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For me polaroiding is one of the most rewarding forms of fly fishing. It involves the process of sighting fish with the aid of polaroid sunglasses and then working out and executing a when, where, what and how equation with the aim of enticing the sighted fish to take the fly. I like it because it puts me in environments that I enjoy and it's a real challenge of my stealth and cunning. I guess to the uninitiated this all sounds pretty corny, well perhaps it is, but don't knock it until you have tried it and had some success with it.

Sighting fish and catching fish are two very separate things. The best conditions for sighting fish are undoubtedly those days when, the sky is free of clouds, the sun is high in the sky and slightly behind you, barometer is high and steady and the water is clear, calm and between 8 and 18 degrees Celsius.

Unfortunately these perfect conditions for sighting fish work both ways and as a consequence approaching and fishing to trout in those perfect sighting conditions is often problematic at best. I don't know if you have seen the sign on the back of those big articulated semi trailers that says something like "I can only see you if you can see my eyes" well that also applies to the trout. You can bet your GLX rod that if the conditions are perfect for you to see trout that the conditions are perfect for the trout to see you and that they will be very hard to approach and easy to spook. As a consequence of this the best days for polaroiding are generally quite a compromise on the above perfect sighting conditions.

Two very different polaroiding days. Given a choice, and all other things being equal, I would confidently choose the rough day on the right as the conditions that would produce the most fish. There is an old fishing axiom that goes something like "good weather for fisherman bad day for fish . . . bad day for fishermen good day for fish". On really still and clear days it is much easier to see fish but its also much easier for fish to detect your presence either visually or through your movement and noise. They are more alert and more spooky.   In rough conditions more food is dislodged and fish tend to hunt more comfortably and closer to the shore in amongst the waves and the noise and the conditions make it much easier to approach fish.

I still like the sky to be relatively cloud free because as soon as the sun goes behind clouds the surface of the water becomes mirror reflective and any hope of actually seeing a fish, unless its actively rising, tailing or mooching around in the shallows.  Some cloud is OK. On days when the sky is patchy consider using the time when the sun is behind a cloud to get into the position where you expect to see fish. This strategy is particularly useful if you are polaroiding an area you know well because you often see fish in the same place trip after trip. It's also useful when fishing a new area because from experience you will quickly recognize the structures likely to hold fish and you can use the cover of passing clouds to get into the best position to exploit those types of areas.

As for the sun I like to keep the sun over one shoulder or the other and as long as your prepared to move around the lake you can do that from say mid morning to well into the afternoon. To increase your chances of seeing fish get a high vantage point. Quite quickly you'll see that its easier to sight fish if their out of your casting range. Fishing with a friend is a good idea and taking turns in spotting fish and providing directions definitely pays dividends. In any case it's better to stay as far away from the waters edge as possible because there is always a chance that you will spoil the water for when you return or for the fly fisher behind you.

I don't worry too much about the barometric pressure except to the extent of avoiding polaroiding when the barometric pressure is changing quickly. I think quick changes in barometric pressure put fish down and off their tucker. Generally the higher and more stable the barometric pressure the better. You don't often get ideal barometric pressure conditions and I regard any barometric pressure that is above average and reasonably stable as acceptable.

The clearer the water and the calmer the surface the more likely you are to spook fish so look for days where either the water clarity is a bit off or there is some wind movement on the surface. Either of these compromises will make it harder for you to see the fish and for the fish to see you and make fish once sighted easier to approach and target. Often the best days to sight and catch fish are those days when there are medium size glassy waves moving toward or along the shore that your fishing. You'll find that type of wave action as the wind is abating. If you watch the waves carefully you will see that there is a window in each wave that you can see well into the water through. The trout are there of course because the waves not only bring food, and consequently fish, to that shore but the waves also dislodges nymphs, caddis, tadpoles, yabbies etc., depending on the time of year, from their habitat. I don't often fish an offshore wind unless there are a lot of terrestrials about. An offshore wind in summer can however provide some great polaroiding opportunities to target fish mooching around and waiting for the wind to blow a hopper or beetle onto the water. Look for wind lanes as well. Wind lanes are an extreme example of influence of wind. They occur when the wind is split by some structure only to reform at some later point or where wind from slightly different directions converge. They can prevail for extended periods of time or may appear out of the blue and then disappear just as quickly. When they prevail they concentrate food into the area of convergence. At the same time the convergence also interferes with the prevailing surface effect of the prevailing wind on the surface of the water and creates flat spots or flat lanes of water that hold more food than the surrounding water. The best wind lanes to fish are those that are long and thin. Whilst the best access to wind lanes is provided by a boat you often find wind lanes right on the shore curving around a point or other structure. It should also be mentioned that the converging wind effect is not only on the surface of the water and often extends for several meters below the surface  Fish are cognizant of the fact that converging wind increases the food supply in that area and generally travel up a wind lane toward the prevailing wind eating what they can either off the surface or in the wedge of water below the wind lane. Where possible try to walk toward any prevailing wind because on balance trout will be working into the wind and facing away from you. You can then present you fly off to one side, not so close as to spook the fish but close enough for the fish to either see or stumble across your offering.

I mentioned water temperature earlier. Trout have physical needs other than food and those physical needs often dictate where the trout will be notwithstanding that it will put them well away from both the fixed and variable structure and sources of food. Whilst trout can tolerate a fairly broad range of temperatures and dissolved oxygen generally they are more comfortable in water temperatures of around 12 to 18 degrees Celsius and as a consequence spend most of their time in water around that temperature range if they have a choice. In lakes they do have a choice for part of the year because the water stratifies into three distinct horizontal layers and maintaining contact with their comfort zone can often put them away from where you would otherwise expect them to be.

In winter as the water temperature drops more oxygen is dissolved making the water denser and heavier causing it to drop down to the thermocline and ultimately through to the bottom layer. The dropping water displaces less dense water and this constant turn over of water or circulation along with currents formed by the wind cause the horizontal strata of the water to be somewhat diffused and increases the vertical range of trout even though they may be less active because of the cold. The early stages of this process coincides with the trout returning from spawning and seeking additional nourishment to put condition back on. In early winter when the trout have just returned from spawning they are still full of hormones and present as aware, twitchy and very easily spooked. In some cases you will even find trout behaving in "spawning mode" and pre occupied on guarding patches of gravel bed along the lake shore that are reminiscent of the reds in their spawning streams. ("reds" of course are the patches of gravel in spawning streams where the females lay their eggs prior to fertilization by the males.) In these early stages of the polaroiding season whilst you may sight plenty of fish they're very hard to catch. Fortunately the hormones settle down quite quickly and before long you will see their attention moving to putting condition back on. The coincidence of that timing and the fact that relative comfort zone for the fish extends right to the margins of the lake helps explain why the late winter polaroiding can be so good on Lake Jindabyne and Lake Eucumbene.

The flies that I find work best during these times are my bag fly in size #12, brown woolly buggers in size #12 or even #14 and size #14 dark olive fuzzy nymphs. These three flies seem to be a pretty good starting point in most fisheries when its not clear what the trout are hunting.

As spring approaches and the days get longer the sun starts to heat the surface water making the trout a little more active. This is the peak of the polaroiding season. As well as being a little more active because of the rising water temperature the water hasn't yet separated into its summer layers. Consequently you have a situation where there are actively feeding fish across a substantial range of depths. The stand out fly for me at this time of year is nearly always a size #10 brown nymph.

In summer the layers are quite distinct. There is generally a warmer “epilimnion” or top layer, a middle layer or “thermocline” and below that a layer at the bottom of the body of water called the “hypolimnion”. Both the top layer and the thermocline have adequate oxygen levels for trout but the bottom colder level does not. So in summer trout often retreat to the thermocline which is a comfort zone providing both the best temperature and adequate oxygen content. Whilst in the thermocline there may also be supplies of food because daphnia, which are a small crustacean, also swan in large numbers in the thermocline. When there is an absence of daphnia trout will of course leave the thermocline comfort zone to feed but of course will favur feeding areas which are easily accessed from those comfort zones. This is why in summer the best polaroiding is often in water adjacent to deep drop offs and the best blind fishing is at dawn and dusk when water temperatures are a little lower and its often only during the cool of the night that trout venture into the shallower bays. As water heats up during the hotter parts of the day it becomes deoxygenated and trout often retreat to the cooler better oxygenated water temperature of the thermocline. Having said that it should also be understood that as water temperature becomes hotter trout become more active and need more nourishment. So in summer whilst trout prefer the relative comfort of the thermocline they will leave it particularly at dawn and dusk to forage for food in less comfortable zones but from time to time they will return to their comfort zone. So when you go polaroiding in summer concentrate on areas where there is a lot of food but where there is deep comfortable water close by that the trout can readily retreat back to.

Obviously if there is a hatch such as spinners or ants match it with a representation of a form or function. If your prospecting in summer in my part of the world it's hard to go past an elk hair caddis, a cock-y-bonddu or a yellow winged hopper.

There are however times when the comfort of the thermocline is pushed to the surface creating situations where there is prolonged surface and sub-surface feeding activity. This occurs on windier days when there is a lot of water movement caused by wind created currents, colder water can be pushed to the surface by those currents. This wind sheer effect as it is called can result in the comfort zone for trout being extended to the surface allowing the trout to feed in what then becomes a well oxygenated and relatively comfortable temperature surface zone for longer periods than would otherwise be the case. Often the wind sheer is on the lee side of a bay and this partially explains why there are often more fish on the surface during windy days than on calm days. This  benefit of the wind shear is never on the windward side of the bay and in fact the thermocline there is often pushed deeper than it was before the wind came up. Keep in mind however that this effect is restricted to areas where there are large volumes of deep water and where the thermocline extends from shore to shore. This means that if  you are seeking a sheltered location to fish on windy days you will benefit from fishing a protected bank in a large deep bay but you are unlikely to benefit from the benefits of wind sheer if you choose a less deep area protected from the main body of water by say a headland or point.

Actually seeing fish can be a bit of a struggle when you first start polaroiding. You have to get used to looking through the water rather than at the surface and that can take a bit of practice. Perhaps the best way to develop the skill is to go fishing with somebody that can actually point out the signs of fish to you. Needless to say it's not always a fish that your looking for. The first sign of a fish in the area may be a bow wave, a rise, a bit of a fleeting glance of a sub surface shadow or even just a slight movement of a bit of drowned vegetation. It's surprising how quickly you'll find that you get tuned into what to look for. I generally try to walk toward any prevailing wind scanning the water up to 30 or 40 meters ahead looking for any obvious fish or movement. I also stop every 30 meters or so and have a good penetrating look at the water in front of me and off to the side for any deeper shapes or signs of fish. If you do see a fish well ahead of you the worst thing you can do is to move too quickly to get into a casting position. I would swear that I have seen fish respond to clumsy footsteps form a distance of 40 meters. Whilst fish can't hear they are very sensitive to vibration. So don't make too much noise because noise equals vibration and don't drag your feet or dislodge rocks etc. Perhaps they wont bolt but if you watch carefully you will see them straighten up and move into a more cautious mode. The best bet is to take your time and carefully move into position. If the fish does swim out without being spooked if you wait long enough there is a strong chance it will return. Brown trout establish territories or beats and just as in rivers a hierarchical system prevails. The largest fish takes the best positions and smaller fish frequent lesser positions or move around looking for food and comfort. This is the same as in streams where the biggest fish take up station in the better positions, places where in relative terms a large amount of food passes and where they can hold without expending too much energy. Whilst we often refer to trout that have established territories or beats as resident fish it should be noted that they do move out of those positions and back to comfort zones at different times. So whilst finding structure may be like turning a light on in terms of expectation remember that there may not be anyone home. If you find a particularly 'fishy" bit of water or an area where you have seen fish on other trips its worth just taking a little extra time to see if there is a fish on a beat that will bring it back into your range.

Any fly fishing gear can be used for polaroiding however my preference is a #6 weight rod loaded with a #7 weight floating line in summer or clear intermediate line in winter. The heavier line allows you to load your rod with less false casts. To much false casting is definitely a no no and you can increase your chances dramatically if you can learn to reduce both the height and number of false casts and for that matter minimize all movement. I generally run leader and tippet from 15 to 17 feet  in total length. I have moved across to Rio Fluorocarbon plus and fish with either 5lb which is only as thick as most 2.5 lb monofilament lines or 7lb which is only as thick as most 4lb monofilament lines. Fluorocarbon lines also sink and I find that helps with the presentation of both wet and dry flies. I always connect wet flies using a loop knot and connect dry and emerger flies using a uni knot.

I have spent a lot of time working out what flies work best for me and the best ways of fishing them. I favour smaller rather than larger flies.  Small flies like my bag fly, a size 12 brown nymph or a small brown woolly bugger are my favourite wet polaroiding flies. Fished static or very slowly browns take them probably as a nymph, grub or drowned terrestrial and when a little action is imparted to the fly browns and rainbows alike seem to attack them as if the fly to them represents a small fish, a nymph or grub, a small yabby, a tadpole or whatever is on the menu at that time of year. Alternative the strike may be a territorial response or the fish may just mouth the fly to see what it is. I have of course tried larger flies like the “Bushy’s horror and larger woolly buggers and in all but a few occasions they have truly horrified the target fish sending them frantically retreating to the depths. If the wet flies I have suggested aren't your cup of tea (remembering that flies catch more fishermen than fish) then give your favourite smaller wet fly a swim.

In summer whilst the wet flies still work it can be a lot of fun to polaroid with dry flies. The takes are generally more visible and even for novices there is no doubt as to when the fish has responded to the fly. One of my summer favourite polaroiding dry flies is a black and natural elk hair caddis. They land softly and are truly buggy and I am sure they are taken as all manner of fare. If of course there is a dominant food source such as hatching mayflies, spinners, chironomids, hoppers, ants or beetles on the water choose a fly that represents what there feeding on.
Where you present the fly is very important. No mater what fly you are using put the fly as far away from the target fish that you can whilst still getting its attention. It also pays to put the fly between the shore and the fish rather than out where the fish is cruising or beyond where the fish is cruising. Mostly you will find fish cruise the drop offs and shallows but look in toward the margin for food. There in relatively safe water and they have close access to deeper water that they can retreat to. But their generally looking in toward the shore because that's where the majority of the food is or in the case terrestrial insects is coming from. On windy days particularly you will see fish moving in very close to the margins to pick up a nymph, small creatian carp or yabbies that have been dislodged or a terrestrial that has been blown in. By fishing inside the fish you present a more realistic imitation of food because of the location and as long as you don't spook them then the fish consequently behave more naturally. More often than not if they turn to the fly you get the sense that they have made a commitment to get that bit of food and get back to safe deeper water as soon as possible. Less time is spent examining the fly and flies closer to the margin are often picked up much more cleanly than when out in safe deep water. Also after taking the fly the fish generally quickly turns back toward the deeper water making the hook up easier. Present a few flies out in deeper water and watch the difference. Sure the fish may move a little faster as it heads toward the fly but then when close to the fly you often see that the urgency is not there, the fish isn't committed to eating the fly and often they will have a few looks at it before making a decision.

The final thing to remember is to keep your profile low. Try to keep below the horizon so that your shadow is lower than the cover of background. On the one hand it helps to be high because its easier to see fish but remember that its also easier for fish to see you. Your cloths should blend into the background as much as possible. Use any background structure to camouflage your presence further. If there is a high rocky bank try to keep close against it so that your as much of the background as possible. If there is a tree or rock approach likely water with that between you and the target water. Avoid sudden movements, move slowly and avoid waving your rod around. Approach with stealth. When you cast keep your rod low so that neither the rod or the line cast a shadow. It's better to cast a little further away from the fish as opposed to spooking it.

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