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[Chum Slayer]

I have a trout fishing trip to a lodge in mid-July around Merrit, I was wondering if any of you had any advice for fishing in mid-July I understand from what I have read that fishing can be hit or miss, my main plan was to fish balanced leeches in the morning and the evening fish caddis fly patterns right before dark and troll a glow dark leech pattern.

any tips or advice would be appreciated

chum slayer

[DanL]

...for fishing in mid-July I understand from what I have read that fishing can be hit or miss

True, summer can be a challenging time. Hatches can be sporadic or non-existent, and/or theres not much abundance other than staples around.

Just my opinion, but that's a good time to pull out the attractor patterns you have the most confidence in. Leeches, woolly buggers, spratleys, scud, damsels, dragons, boobies, blobs or whatever you like. They still have to eat, but if they're not keyed in on anything specific, it seems they can be inexplicably picky and you just can't predict what may or may not entice a take or get refused. Mix up sizes and colours; just because you caught one one fish on a particular pattern doesnt mean other ones will want the same thing. If you can use two or more rods, put something different on each one.

Dont rule out chironomids, as you never know. If you see surface activity, definitely try some dries.

Throat sample when you can, and if there's something prominent in there, might as well try to match it. If it's empty, a random mix of everything, or just daphnia, then continue to work those attractors.

Use your sounder (if deep enough). If you're not marking much, move (or troll).  If you see fish on the sounder try and get the depth of your presentation dialed in. Of course you want to do that in general, but I feel that's doubly true during doldrums when they may not be particularly aggressive and don't want to work too hard.

On the plus side, it's usually a lot less busy by then, and while you might have to work harder for success, it feels extra rewarding to be able to scratch out fewer fish in tough conditions.

[RalphH]

All good advice from DanL. Focus on the staples; scuds, leeches, dragons & damsels. Some lakes have good to excellent  chironomid hatches in the summer. A good example is Tunkwa and it's well known bomber hatch most often imitated with #10 2xl patterns.

Also fish earlier and later in the day. Jack Shaw's book Fly fish the Trout lakes has good tips for dealing with the summer doldrums; fish drop offs that project shade into the water & fish through thunder showers if you can. Even try night fishing!

 If you can fish higher lakes above 4000 or even 4500 & 5000 feet or fish further north. Some lakes in the caribou have evening mayfly hatches well into July.

Also this year we've had an usually cold spring and mild summer. The doldrums may not hit lakes as hard as they can in summers like last year. Some lakes may not experience doldrums at all!

[spoiler]

Dragon fly nymphs just before dark in the shallows, scuds the same way
some of my biggest fish have been on dragon fly nymphs.
you can slow troll them during the day while you scope out your evening spots.

[RockyShowers]

Doc spratley sinking line long leader