As a fly fishing writer, admitting I sometimes reach for a spinning rod for trout might seem like a betrayal of principle. It isn’t – it’s just being honest about what actually works on certain waters, particularly the day-ticket stillwaters that permit it.
The appeal is simple: spinning lets you cover a lot of water quickly on an unfamiliar stillwater, searching different depths and areas far faster than working a fly line methodically. On a day-ticket water I don’t know well, a session spent spinning to locate fish before switching to fly has saved me more than one otherwise blank day.
Small metal spinners – size 1-2, Mepps-style – and small spoons in silver or gold are genuinely all you need. I don’t overcomplicate lure choice for trout the way I might for pike or perch; trout aren’t large-mouthed ambush predators, and oversized, over-engineered lures get fewer takes than something simple and well presented.
A steady, moderate retrieve is where I start, adjusting speed and adding pauses if that’s not producing. Spring and autumn are when I find spinning most productive – comfortable water temperatures with fish actively feeding in the upper and middle layers where a spinner works best.
Always check what’s permitted before setting up with spin tackle – plenty of premium reservoirs are fly-only, and this genuinely isn’t a technique for those waters. But on the day-ticket stillwaters that allow it, I’d encourage any trout angler who’s only ever fly fished to give it a proper try. It’s changed how quickly I can read a new water.
Sarah Marsh came to fly fishing through her father, who kept a rod on a small syndicate water in Devon. She spent her teens fishing stocked reservoirs and gradually worked her way toward wild fish on moving water – first on rain-fed freestone rivers in Wales, then on the Hampshire chalk streams she now considers home water.
She holds a level 2 APGAI fly casting qualification and guides informally on the River Test and, from June to September, on a private beat on the River Tay for Atlantic salmon. Her personal best brown trout came from the Itchen at 4lb 1oz; she’d sooner not talk about the salmon that came off at the net last August.
At The River Bend, Sarah writes the game fish species guides, fly fishing technique articles, and the legal content covering trout and salmon regulations.
Covers: Brown trout, rainbow trout, sea trout, Atlantic salmon, fly fishing, chalk streams, Scottish rivers, close season and regulation articles