The Complete Fisher Forum

[Fryfishing]

So this is something I have been pondering for a while.

When fishing for trout that have seen a few flies go by are we offering them flies that are to bright and shiny. It seems to be a modern trend bought on no doubt by various materials and resins that are available to us now. I am not talking about a spot of sparkle or flash added to a fly but a whole lot of UV or say a buzzer glowing with a coat of resin.
I have found that some of the old classics with just a turn or two of silver rib or flash back have worked well for me at most venues that I fish.

I am guilty as charged when it comes to some of the concoctions that I attach to the leader at Farmoor when back drifting, lots of shiny fritz for example. The Barbra Cartland maybe a pink snake but other than the pink zonker strip there is very little in the way of flashy material included.

This post was influenced by an old article I re read from FFFT by Bev Perkins on his go to buzzers for the Northampton reservoirs which were all very dull bar the odd bright cheeks.

What do you think?
P
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Floating Lines, buzzers, nymphs, stick floats, maggots and throwing lures at bitey things.

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[lakefisher]

Although I have for many years, been pre-occupied with hunting Pike, I must say that "bright and shiny" flys certainly have their place on my leader - especially on dull, cloud covered days or when the water clarity is less than I would desire.
Brighter days or better water clarity brings out my more sombre patterns - even to the point of using a completely black fly, tied with all tinsel with only a "veil" of black crystal flash.

The same concepts applying when I ran my own Rainbow trout fishery - flys selected for visibility in the weather and water conditions on the day - bright conditions, dull fly(s). Dull condiitions, bright fly(s)

Works for me ....... Tony
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Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.

[Allrounder]

I've caught Trout and Pike on 100% silver flashabou flies but in recent seasons I have found that 'less flash is definitely more' especially when it comes to larger, more wary fish. In fact apart from stockies and Jack pike, I feel that too much flash actually puts them off. However as is often the case in angling, the only rule is there are no rules, and there have been some HUGE fish caught on Chew recently on Blobs! So what do I know?

Alan
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[Fryfishing]

I don't know why my brain works this way Blobs seem like motorised trout pellets to me
They also don't have to be to flashy, think of those deer hair mouse flies at the tanks, probably the forerunner of a FAB/ blob.

_________________
Floating Lines, buzzers, nymphs, stick floats, maggots and throwing lures at bitey things.

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[BristolFlyer]

[Fryfishing]

[/quote] I wonder if those mouse flies are successful because the natural materials do a better job of soaking up and retaining the liquids which some people 'allegedly' dip them in before use [/quote]

I well remember an incident at Farmoor one of the well known locals calling out to his mate "what flavour did you have on your boobie" so its not just on the Tanks it goes on.
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Floating Lines, buzzers, nymphs, stick floats, maggots and throwing lures at bitey things.

https://youtube.com/channel/UCi3uvEhBwv-hz0eGtrNtQgw

[wylye]

Peter,

Have you been having a quiet read of some of the posts on the "other place?" I ask because that topic has recently surfaced with particular reference to leaders. He who posts 20 photos when one would do was demonstrating a shiny leader underwater with a fish in play. My comment was that shiny leader or not, it didn't stop the fish taking the fly. I then went on to write about flies and fly tying materials, basically asking that if a shiny leader was considered to put fish off, then why are we using flies incorporating shiny materials. I found at least 17 different materials advertised for their shiny or glittery properties as being attractive to fish in just one catalogue.

Actually, I feel that shiny and/or glittery materials can be seriously off-putting to both trout and grayling at times. A little goes a long way in many cases. I never use those aggressively pink shrimp patterns for grayling because I feel that they spook the fish at worst, or are totally ignored at best.

[Fryfishing]

No other forum reading on my part, the thought came to me after I watched a YouTube video by Mac, tying a green buzzer, it was quite bling. The thought was also influenced by rereading those classic books and the somber flies suggested in them.

I tend to degrease leaders with my Fullers Earth mix which reduces most of the shine from nylon and fluorocarbon.

Off to Farmoor tomorrow to give No1 bank a thrash.
P
_________________
Floating Lines, buzzers, nymphs, stick floats, maggots and throwing lures at bitey things.

https://youtube.com/channel/UCi3uvEhBwv-hz0eGtrNtQgw

[wylye]

You just have to look through the books from yesteryear to see how many of those traditional flies are tied with silver tinsel bodies, the object being to impart some life-like flash to the fly. Even the more modern of the flies & lures from the '50's and '60's would have tinsel in their make up. What is the top small stillwater "lure" these days? Blue Flash Damsel. Modern anglers, it seems, are obsessed with sparkling, flashy flies.

Having said that, my top river nymph from last year caught more than 250 trout & grayling for me and others. The body is hares fur, a 2.8mm tungsten bead in copper, olive or rainbow and a thorax of UV Ice Dub in a nice apricot colour. The thorax, when dubbed normally is very good, but when it is applied with a dubbing spinner it is doubly good. It just lights up.

So, what does it all prove? None of us are trout or grayling so we don't know what it is that they see exactly. We can only surmise. That said, when we've been doing this fishing lark for a while we get to know that certain colours work. Black for example. How many black or at any rate flies that incorporate black in their make up are there? Dozens, scores and I daresay that if anyone was that interested, a look through Courtney Williams and John Veniard would raise the score into the hundreds. White is good though not so popular; orange, even back in the early days of rainbow trout fishing, was known to be effective for that species.

I daresay that those of a "certain" age might remember a chap called Jim Gibbinson. He partnered Ian Gillespie in "The Fishing Race" to win the Golden Maggot. He got into fly fishing and in one of the articles he wrote for that excellent magazine "Angling" he stated that he'd "never met the rainbow trout that wasn't happy to be slapped around the chops by a black, white or orange lure."

[tenet]

When I started fly fishing on Grafham back in the 70's the flybox always included, in no particular order, Sweeny Todd, Baby Doll and Whiskey Flies.

[Fryfishing]

It is very quite on this Forum at the moment. It just seems to be Bristol Water and Farmoor posts. As we said about fishing tackle shops "use it or lose it"

Reading this months FF&FT it seems Mr Jardine and Patterson are both thinking about flies with more of a subdued flash.

Re a damsel nymph I fish one that I tie from dyed green mallard feathers and nothing else, it works for me

Everywhere I go fishing from the canal to still waters there is a large hatch of damsel flies with male and females doing their thing at the moment.

I took this shot of a dragon fly ( I think) in Vermont


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Floating Lines, buzzers, nymphs, stick floats, maggots and throwing lures at bitey things.

https://youtube.com/channel/UCi3uvEhBwv-hz0eGtrNtQgw