With all this extra water around here in south Wales, fishing opportunities are slim at the moment with the river being heavily flooded or lakes chocolate brown from the run off. I had the nod that a small lake I frequently fished when I was a youngster was clear and full of fish, just like it was back earlier in the year.

Lewis Rumble and I headed over to take a look, the air temperature was cold and with the lake set on top of a mountain, in a hole, the sun hardly broke the surface of the trees and the temp stayed around 4/5 degrees all day!

I set up with a fast intermediate fly line and a black and green lure, what more do you need for winter rainbows, I ask? Lewis opted for a floating line and a hold head daddy pattern. I chose a length of leader around 18 feet long. This length of leader with a weighted fly can be tough to turn over, especially with a head wind, but on an dead flt calm autumn morning this was ideal. The long length of leader keeps the fly away from the fly line, giving plenty of chance for the line to pass away from any fish before pulling the fly through, the only disadvantage I found was your fly can sink a bit too deep! So keep a keen eye on your fly choice. Another thing I like to do on small waters, especially those that are heavily fished, is use an intermediate line, anything that cuts through the surface. All you have to do is look around a small water fishery and most fishermen use floating lines. Im a strong believer that when a fly is pulled on floating line the ‘wake’ from the fly line on the surface can put fish off, and also make them aware that the fly following it may be dangerous. The sinking line doesn’t cause any disturbance like this and you can usually get a couple more fish on the bank before they become to weary!

Almost instantly I hooked into a fish which threw the hook, a good start for such a cold morning. It wasn’t long before the line locked up again and a decent fish of around one and a half pounds graced the bank. With the low temperatures and hidden sun the fishing stayed fairly constant all day with no real flurry of action. I managed to net eleven fighting fit trout with five of them fully finned and with bloom in their tail. Black and green was the favourite pattern, with a hot head cat taking a few fish later on in the day.