Top flies to use in July are: Damsel, Adam’s Dry Fly, CDC emerger, Pheasant tail nymph, chironomids and Muddler. The retrieve when fishing stillwaters should, for the most part, imitate the natural movement of the flies you’re fishing. Making your flies behave in a life-like manner is an important aspect of fly fishing and even though you may find at times a retrieve that in no way mimics the naturals seen in the water may induce a strike, concentrating your efforts to closely resemble the speed and swimming motion of the naturals will produce more strikes, more often.
The insects and aquatic life we see in stillwater fisheries are usually not the fastest life forms on the planet and spending some time observing the naturals will give you a good idea of just how fast these aquatic life forms move and what characteristics you can mimic during your retrieve. Trying to match these observations is not always as easy as it sounds especially for those new to our sport as boredom and restlessness can take over. A mistake made by a large percentage of new fly anglers is retrieving their flies to fast. By speeding up their retrieve, the fly fisher makes themselves feel more active but will usually see their success rate drop substantially by both presenting their fly in an un-natural manner and by pulling their fly up through the water column and out of the strike zone.
At times the best retrieves are static or catatonic, where there is no movement or really, no retrieve at all. When fishing flies like chironomids, the retrieve should be painstakingly slow; so slow it almost hurts. With that said, there are times when faster retrieves will induce strikes even though the movement doesn’t match the characteristics of the naturals which is why experimenting with your retrieve is so critical. Tight line and good fishing! Michael Wong
