I know with deepsea we have specific baits we will put out according to the time of day we are fishing, the weather on that day etc etc! As with carp fishing they always start with the "basic" flavours first ie. caramel, almond, banana etc then move on and experiment! Im curious if there is a method for fly fishing, say first cast will always be a wolly bugger or Walkers killer..! What is the norm? And do you guys fish different colours according to time of day or weather?
Methods to fly selection....
- Thread starter cougar
- Start date
cougar wrote:
Try to establish if there is a lot of insect activity first, and then try to match your fly accordingly. On rivers there are will commonly always be a handful of goggas that you can rely on being around, mayflies, caddis etc and on stillwaters there should always be dragonflies, damsels and mayflies etc. If you can learn to recognise these insects, fly selection becomes simpler. Obviously some flies are proven fish takers and don't really resemble anything in particular, but will catch fish regardless. So if theres no visible insect activity, then an attractor type fly will be the answer. On the other hand fish can lock onto a certain type of insect in the water and will refuse any pattern that looks otherwise. I reckon the best bet is to keep a selection of patterns that resemble the insects correctly as well as a bunch of attractor type flies as well, and you can adjust your tactics accordingly.
That is very informative Stav, thanks. Can I ask if this was recent? Basically just want to work out when fish cue in on dragons, damsels and fry etc. Think it will help a lot if you know what to expect at different times of the year so you can fish imitations of whats actually in the water at that time.
Thanks
Rob
Thanks
Rob
Hi Rob,
Basic rules are the following: Warmer months equal dragons and damsels. Midges AKA bloodworm are really the only insects that you'll find in the colder months the larva are red as seen in the photo above and the pupa are black as can be seen from the black shucks above. when you see shucks like this in the water it means that the pupa have hatched and they then fly off. The tadpoles above were pumped from a fish in the dead of winter i always thought that taddies only hatched in the warmer months as well so this was strange to me, not sure how quickly they grow but they could have been a month or two old. It's always good to just observe whats in the water. pick up a clump of weed and have a look. Your best months for trout in my opinion are April and Oct. In April the Damsels and Dragons are still around and trout feed heavily before winter. In oct the Damsels and dragons are back and the fun starts again. The rest of the year can be hit and miss and the cold fronts in winter dont help either. For the colder months you must def have a few orange flies in your box.
Cheers
Ewan
Basic rules are the following: Warmer months equal dragons and damsels. Midges AKA bloodworm are really the only insects that you'll find in the colder months the larva are red as seen in the photo above and the pupa are black as can be seen from the black shucks above. when you see shucks like this in the water it means that the pupa have hatched and they then fly off. The tadpoles above were pumped from a fish in the dead of winter i always thought that taddies only hatched in the warmer months as well so this was strange to me, not sure how quickly they grow but they could have been a month or two old. It's always good to just observe whats in the water. pick up a clump of weed and have a look. Your best months for trout in my opinion are April and Oct. In April the Damsels and Dragons are still around and trout feed heavily before winter. In oct the Damsels and dragons are back and the fun starts again. The rest of the year can be hit and miss and the cold fronts in winter dont help either. For the colder months you must def have a few orange flies in your box.
Cheers
Ewan
Thanks Ewan.
I have got a few fish on bloodworms this winter and I always wondered if fish take them because thats all that is left in the water when its that cold or is that the time of year when they most prolific? Either way the fish chow them so guess its immaterial. Thanks for all the info, really nice to know what flies you should be fishing when.
Rob
I have got a few fish on bloodworms this winter and I always wondered if fish take them because thats all that is left in the water when its that cold or is that the time of year when they most prolific? Either way the fish chow them so guess its immaterial. Thanks for all the info, really nice to know what flies you should be fishing when.
Rob
I mostly fish mine as a single fly on a long leader (12 - 15 foot), a floating line and a slow hand twist retrieve with a few seconds pause after every couple of twists. This imitates the natural pretty well as it usually wiggles back forth, not unlike mosquito larvae when you disturb them.
Guys do fish it on intermediate and sinking lines to get it to the bottom though, as this is where it lives majority of the time but I prefer fishing it a little off the bottom so as to imitate them coming up to the surface to reach more oxygenated waters and from what I have read this is when trout actively feed on them.
You can of course fish them static with other flies like egg patterns under a indicator or dry fly, this has proved successful for me in the past too.
Hope this helps.
Rob
Guys do fish it on intermediate and sinking lines to get it to the bottom though, as this is where it lives majority of the time but I prefer fishing it a little off the bottom so as to imitate them coming up to the surface to reach more oxygenated waters and from what I have read this is when trout actively feed on them.
You can of course fish them static with other flies like egg patterns under a indicator or dry fly, this has proved successful for me in the past too.
Hope this helps.
Rob