Fall Stillwater Fly Fishing: Drifting Loch Style

In this video Connor and I take you a long for an afternoon of loch style fishing in the boat. We describe the techniques and flies we used as well as the process of figuring out a consistent way to catch fish.
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[@gbossaboy]

Thanks loads for this video. Great to get some more stillwater tips and techniques. I recently tried your standard stillwater leader from your last video, and quickly realized I hadn't considered one important factor. That is that in my 8' frameless inflatable my behind is sitting no more than 3 inches above the waterline as opposed to maybe up to 2+ feet higher in a boat seat. Casting a 17-18 ft long leader with a three fly rig with a heavier fly on the point stopped being fun pretty quickly, but of course the solution was simple enough. I simply dropped the last 5' section of leader and fished a two fly rig on about a 12-13' leader. Great stuff - thanks guys.

[@tacticalflyfisher3817]

Glad you enjoyed the video Gary.

[@RhysFishes]

Have you tried the bung/Sight indicator on these larger stillwaters? More and more anglers over here are using it as a go to for larger stillwaters (historically it was a smallwater type method) and have been having positive results, often outfishing established loch style methods. If not give it a try 👍

[@tacticalflyfisher3817]

It’s how I did a lot of my stillwater fishing 15-20 years ago. I’d say it’s probably the most common method that other anglers have used on our more productive reservoirs for a long time. I occasionally pull it out when conditions are flat calm or if I’m bank fishing. I prefer to fish a midge tip to fish “static” if I can though as I simply enjoy it more.

[@lonewizzard8456]

Thanks for sharing your knowledge and yes, tactics! I've heard the term Loch style fishing for quite some time but didn't fully grasp as to how to go about it. Now I'm ready to get started. Are you/have you participated in any stillwater competitions in Europe?

[@tacticalflyfisher3817]

James, most world championships have loch style sessions. Counting them up I've fished in 11 world championships at this point. Eight of them have been in Europe.

[@lonewizzard8456]

@@tacticalflyfisher3817 That's awesome. I did not realize that the still water angling was included in the world ff champion ships. BTW your website is fantastic.

[@YukionChannel]

Great video !! 😀 👍

[@tacticalflyfisher3817]

Thanks!

[@poems35]

Drifting seems to work well. However, the speed depends upon the wind. Of course, speed could be controlled using a motor and GPS. Once you find the right speed you can use it regardless of the wind speed. Also, you are dependent upon the wind direction while drifting. What are the disadvantages of using a motor? I suppose the fish might be put off by the vibrations and noise of the motor. An electric motor might mitigate this? You could easily hold in a spot with the iPilot features.

[@tacticalflyfisher3817]

A motor puts you parallel to the wind instead of perpendicular like with a drogue. Drifting perpendicular allows you to cast downwind and cover fish your boat hasn’t drifted over or passed yet. It also allows you to slow or speed up your retrieve instead of having it dictated by the boat towing it to the side or behind you. Yes, your direction is determined by the wind but you learn to factor it in to where you start your drift to hit any locations you’re after. Lastly, I simply find loch style fishing to be the most enjoyable way to fish stillwaters for me. It is similar to floating a river in a drift boat and constantly covering new water ahead of you.

[@poems35]

@@tacticalflyfisher3817 Thanks Devin. I can see where being perpendicular to the wind would be better, esp with more than one angler. Now that I am 80 I plan to do more boat fishing and I always have more to learn. It is much easier on my back. Your videos are first class.

[@kevinanderson3607]

Where can one purchase a rectangular drogue? I can only seem to find them from British and Tasmanian sellers. Is there a particular one you can recommend? Thanks.

[@tacticalflyfisher3817]

I bought mine from the UK as well. I’ve tried to import them to sell in our shop and 3 separate companies have stopped selling them this year. So for now they are only available overseas.

[@garyslade6509]

If you do another loch style video, could you spend some time explaining the drogue: how it works, how to deploy it and whether one could be used from a personal watercraft, such as a pontoon boat.

[@tacticalflyfisher3817]

We’ll be shooting a basic loch style video the next couple of days.

[@garyslade6509]

Thanks.

[@markschoenbaum8954]

Thanks. Nice video. Like shopping your website, too. Your reel looks like a cassette model. What brand?

[@tacticalflyfisher3817]

It’s an airflo switch. The Orvis Clearwater Cassette reel we have on the site is very similar.

[@bluejacket645]

Does the rectangular shaped drogue offer additional advantages when compared to cone shaped drogues? BTW great video, thanks for the tips!

[@tacticalflyfisher3817]

It’s easier to remove from the water and you can leave it in the water to motor a short way to set a new drift as long as you’re careful about the motor. That makes it better for setting short drifts along the bank.

[@TheOgnum]

Yes, It help stops the boat from yawing and by shortening or lengthening one side you can actually control the drift across wind. This helps when drifting parallel to a bank.

[@andycordova5562]

Devin, thanks for the awesome video. Very informative on how to crack the code on Stillwater flyfishing. I am interested in doing some Loch Style fishing but I'm wondering if my boat is too big for it. I have a Triumph 1700 skiff which is 17+ ft long, 7+ ft wide and weighs over 1400 lbs. What do you think? Thanks.

[@tacticalflyfisher3817]

Andy, the bigger the better. The best loch style boat I’ve ever fished out of was a 21’ solid pine boat on Loch Leven that was built in the late 1800s. It was a beast. The heavier your boat is the less it will be tossed around by gusty winds and the smoother and slower your drifts will be with and without a drogue.

[@andycordova5562]

@@tacticalflyfisher3817 That's great news! Do you have a source for these drogues?

[@tacticalflyfisher3817]

@@andycordova5562 The cone shaped versions are available as drift anchors through Bass Pro. The rectangular versions are surprisingly hard to come by in the USA. I've tried to order some for our shop but have been unsuccessful so far.

[@TheOgnum]

@@andycordova5562 Wychwood - Game International para Drogue Green I bought one from Amazon just recently.

[@allanmackey2908]

Great, informative video! I am always interested to know the details of the rod, reel and line you are using in all of your videos, and if the gear is available from your Tactical Fly Fisher online store.

[@tacticalflyfisher3817]

Allan, I was using a Thomas and Thomas Avantt 10' 6 weight, Airflo Switch reel, and a variety of lines from Scientific Anglers and Airflo. We have the rod, a similar reel (orvis clearwater cassette), and lake lines in our shop from Scientific Anglers and Cortland. We will be adding Airflo lines to the shop early next year once they are available again as they were acquired by a US company this year and have been unavailable during the transition.

[@allanmackey2908]

@@tacticalflyfisher3817 Great Thanks Devin. This type of info is very useful :)

[@noblestsavage1742]

I think if you came and fished wild Scottish lochs you might find ‘loch style’ is a bit different from what you’re doing here. This is more competition loch style for stocked reservoirs. Traditional loch style uses only a floating line, 3 flies (traditional wets) with a bushy top dropper. Casts are very short with no real retrieve, just raise the rod as the boat drifts towards the flies, you trip the bushy top dropper through the surface to cause a wake. And……. You never ever use a drogue. 😉👍

[@tacticalflyfisher3817]

I’m also acquainted with the short line traditional loch style methods as well. Given my background in competition fishing, I tend to focus on the longer line methods that have been developed in that arena.

[@noblestsavage1742]

@@tacticalflyfisher3817 yeah, I guessed as much. Thanks, cool vid anyway. 👍

[@farmerbob4554]

So you changed from an intermediate to a type V line?

[@darrylchappies9506]

Type 3. Refers to sink rate of a sinking line. A Type 5 sinks faster than a Type 2 for example.

[@tacticalflyfisher3817]

If you track my changes through the video, I went from an intermediate, to a type 3, to a type 5, and back to a type 3.

[@farmerbob4554]

@@tacticalflyfisher3817 Got it. I missed the last change. We’re you targeting fish you found at depth with the sonar or just guessing the fish might be deeper. I like the strategy of changing depth before changing flies. Thanks for the response.

[@tacticalflyfisher3817]

@@farmerbob4554 It was a bit of a progressive guess and check going incrementally deeper and comparing my catch rate with Connor who was fishing a type 3 line. Once we found the main group of fish it became clear that the type 3 put us into the fish the fastest. The sonar can help inform these decisions but I don't find it to be completely reliable to base my line decisions off of.

[@515conman]

What boat net is that?

[@tacticalflyfisher3817]

It’s an adamsbuilt net

[@garynewman2935]

Show us how to tie thos flies bro.

[@tacticalflyfisher3817]

We’ll be doing some tutorials over the winter.