what fly are you using this week?

Doc Farrell

hi, i met a fellow this today as he was preparing to fish and pointed out a little white white fly that has landed on my glasses. he decided on a 'gray ? ' and proceeded to get a dozen takes from 2 dozen who were gong crazy.

my question is ....

what fly are you using this week and why?

coolwings

A small white fly this time of year is usually Caenis.
A small size white or yellow midge does the job, and while the naturals go from size 18 down to size 22, a 16 or 16 usualy is enough to get a rise, and big enough to stand out from the horde of smaller naturals and be noticed.

The real fly is actually a creamy yellow colour, but a predominantly white imitation works better as the fish accept it anyway or possibly better due to being brighter.
The whiter artificial is more visible to the angler, especially in the low light of nightfall, which helps avoid striking inadvertently on the occasions when a trout takes the natural sitting beside your imitation on the water, and you strike when you shouldn't, yours would have been next if you kept still.

Flies for this month for rivers:
Dry:black gnat 16 - 18, caenis white/yellow midge 16-18, blue winged olive 14 , and red spinner 14 , little red or brown sedge 14, hawthorn fly 12, alder 10-12
Wet: olive nymphs, pheasant tail nymphs, the spiders and other patterns that imitate buzzer nymphs in red, black, claret, apple green, silver, corixa, black & peacock spider, the bottom bugs for when you haven't a clue what they're eating.

Doc Farrell

coolwings wrote: »

A small white fly this time of year is usually Caenis.
A small size white or yellow midge does the job, and while the naturals go from size 18 down to size 22, a 16 or 16 usualy is enough to get a rise, and big enough to stand out from the horde of smaller naturals and be noticed.

The real fly is actually a creamy yellow colour, but a predominantly white imitation works better as the fish accept it anyway or possibly better due to being brighter.
The whiter artificial is more visible to the angler, especially in the low light of nightfall, which helps avoid striking inadvertently on the occasions when a trout takes the natural sitting beside your imitation on the water, and you strike when you shouldn't, yours would have been next if you kept still.

Flies for this month for rivers:
Dry:black gnat 16 - 18, caenis white/yellow midge 16-18, blue winged olive 14 , and red spinner 14 , little red or brown sedge 14, hawthorn fly 12, alder 10-12
Wet: olive nymphs, pheasant tail nymphs, the spiders and other patterns that imitate buzzer nymphs in red, black, claret, apple green, silver, corixa, black & peacock spider, the bottom bugs for when you haven't a clue what they're eating.

lol, i had just logged in to add the word 'duster' to grey. thanks for the post coolwings, i wasn't expecting anything that comprehensive.

got that aquaseal and put it on the waders last night. testing them tonight. hopefully no wet willy!

cheers!

stevoman

I have a black gnat i might try tonight. Also i have a another fly i think he may be a Grey Duster. He is Green with a large grey hackle, is he a duster? Also i was wondering what anybodys views on me using a Daddy long legs this evening?

Zzippy

Doc Farrell wrote: »

lol, i had just logged in to add the word 'duster' to grey. thanks for the post coolwings, i wasn't expecting anything that comprehensive.

got that aquaseal and put it on the waders last night. testing them tonight. hopefully no wet willy!

cheers!

LOL @ no wet willy!
I'm fishing the evening rise for hatching buzzers on the lake this week if it cools down a bit, so a dry buzzer imitation will be the fly for me, if the buzzers are balling on the surface I'll try a balling buzzer.
The Caenis hatches will be getting going on Corrib at the moment but the best fishing is very early in the morning, apparently - I'm not an early bird!

coolwings

The Grey Duster always appears too big relative to the natural midges flying around when it is at it's most effective.
The Grey Duster imitates the adult version of the Duck Fly, a largish black body white winged midge. It works so well because the midges mate flying in the air, and while engaged on things other than flying straight, they often topple onto the water in a jumble of wings and legs and two bodies, sometimes a ball of midges lands on the water. The trout know all about this "double burger menu item" and don't hesitate.

A Grey Duster also works well after dusk as a moth imitation, so it's has a dual use.

The Red Palmer a redbody, brown hackle variant of the Grey Duster, and the small Brown sedge pattern called Little Red Sedge, are good too in these circumstances, though in the hand, neither looks remotely like a fly, if you put them on the water, the pattern of hackle tips resting on the water surface film is very realistic when looked at from underneath, and that's the trout's viewpoint.
On stillwater the sunk version or the unhatched presentation is usually more effective, because they find it hard to get through a smooth water surface to hatch, and a traffic jam of emergers builds up under the surface which the trout take advantage of.
On ripply days on stillwater or the rougher rivers, the flies can hatch and get out of the water up on top quicker, giving the trout less time to go for sunk flies, so the dry presentation might have the edge in evenings.

coolwings

Doc Farrell wrote: »

...got that aquaseal and put it on the waders last night. testing them tonight. hopefully no wet willy! cheers!

:eek:

Aquaseal's the man! But it's just gotta be the stickiest glue in creation! Betcha got it all over the gaff while using it! :cool:

stevoman

would a daddy long legs be worth a shot?

coolwings

Always. But if there is a hatch with millions of something else flying about, I'd match the hatch first.
On stillwater - fishing a buzzer midge pupa sunk 12" - 10' vertically below a well oiled Daddy (used as a float) is very effective.

Doc Farrell

coolwings wrote: »

The Grey Duster always appears too big relative to the natural midges flying around when it is at it's most effective.
The Grey Duster imitates the adult version of the Duck Fly, a largish black body white winged midge. It works so well because the midges mate flying in the air, and while engaged on things other than flying straight, they often topple onto the water in a jumble of wings and legs and two bodies, sometimes a ball of midges lands on the water. The trout know all about this "double burger menu item" and don't hesitate.

A Grey Duster also works well after dusk as a moth imitation, so it's has a dual use.

The Red Palmer a redbody, brown hackle variant of the Grey Duster, and the small Brown sedge pattern called Little Red Sedge, are good too in these circumstances, though in the hand, neither looks remotely like a fly, if you put them on the water, the pattern of hackle tips resting on the water surface film is very realistic when looked at from underneath, and that's the trout's viewpoint.
On stillwater the sunk version or the unhatched presentation is usually more effective, because they find it hard to get through a smooth water surface to hatch, and a traffic jam of emergers builds up under the surface which the trout take advantage of.
On ripply days on stillwater or the rougher rivers, the flies can hatch and get out of the water up on top quicker, giving the trout less time to go for sunk flies, so the dry presentation might have the edge in evenings.

i am officially freaked out but have copy and pasted this post to read at my leisure.

without naming spots, what are your general plans for this month?

i'm determined to say hello to a trout on the Nanny but my last hope is to hurt or kill the little fellow. it is a contradiction at the heart of bloodsport that makes an angler the final guardian.

eddie12

Was out the last two evenings on a local river and a size 14 brown sedge did the job for me too.
Coachman brown hackle and palmer, Fiery brown dubbing, a few slips of hen pheasant varnished and shaped like an upside down boat for the wing. The wing lies down over the body rather than above it.