August Tactics

Midges & Sedges

Fly fishing in August can be very challenging on both Rivers and Stillwaters. In order to get the best out of your session, it pays to be prepared. Often fishing in the early morning will be more productive than during the day when the sun is at its peak.

With the weather so far this month being quite variable (have we had any sun yet?), the one consolation for us here in the south-west, is that the rivers are being topped up and at least we have some flow on them. The downside is that they are more coloured than usual. This calls for a change in tactics, I was out and about early (6am to be precise - too early) on our local water yesterday and saw that we have lots of really small flies hatching throughout the day (the dew laden cobwebs were full of 5mm sized midges).

I started with a small nymph (specifically one of the size 18 Zebra Nymphs from our Micro Selection). This, combined with a 6x (or even 7x) tippet produced the goods when the water had some colour in it. Later on, the water cleared up, and with clouds of midges hatching the Knotted Midge came into its own (pictured above), again on light tippet and a long light rod (9ft - 2wt which gives really good tippet protection). During the early afternoon there was lots of sedge activity (but only for an hour or so), a swift change of fly - to a size 18 Jingler - and again we were in. This proved to me that size is key when the fishing gets more challenging.

Be prepared to adapt and watch what is going on around you and there's no reason why August should be written of in the anglers calendar).