Denver, CO - January 19, 2010 -- Canadian-based fisheries biologist Brian Chan talked about a biologist's point of view on fly fishing trout lakes on Ask About Fly Fishing Internet Radio on January 13, 2010. The show was a great success as questions poured in from avid listeners all over the world, which Chan skillfully answered. Chan, who is a fly fishing author, producer, lecturer, angling guide, and a TV show co-host, has been working in the fisheries business for the past 30 years. His works include the books Morris and Chan on Fly Fishing Trout Lakes, Stillwater Solutions Recipes - 30 Proven Patterns with co-athor Phil Rowley, and the DVD Expert Techniques for Stillwater Fly Fishing.
According to Chan, as a fisheries biologist based in British Columbia, he devoted his whole career managing recreational trout fisheries - from setting regulations, defining and managing specific regulations to producing certain types of fisheries. He also did work on habitat protection, inventory work, and development management plans for various lakes.
He said that of the three types of lakes, namely, eutrophic, mesoptrophic, and oligotrophic, eutrophic lakes are the one that are usually fished for trout.
"Eutrophic lakes are shallow and usually have intermittent or no inlets or outlets, which means that they have low flushing rates. The soils and geology around it make them nutrient-rich so that they grow insects and other food sources of fish."
Chan added that eutrophic lakes can be found in British Columbia, across Canada, the northern and southern U.S. states, and around the world.
Spring and fall water turnovers are typical in eutrophic lakes. A winter kill can happen during long winters wherein there would not be enough oxygen to support the fish. According to Chan, this is because no photosynthesis occurs during winter since there are no green plants growing; consequently, no new oxygen is produced for the fish.
Lack of oxygen also occurs during the spring which causes a spring kill, where fish die two weeks after the lake turns over. Chan explained that this is caused by a very rapid drop in oxygen levels in the entire lake because the water in the upper layers mix with the less oxygenated water in the lower layers.
If you want to catch trout during spring, Chan's advice is to be aware of spring turnovers. This is when a lake has a lot of debris in the water. "You can go down lower in elevation to catch a lake that's already turned over or you go higher in elevation to catch a lake that hasn't turned over," he said.
Trout are usually found above the so-called thermocline, an invisible barrier that forms like a sheet of plastic across the lake. According to Chan, in most eutrophic lakes, productive lakes do not often have a lot of oxygen below the thermocline. Sometimes, there is not even enough oxygen to support trout in that area.Chan gave a lot of tips on fly fishing trout lakes during the show. One tip is to use attractor-style patterns where you will rotate the fish into biting things such as flashy bright flies stripped quickly to the water. He also advised using streamer patterns with colors like bright orange and bright Chartreuse green. "These tactics will get most of our fish mad and them chasing the fly," he said.
According to Chan fishing is not so different in the east and west. "If you use the techniques to mimic or imitate the different stages of life cycles, it doesn't matter where you are on the continent, they'll produce fish for you."
You can listen to the show Fly Fishing Trout Lakes: A Biologist's Point of View at the Ask About Fly Fishing website. Since there were a lot of unanswered questions during the show, host D. Roger Maves has scheduled a second part of the interview to be aired on February 3, 2010 at 7 p.m. (MT). Audiences are invited to stay tuned on the fly fishing show.
Visit www.AskAboutFlyFishing.com and register free to receive advance notification of Ask About Fly Fishing's upcoming Internet radio shows and to receive a special free guide on improving your fly casting.
Ask About Fly Fishing - Internet Radio produces two 90-minute shows every month on the different areas concerning fly fishing. Its program host, D. Roger Maves interviews different top-rated fly fishers from different parts of the world. Listeners from around the world can listen to the show live at their website at AskAboutFlyFishing.com or by phone. Those who missed the show can listen to the podcast which is uploaded to the website 24 hours after the live show ends.