On Thursday, March 13, 2014 7:02:38 PM UTC+8, Bertie Doe wrote:
Will be starting fishing in 3 days, when the season starts here in the UK..

The 2 local lakes (Bodmin Moor Cornwall) are 200 acres and 900 acres.

Rainbow and brown respectively.



I'm a complete newbie and I've been practicing in the farmer's field

opposite the house. Question is, which bank is likely to produce the most

takes?



50 years ago when course or beach fishing, having a tail wind was a big

plus, obviously. Let's assume a light Westerly wind direction, is it likely

that natural flies landing on the water would be blown towards the Eastern

bank?



I going to fish the larger lake first as there are fewer obstructions behind

the angler. It's mainly grass which has been cropped short by overwintering

geese. With 14 kms / 9 miles of bank, some forward planning will be handy..



Any thoughts would be appreciated TIA.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colliford_Lake


Hey Newbie:
When dry fly fishing, the bugs are indeed blown to the downwind bank, so your best strategy is to fish along that bank. Since its hard to cast a dry directly into the wind, a good strategy is to stand stream side so that your casting arm is over the water, and cast along the bank. Be aware that the wind will try to bring your fly into your head, so keep your tip low and your casts wide.

If you are nymph fishing, then they really aren't affected by the wind so you can fish anywhere. However, being able to cast downwind a huge distance is not so useful as you cannot feel your nymph, so having some supporting wind doesn't do much for you. Keep your casts close (10-15 feet) and your line tight.

The third option is if you are able to cast ACROSS the stream because of the wind. In that case, I would cast from the upwind bank, leaving my dry somewhere midstream and let the breeze carry it dead-drift into the shore.

Oh, and this group is long-dead. Come over to Facebook to meet the gang.

--riverman