Hi
A lot of the fish I am getting are full of fry, my usual approach for this is a Longshank Wormfly (Black version), the fly is pretty successfull but I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on alternatives that I could try out.
I doubt I am going to replace the Wormfly but it would be nice to have some alternatives, any ideas?
When fishing the big stillwaters in England, the Polystickle was a much favoured fly for fry feeding troots.
or something like this:[attachimg=1]
plenty of fun fry patterns out there! :8)
Geographically I am more in your area Roobarb (Lewis), so flies and tactics will be almost similar.
I have tried a variety of the larger streamer patterns as well as the epoxy type flies but with little to no positive results.
Sometimes you can see fish hitting shoals of fry(small fish) right next to the bank( I witnessed this on the Backwater last year), when this happens it is thought that they hit the fish with their sides/tails stunning the fish, then go back and hoover up the fry. Either a jerky figure of eight retrieve or just letting the fly flutter down with no retrieve can get a response.
I tied up a fly some forty years ago to represent a water beetle, it ended up catching more fry feders than beetele feeders :)
Hook: #12 or#10
Thread: black
Body: white floss.
Rib: silver wire.
Back: grey squirrel tail tied in at tail and pulled along back and tied in at head, shell back style. The hair I used varied from a light grey to black.
Hackle: badger.
Tail: grey squirrel, optional
Any chance you could post a pic of that fishtails, sometimes i find a tying is completely different unless you get an image of what the final article should look like, i wouldn't mind putting a few together and trying them.
Roobarb, do you try to imitate any specific fry type patterns when you think they are locked onto fry, i only really have this one pattern then i am back to general wet patterns.
JM
as I said, plenty of fry patterns out there, so no need to limit youself. this one's easy to tie and you can use variations to imitate different bait-fish (foam brown, body white for instance) this is on a size#12 hook. you can even :shock: try them on a sinking line and 2-4' tippet, which produces an amazing action and thumping takes. :8)
Quote from: corsican dave on May 29, 2015, 08:13:44 AM
as I said, plenty of fry patterns out there, so no need to limit youself. this one's easy to tie and you can use variations to imitate different bait-fish (foam brown, body white for instance) this is on a size#12 hook. you can even :shock: try them on a sinking line and 2-4' tippet, which produces an amazing action and thumping takes. :8)
If I have one in my box I will. It is a long while since I tied or used one, about thirty years :)
Thanks, yes there are plenty out there but I was looking to see which ones had proven effective on wild browns, rather than stocked.
I expect many cross over but some of the ones I have tried have don nothing, cheers
Quote from: johnny boy on May 29, 2015, 11:01:41 AM
Thanks, yes there are plenty out there but I was looking to see which ones had proven effective on wild browns, rather than stocked.
I expect many cross over but some of the ones I have tried have don nothing, cheers
I don't do stocked..... :lol: :8)
Whickhams fancy.
Quote from: johnny boy on May 29, 2015, 01:57:01 AM
Any chance you could post a pic of that fishtails, sometimes i find a tying is completely different unless you get an image of what the final article should look like, i wouldn't mind putting a few together and trying them.
JM
Just as well I had a couple in my fly box. The tying I gave was way off :) I have updated it.
This is the first they have been out of the box in twenty years :)
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