:

1. How you net fish. (I have a small loop to "open loop" (knotted for competitions) set up which will go through the top runner cleanly in either direction and allow me to lift fish well into reach of my net.)
2. How you change fly lines (my leader set up allows me to change lines quickly).
3. How you changing leaders (my "open loop" [or knotted open loop connection for competitions] to loop set-up allows me to change leaders quickly).
4. How you keep in contact with flies.
5. Your casting style.

Retrieves

There is no one retrieve that works all the time but on balance I think that the best single retrieve is a retrieve that is made up of:

1. Putting out a long cast covering water that has not previously been fished. When Loch Style fishing if your last cast was straight in front of the boat make sure your next cast is at a bit of at an angle so that you flies are covering water that you have not just fished. If you have a 90 degree arc that you can fish as you drift I suggest that you work out a casting pattern that allows you to fish all of the water within that 90 degree arc.
2. When my team lands I generally wait up to 5 seconds before doing anything. Sometimes that is all that it takes for a near by fish to hear the flies land and to find them. Then make a single long draw strip to put you in contact with all the flies and hopefully any fish that has already found you fly or flies.
3. Until I work out what depth the fish are holding at I then count my flies down whilst just retrieving enough to keep in contact with the flies.
4. Once I am at the desired depth I then start the retrieve proper. with slow and generally increases strips of line at a medium pace to the point when you think the flies are rising.
5. At that point I give one deep hang of the flies followed by a side lift to induce a strike by any following fish.
6. The final part of the retrieve is a prolonged hang of the flies. For all my loch fishing fly lines I have a small marker on my fly line 5 meters from the end of the fly line. As soon as that marker touched my hand I know that its time for the final hang. On balance I am convinced this hang is one of the most important element of any retrieve.
7. The final step is lifting your line to re-cast. Watch your flies as they emerge as it's not unusual to find a trout in hot pursuit and if you on your game you can pause the lift and allow the fish time to take the fly that its following or even the fly below the one it's following as it turns around.
8. At this point you can also fish the dibble by dragging your top dropper fly across the surface creating a wake. This is just another step that may induce a strike by a fish lurking below your flies.
9. If nothing happens then continue to lift your line to re-cast to water that you have not just fished.

Fishing conditions.

I have no hesitation in dropping down to two or even one fly if it means that because of weather conditions I can spend more time fishing and less time dealing with tangles and casting knots.

If fish are spooky you may need to drop down to just two or even one fly, decrease the size of your flies, increase the distances between flies or reduce tippet thickness.

Other loch style fly fishing tips

1. I have a number of leaders set up with teams of flies already tied on.
2. Cast wider loops when loch style fishing - this is sometimes known as Belgium casting.
3. Only cast a comfortable distance for the prevailing weather conditions, your casting style and the rod, line, leader and flies set up.
4. Check for hang up of flies, weed or other matter fouling lines or flies, wind knots and tangles on a regular basis.
5. Fish the drop, retrieve, lift, hang and dibble.
6. Experiment with different retrieves.
7. Once you have the formula right don't change until the formula stops working.
8. Watch what other fly fisheries are doing. Take note of fly selection, leader set up, retrieve, type of retrieve etc. If what they are doing is not working for them then don't emulate them. Copy them if what they are doing is working.
9. Use the rules. E.g. If measuring a fish for another fly fisher look carefully at their flies, leader set up, line type etc.
10. Fish the full range of depths, and count your flies down until you determine which depth works.
11. Fish to structure and to the windward shore unless there is visible movement of fish or some reason to think that fish are holding in a particular location.
12. Waterfowl are good indicators of the presence of things fish eat or fish themselves.
13. Unless covering fish always fish clean water - vary the angle of your cast to achieve this. Your competitor should be doing the same so any time the water down the 'centre' is clear put a cast into it reducing your competitors clean water.
14. It's not just pricking fish that is important its landing them. See playing fish and landing fish.

Flies

Whether you fish a single fly or a team of flies is a matter of not only personal preference but also weather conditions, water clarity and casting abilities. Generally I fish 3 flies when loch style fly fishing but if the conditions are harsh and casting is difficult I drop down to two or even one if it means more fishing time and lest tangles. You may also decide to drop down to two flies further apart if the water is very clear or the fish are spooky. Going smaller also helps here or you may decide to drop down to just one fly. In any case it's always better to fish one or two flies well rather than three flies tangled.

There is no such thing as a never fail fly or team of flies. Having said that you should have a number of teams of flies in mind when you fish a particular water. If you have no local knowledge and people that have knowledge are not catching fish have a couple of old favourites to fall back on for each style of circumstance. My "go to" teams of flies are set out below:

Point fly I nearly always make this the fly I would fish if I were only fishing one fly.

Middle dropper The middle dropper can either be an attractor fly or a fly that gives the fish a second choice. If I were dropping my team down to just two flies this would be the fly I generally would leave out.

Top dropper or bob fly Generally this is a fly that when dibbled across or under the surface forms a wake and has longer hackles that impart movement. Alternatively it can be an attractor fly or if your matching a hatch it may be the same as the other two flies or the next stage in the life cycle of the natural that hatching. Sometime it may be a dry fly used as an indicator. Don't forget that a Mallard and Claret is a great top dropper option when Mayflies are about. Keep in mind that if your stripping fast the bob fly is generally the first fly that fish see.

Lake Eucumbene and Lake Jindabyne

My point fly is my favourite fly for loch style fly fishing and if I was limited to just one fly this would be it. This little brown un-weighted woolly bugger is a very good yabby representation and may also be taken as a juvenile trout fry, a large brown nymph, a Cretan Carp, a damsel or even a mudeye or alternatively it may just be taken because of its buggy appearance. In any case trout love it.

The middle dropper is my fuzzeled version of an English wet flay called a Dunkeld. I have fished this fly for a long time and I have confidence including it in my default team because it's small enough not to spook fish. It also swims well and has just enough colour to bring fish to the team.

The top dropper is my fuzzeled version of a bibio. Not only does it work well on midging fish but it is also a passable representation of snails (which are everywhere in both lakes), blowflies, drowned beetles and other critters that find themselves on the trout's menu.Together these three flies present a very well balance team of flies.

Yabby feeders

When Snowy Hydro lifts or drops water levels quickly yabbies are displaced from their holes and follow the water levels up or down looking for new places to build their holes. At this time they are extremely vulnerable and are targeted by hunting fish.

Point

Middle dropper

Bob (top dropper)

Medium silver TBH black sparkle bugger

Small brown woolly bugger

Small unweighted bibio bugger

Chironomid AKA buzzers & midge feeders

Spending part of their life cycle in the water Chironomid are prolific in both Lake Eucumbene and to a lesser extent in Lake Jindabyne. The best hatches are in the months of November and December particularly when rising water in inundating areas where thistles have been drowned. At those time cricket score catches can be the norm rather than the exception. This team fishes well on either a floating line or a sink tip line and fished either static or slow.

Point

Middle dropper

Bob (top dropper)

Red TBH Damsel

Black alpine buzzer

Olive alpine buzzer

Damsel feeders

From time to time you will see little blue or red damsels on the wing. Their main source of food is chironomid pupa and when the chironomid are on you will often find damsel nymphs predating on the chironomid pupa either in the form of newly hatched blood worm or as emergers moving toward the surface. When that is happening you will find trout feeding on both the damsel nymphs and the chironomids.

Point

Middle dropper

Bob (top dropper)

Red TBH Damsel

Small brown or olive damsel bugger

Small splashy surface feeders

Not strictly a hatch but from time to time particularly in Lake Eucumbene you will come across legal but small fish surface feeding on who knows what. Not so important to the recreational angler but for a competition angler these small measurers can make a big difference to the outcome of the session. This team works really well to get them on the hook. Being so small and given that you will in all probability be fishing with barbless hooks these fish are surprising hard to land.

Point

Middle dropper

Bob (top dropper)

http://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/fishonfly.o7.net.au/wp-content/uploads/damsel-j.png

Lake nymph

Royal coachman - wet

Mayflies hatches

Whilst we don't see very many full blown Mayfly hatches in either Lake Eucumbene or Lake Jindabyne we do have spasmodic hatches of small numbers of mayfly. When that happens you can do a lot worse that swimming this team. In Tasmanian lakes like Penstock full blow hatches are very common and I would certainly be fishing this team of flies there.

Point

Middle dropper

Bob (top dropper)

Lake nymph

Barry lodge emerger

Chatto's soft hackle mallard & claret

Mudeyes

Runs of mudeyes are more common in Lake Eucumbene but do also occur in Jindabyne. I can count on one hand the times that its been worth tying on multiple mudeye flies but non the less when mudeye shucks are showing up on tree trunks and rocks a good natural looking mudeye imitation included in your team often makes the difference.

These are my three favourites and one or more are certainly worthy of consideration in a team of three flies when the mudeyes are on.

Small brown woolly bugger

Chatto's mudeye

Murdoch

Chatto's mudeye

Spinners

We certainly do get spinner hatches, particularly black spinners at the dam wall end of Lake Eucumbene. When that happens trout typically feed on the spinners at the exclusion of all other offerings.

I wouldn't suggest fishing a team of spinners as just one spinner fished on the point works mush better.

Black spinner

Red or orange spinner

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