Well its August now (in my mind anyway especially as the year draws to a close)
Similar spots to before, in fact August/Sept is similar to June /july except for the flies.All the advice leading up to this time is pertinent, especially the watch and wait scenario.
However for some strange reason i have always found the trout to be very fond of duckflys during the day, especially on faster riffles and rapids, pocket picking around the rocks.
the good old mallard and claret is another good fly as is butcher/kingfisher butchers/ hardys gold butchers, proper wet flys fished down and across, or across and down depending how you prefer to do it. I like across and down.
I have found that working the faster water during the day produces quite a good few decent fish, especially just in front of large rocks.
Dung flies can be really effective too. I like to wade up through a long riffle working the areas in front and behind features that affect the current (rock,branches etc).
Some of the smaller tributaries can be best at this time of year, so dont miss them out.Wander the little burns/rivers but its often best to wait till early evening.
Now the evening in August can be truly awesome, especially with small orange spinners and small black dries (18-22) a lot of the time i will wade out into the river and wade up the centre, casting the flies right along the edge of the weedbeds, on both sides of the river.
There are generally a lot of weedbeds formed by now, especially in the slower glides. these beds will contain many good fish and you have to present a small dry or nymph right on the edge of the weedbed to get them interested.Its worth the effort though as you can suddenly rise a fish of significant size that hasn't shown itself at all.Great search fishing and great fun.I prefer to use a size 20 black and grizzle klinkhammer for this type of fishing as it covers fish who are smutting too.
Smuts are tiny black terrestrials that fall out of the weeds and the trout can get preoccupied with them. Griffiths gnats are good for this too.
Summer time is the time for smuts and terrestrials during the day, so remember to carry a few patterns with you.Tiny riseforms and seemingly uniterested fish often hint at smuts, or small midge for that matter, either way tiny black dries or nymphs(20-24) are the way forward.
As the evening falls so do the spinners as mentioned before, small dark olives and BWO's will hatch too, so small hares ear nymphs can be effective too, olive spiders and dries will work well, fished in the surface film to rising fish.A partridge and peacock will work for small sedges and as general flies once dusk falls, its all you need to cover a wide array of flies on an evening, very effective.
But watch ,because if the riseforms are very subtle then they are often taking the spinners trapped and dying, the rises are very small despite the size of fish.The glides and the tails ends of riffles are the places to look, again, rocks, pipes, branches and any other features will hold fish. Always remember that the best fish often hold close to the bank.
And that means the opposite bank as well as the one you are standing on, never forget that fish can be right under your feet, provided you dont wander the river like a baby elephant
: Bright orange is best in sizes 14-18, dont be afraid, the fish will respond with aggresion to bright orange dries in the surface film.
Streamers have their place now especially as september comes in as the larger trout get very aggressive and will snap at larger fishlike flies, hence why so many good trout are caught by salmon anglers.That said as in june/july the same type of woolly bugger type fly will provide some interesting sport worked along the edges at dusk.You may always catch a sea-trout or salmon as well, so be prepared
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Once september starts you will finds a reasonable hatch and rise taking place mid afternoon onwards, these are iron blues and small dark olives, smallish (14-16) dark flies will be good, both dry/spider or wet.
The glides will be the places to find this ,as the nymphs hatch out of slower water. the weed beds we talked of earlier will hold fish that will dart out to intercept a small snipe and purple or dry grey duster.
I like to work around weed beds at the end of the season it can provide many surprises, but keep moving, if the fish are there they will show themselves fairly sharpish. Back eddies can be good too (as they always are)you will see a lot of salmon jumping around too, if the mood suits then try for one, they can be quite receptive especially to a small stoat tail or the like, the larger trout will nail these too.
It can all be great fun but keep your eyes peeled.
Of course if you feel like being busy then Czech style through the rapids/pockets and riffles can be rewarding, especially with cream coloured bugs during the day.Personally i tend to get obssesed with dries and subsurface spiders, hence the bent towards grey dusters/klinks/snipe and purples and waterhen bloas in various shades.And of course orange spinners.
I suppose its a similar story for much of the year as to where to look, what changes is what the fish are looking for.Where the specific food hatches can cause localised hot-spots, these are found only by experience, but learning to read the river will give you an advantage on where to start.
There is lots of info out there to point you in the right direction as regards reading the river, but nothing can match watching and learning both on your own and from the experience of others. Old guys have always been my most useful resource (at the risk of being non-PC) and you can learn more in 5 min of friendly chat than from reading umpteem so called expert guides.Nothing beats local information.
All i can suggest is talk to the people you walk past, always keep your eyes open, never rush into the water and never be afraid to try something different if it feels right.
Sandy
