Traditionally summer is looked at as a very poor period in the trout fishing calendar however as well as its many disadvantages for trout fishing it throws up some great opportunities for the specimen hunter. As the water temperature increases throughout the lake, the fish will start to concentrate in deeper areas of the reservoir and spend less and less time feeding in the shallows. This provides the perfect opportunity to target brownies which favour deeper water throughout the whole year anyway but now there will be greater concentration of them in smaller pockets of water.
Dredging
The set up I use to dredge the depths is quite simple. A stiff 7 or 8wt rod in conjunction with the Airflo Di 7/8 competitor fly line in windy conditions and favour the Airflo Booby basher in calmer conditions. The tippet I tend to use is 8ft of 12lb fulling mill for single fly and 15ft of 10lb for two flies, these may seem like quite heavy tippets but when you've seen the fish that lurk in these depths you don't want to be under gunned.
Flies
My favourite flies for this tequnique are large leaded tubes and small pike style flies such as the Clysdale perch. snakes and Humungus are also very good when fishing two flies or if the fish are following but not taking the larger offerings. Fish will often follow and hit the fly as it reaches the surface therefore hanging the fly and taking time to double check before recasting is essential.
The tequnique
when trying to reach depths of 40-50ft on the fly, your line needs plenty of time and slack in order to get down therefore casting out the side and back of the boat is necessary. When you feel your fly line is close to the bottom a very fast stop start retrieve is best giving the impression of a wounded bait fish. Due to a high number of takes coming at the surface I never fish with a drogue as I feel this puts them off before they reach this key taking point.
This type of fishing isn't for everybody but is something to keep in mind for the heat of summer when the going gets tough!
Tight lines
Graham hayward