Specimen Series – Fly Fishing For Big Trout With Phil Spinks

One of the most exciting things about this venue is the ability to sight fish. With a decent pair of polarised sunglasses, you can spot the trout as they cruise through the water, which makes every cast that bit more exciting.

Andy’s much more experienced with a fly rod than I am. He's a really strong caster and a fountain of knowledge so it was a real pleasure to have him along. I always learn a lot when I fish with him and  it didn’t take long before we found some action...

I started off using a lure-style fly on an intermediate line, stripping it back fairly quickly to try and trigger a reaction bite. Suddenly, a solid rainbow came out of nowhere and smashed the fly close to the boat. I didn’t even see it coming! It put up a really impressive fight on the light fly rod.

After a blistering scrap it was safely netted and I made sure to unhook it and return it to the water quickly. Trout can tire very seriously during a fight and don't do well out of the water so it's very important to handle them properly. They need minimal time out of the water and to be well-rested before they are released.

After that first fish, I watched Andy catch another lovely trout on a tiny little buzzer, drifting it naturally close to the bottom. So I quickly switched over to my buzzer setup and within minutes, I was into another chunky rainbow.

Buzzers might not look like much, but they perfectly imitate the little insect larvae rising from the lakebed. Watching the floating line suddenly zip forward as a trout takes the fly is just epic. Another stunning fish slightly bigger than the first at maybe 6 lbs or so safely landed and returned.

Throughout the session, the trout were moving around and changing between feeding moods. At times, they'd chase the lure-style flies but wouldn’t commit, so I kept switching between aggressive lure retrieves and subtle buzzer presentations to see how they were feeding at any given moment.

Another Rainbow, this time a stunning darker coloured one fell for the subtle drifting buzzer presentation and  at the same time as I was unhooking that one, Andy had quietly changed tactics himself, dropping a gold-headed nymph down deep and connecting with a really big and amazingly dark rainbow.we mistook it for a big brown at first.

Since the fishing slowed down around lunchtime, I took a quick moment to run through my gear. I was using two rods:

A 6-weight Wychwood Flow with a floating line, ideal for buzzers. It’s paired with a 10lb fluorocarbon leader and casts like a dream, super fun to fish with. My other setup was a 7-weight Wychwood Flow, this time with a clear intermediate line. On this one, I ran a tapered leader down to a 10lb tippet and used a lure-style fly with a bit of weight in the head for those fast, aggressive retrieves.

Both setups had their moments throughout the day, and it was interesting to see how the trout responded to the changes.

As the afternoon wore on, things got trickier. The trout were visible, but they weren’t feeding. I’d seen one or two really big ones cruising near the boat, and I was determined to give it a final push before we packed up.

Eventually, with light fading, I landed a lure right on the nose of a big one and finally hooked into what felt like the heaviest fish of the day. After a proper scrap, I managed to net it, and wow… It was a proper lump. Easily a double, taken on the tiniest buzzer. What an epic way to finish!

If you’ve never tried fly fishing, I can’t recommend it enough. I’ve only ever dabbled in it, but days like this,thanks to Andy’s guidance, are really getting me hooked. It’s such an exciting and rewarding way to fish, especially when the water’s clear and the trout are this big and aggressive.

Massive thanks to Andy for the invite. This venue really is something special.

And if you're looking to get into fly fishing yourself, you can find all the gear I used including rods, reels, lines and flies over on the Angling Direct website, the MyAD app, or by popping into your local Angling Direct store.