[Barry Robertson]

If you were fishing a reservoir and it allowed the use of an anchor what would your preferred method of fishing be and why.
I will sit on the fence for a bit on this one as iam intrested to see how others think.
I have many thoughts on this and how drifting affects certains ways of fishing like nymphing, example being if your drifting how do you control the speed of your flies to keep it reel from the fishes point of view  ???

Anyway lets hear your thoughts 

[Jim Eddie]

Baz

No expert on reservoirs , but on a big  water you need to drift to cover the water , usual suspects wind lanes , structure etc,  your speed of retrieve is determined on how fast the boat is drifting.

 

Jim   

[Mike Barrio]

Hi Baz

I prefer drifting myself, in fine to reasonable conditions

I'm more confident on a big water when drifting with a drogue, my confidence is boosted by the idea that I am covering more fish. I also enjoy the thought that goes in to setting up the drift etc .... all of which is part of my day out

Cheers
Mike

[Steven Sinclair]

  Yep drifting gets a from me too!  I can see that sometimes anchoring would have its advantages (staying over a pocket of fish for a longer period of time etc) but on the whole I would A)end up getting bored as I just prefer to roam around and B) I think that covering more water will improves my chances of finding more fish, and If I have had a good drift where I have found some willing troots all I do is drift through said area again 

Steven

[Hamish Young]

Part of the question here might be about the type of fish you're going after and where.

There are substantial benefits to anchoring up when you're after rainbows as, very often, they circulate in shoals in large stillwaters wheras browns are less inclined to do so unless focused on a particular food source.

Therefore, it's sensible to be more mobile when after browns and a controlled drift (with drogue) is a very useful standard set up.
That same set up is equally useful for finding 'bows and there are distinct advantages to deploying an anchor once you've found feeding fish in order to stay in the 'zone' rather than drift by.

Personally, I prefer to keep on drifting as I think it's a more interesting way to fish.

I have used anchors on the likes of Loch Shiel and Loch Shin when specifically after big brownies. Kind of a cheat really, get yourself up or downwind of some salmon smolt cages. Anchor up and fish lead core/sinking line and BIG fly techniques more often associated with the likes of Hanningfield or Rutland or Grafham..... trust me, it works I think that type of fishing is the only time I have intentionally used anchors when after brown trout.

Thinking about it, when there used to be Sea Trout on Loch Shiel I used an anchor where the loch empties to become the River Shiel. Sea Trout had a habit of running one particular channel into the loch and an anchored boat was the best way to cover them.

Apologies, I'm reminiscing......again 

Hamish