Rainys's Evazote

[Traditionalist]

QUOTE  I like your thinking Mike and can see a few applications in my own fishing for both freshwater and their salty cousins.. Thanks for sharing and you have certainly got me thinking.

Alex
UNQUOTE

My pleasure, glad to hear you enjoyed it.

One or two people asked me about colours. Yes, they can be extremely important for saltwater fish, ( and doubtless most others as well!).  If you use the "wrong" colours for some of these flies, they might not work well, or at all!

Although I invariably try "natural" stuff first when dressing most flies, I discovered fairly quickly that most did not work nearly as well as some of the more popular "Baitfish" and "Grub" schemes.  The "Japan Red" grubs are an absolute mainstay of Baltic cod fishing, ( But they work well anywhere).

The "Red" I have used here is the closest I can get to "Japan red"  which as I wrote, is the most successful colour for the rubber jigs which are so successful for cod and other fish. Although this might seem odd, ( and it is actually against my "normal" inclination which is to try and imitate naturals), it pays to do a little research on the most successful colours in artificial baits.  These often bear no resemblance at all to various naturals, but they are quite obviously triggers.



The red lead head jig shown in that photo is absolutely indispensable to anglers on the Baltic.

The Green sand eels are far more successful than most other colours, and the vast majority of successful metal and plastic lures, ( and the flies too of course), used, reflects this. Of course all the "Toby" lures and their derivatives are all based on the sand eel Ammodytes tobianus. ( Hence the name of course).

http://www.marlin.ac.uk/speciesinformation.php?speciesID=2480

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lesser_sand_eel

http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=126752

http://www.google.com/search?q=Ammodytes+tobianus&hl=en&prmd=ivns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=wbBqTpDuFI6u8QPCoPED&ved=0CD8QsAQ&biw=1022&bih=604

http://www.google.de/search?q=ragworm&hl=de&client=firefox-a&hs=McC&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&prmd=ivns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=K7JqTvjwHMio8QPctPibBQ&ved=0CDYQsAQ&biw=1022&bih=604


Various lures try to get the "wiggle and wobble", and quite a few do, some are more or less complex and difficult to construct, and a huge number lack the requisite action, but the cord does it really well ( when the "paddles" are used), is light and easy to cast with a fly rod,  and is more or less indestructible.

Have a look through some of these to get some ideas;

http://www.monsterfishing.co.uk/acatalog/Plastics.html

http://www.harrissportsmail.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=14172

http://www.anglerschoice.co.uk/department/toby_lures/

Of course the hardware all suffers from the intrinsic problem that it is heavy, and needs to be fished at speed or in certain ways ( Fast "sink and draw" for instance) in order to get the action required.  The cord obviates quite a few problems in regard to fishing these things as "flies".

Anyway, I suppose you will get the idea.

TL
MC