In its own way, boat fishing for trout on large freshwater lakes can be equally as demanding as boat fishing on the sea. Boat handling skills are every bit as important in terms of personal safety and success on big inland waters as they are offshore. On a lake with no tide to give the boat a steady predictable line of lie, you are completely at the mercy of the wind, which can at times also throw up some pretty uncomfortable conditions as well. Anchoring too can be problematic in that while a long rope makes for a more comfortable ride in a swell, it also allows the boat to wander about all over the place without the run of a tide to steady it. Shortening up on the rope means the boat wanders less, but then it rides the swell less well. Strange currents caused by wind pushed water deflecting off areas of banking creating back eddies can also be frustrating. Add to this the fact that unlike most UK sea fish species which feed at or near to the bottom, trout live in a three dimensional world from the surface to the lake bed, and you start to appreciate that freshwater boat fishing demands its own particular set of skills. Moreover, it can be practised at times when sea fishing is in the doldrums due to poor tides and seasonal transitional periods, or is unavailable due to the weather. And on some waters, trout fishing need not necessarily be approached with the fly.

One thing I have found on my travels is that while fish may look physically different, they can be strikingly similar in terms of tactical approach. A good example of this is uptide fishing, which I have found works as well off the coast of West Africa and around the Florida flats as it does back here in the UK. Similar situations can be approached with similar tactics. The same is true of fishing for trout. If they are feeding hard on the bottom then there is no reason which they cannot be treated the same as marine species in a similar situation. Hook sizes, monofilament diameter, and bait choice will of course be different. Otherwise it's more of the same. And the same thinking carries on through to approaching them at the various other levels in the water where they may choose to feed. The biggest problem in taking up the trout challenge as an alternative to lost boating days at sea is finding a fishery big enough to have boats, yet open minded enough not to confine activities t the fly.

Many of the larger Cumbrian lakes permit any method fishing for trout. On the down side, these tend to be naturally stocked with small wild brown trout. There is however a stocked rainbow trout fishery which has a boat fleet that allows any method fishing. This is 240 acre lake known as Esthwaite close to the village of Hawkshead sandwiched between Windermere and Coniston. This water also has a big following as a fly fishery with international fly fishing rules competitions regularly held there. In the main, the "other legal methods" fishing tends to be carried out along the southern shore of the lake by coarse fishermen taking an early season break. They catch a lot of good fish on worm and sweet corn cocktails, but usually that's about as far as they push the non fly fishing rules relaxation. Out in the boat the potential for tactical scope and variation increases dramatically.

By and large, most of those using Esthwaite as an "any method" fishery fish the worm and sweet corn method (maggots are not allowed) either on a simple leger rig or under a bubble float. From a boat each of these approaches is best done in a different way. To have any control over a legered bait, particularly in terms of bite detection, the boat needs to be anchored. In breezy conditions, to prevent it wandering all over the place, which makes bite detection difficult, double anchoring is the best approach. Whenever I double anchor, I tend to tuck in close to the bank with the breeze coming onto my back. A good tip when legering is to incorporate a small piece of polystyrene to make the bait float up from the bottom. A polystyrene ball wrapped in a tiny piece of nylon stocking whipped to the eye of a hook is the method I use. Bait fishing under a bubble float partially filled with water to give increased casting range is just as easy on the drift. In fact, it is better on the drift as this increases ground coverage. If the breeze pushes the boat along too quickly, a drogue can be used to slow the drift rate down. However, bubble floats and leger rigs can be used in much more imaginative ways.

The idea behind any method fishing is not to have to fly fish. On the hand, if as is often the case, fly fishing is the most productive approach, then you have to give the fish what they are looking for. This is particularly true under two specific sets of circumstances. One is when there is a major buzzer hatch underway, and the other is bright and/or cold conditions which tends to put the trout right down at or near to the bottom. Lets look at buzzer fishing first. Buzzers are those tiny black flies that hang around water surface in their droves. Starting life as bloodworms in the bottom sediments, they eventually pupate and rise up through the water column to hatch at the surface. Trout may take them at any level and at any stage in their life cycle, but more often than not pick them off close to the surface - say within the top metre or so. Fly fishermen using buzzer nymphs can clean up. But you don't have to be a fly fisherman to cash in. A buzzer nymph on a mono dropper suspended beneath a bubble float can be just as effective, particularly during April and May, though buzzers are a good taking pattern over much of the year.

When trout go deep for the reasons explained, fly fishermen have a totally different weapon in their armoury, which again is fished static. This time they just the heaviest fastest sinking line they can get with a short leader of between 18 inches and 4 feet on the end of which is tied a booby. This is a brightly coloured lure with two polystyrene balls on its head (hence the name) and a long tail tied from marabou. The polystyrene gives the fly buoyancy allowing it to float clear of the bottom to the height of the short leader. This puts it in full view of any passing trout. But the sting is in the tail. For when a trout comes close enough to investigate, currents in the water created by the movement of the fish make the lure move and cause the marabou tail to start pulsating giving the impression of an alarmed fry about to make its escape. This instantly clicks the trout into kill mode, a fact supported by the way most attacking rainbow trout swallow the lure right down, despite the fact that it is being fished static. The same effect can be achieved with a legering outfit and short trace, either left static or tweaked very slowly back.

Not wanting to put fly fishing or rainbow trout as a species down, it wouldn't surprise me if it were possible to catch them on small feathers such as a shrimp rig. They most certainly can be caught on tiny redgills and jelly worms. Spinners will also take their share. At Esthwaite however, spinners, and for that matter large boobies or worm baits also run the risk of picking up pike. Over the years I have seen pike approaching double figures taken on worm and surprisingly, also on tiny flies. Towards the end of the year, a lot of Esthwaite boat fishermen turn their attentions solely to the pike, where they have been taken to 38 pounds. Going back to the subject of fly fishing, there is no disputing the fact than averaged over the year, more trout can be caught on dressed imitations and lures than on bait, and it is not as difficult as some purist fly fishermen would like to have us think. Certainly not for stockie rainbows. An ideal opportunity then to give some simply fly fishing a go. Get your bag limit first on any other preferred method first, then finish off the catch and release period on the fly. That way you have nothing to loose.