{{+1}}My trout lake wet fly box{{-1}}
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I love my lake fly fishing because it gives me regular access to bigger fish than I am likely to regularly encounter in the rivers and streams that I fish on a regular basis. This box holds a selection of “lake” flies that have been proven in a wide range of trout and other species still water impoundments in Australia and New Zealand. They include a range of contemporary Australian and New Zealand and international lake type flies. I believe that if you carry this fly box and my selection for my dry fly box you will have flies available that can be successfully applied to the vast majority of trout still water options in Australia and New Zealand.
Quicklinks
Loch style wet flies
Loch Style fly-fishing involves fly-fishing from a boat, side onto the wind, using a system incorporating one or a number of flies. There are both wet and dry lock style fishing techniques. There are four distinct sub sections of loch flies: wake or bob flies, dropper flies that can be placed in various position s in a team of flies for different effects, attractor flies which are generally fished on a middle dropper and point flies.
The dry fly technique involves casting out in the direction of the drift, stopping the cast above the water so as to let the team of flies settle, waiting the desired time (often only 5 to 10 seconds) and then repeating the process in a slightly different position. Dry fly Loch style fly fishing covers a lot of water in a short time. The flies used are ordinary dry flies such as those shown in the dry fly page of this website. When selecting a team of flies try to balance the selection so that the most aerodynamic fly is on the point and the least aerodynamic fly is on the top dropper.
The wet technique involves casting out in the direction of the drift, fishing the flies using a range of techniques. Wet fly loch fly fishing, as well as incorporating a range of different retrieves and fly lines ranging from floating right through to very fast sinking lines can also involve fishing: the drop, the retrieve, the stop, the lift, the hang and the dibble and the dapple.
Mallard and claret – Chatto’s soft hackle version
One of the first loch flies I was introduced was a mallard and claret tied in a traditional way with a pair of feather slip wings. I thought it was the bees knees as a bob fly and used it any time when mayflies were around. For me this is a vastly superior fly and as well as being a great substitute for a traditionally tied mallard and claret also works well on mayfly feeders taking pre emergers.
Royal coachman wet – Chatto’s version
One of the first wet flies tied was the coachman and that consisted of just a black body and a a set of white hackle slip wings. Over time flies have evolved and one path the coachman took was the substitution of a “royal” body for the simple black body. Many versions have been tied since and this one works for me.
Lake nymphs
Unlike the majority of nymphs that I tie my lake nymphs are not flies that I generally fish in running water and I keep them in my lake fly box rather than my nymph fly box which is river oriented. They have specific sight fishing, bank fishing or loch style fishing applications.
Bibio variant
Whilst the Bibio fly may have been originally designed as a blow fly representation it has found its place as a great top dropper fly in lakes where fish are midge feeders. That of course begs the question do fish take them as midges, or do they take them as some other insect more like a fly, but which spends part of its life cycle in the water, that just happens to hatch as the same time as a midge?
Chatto’s “inch” nymph
This fly has been designed with polaroiding in mind. Its also a great fly for covering rising fish … particularly if mayfly are around. It’s unlike all the other nymphs that I tie in that it is tied with as little extra weight as possible. As a result it hits the water softly and once there sinks slowly in a realistic way giving the target fish plenty of time to see the fly and hopefully eat it.
Diawl bach
I normally fish smaller sizes as a midge pupa and from time to time use larger sizes as a point fly in a team of wet flies on a floating or intermediate line. I tie it both with and without weight and find the addition of a small black tungsten bead makes it a handy anchor fly or a good prospecting fly in running water.
Eucumbene damsel – Chatto’s original
This is my favourite damsel fly imitation and ticks all the boxes. It is quite representational of an emerging damsel with its overall form and function and has a neat little hot spot in the form of the red eyes. It’s a great fly to fish at any time when there are midge or damsels around as most importantly the trout love it.
Mudeye – Chatto original
Most fly fishers will have one or more flies that they use to represent Mudeyes and these include Craigs Night-time, Tie Happy Tickler and Micks Mudeye. An alternative Mudeye representation is set out below. It incorporates many of the features of the flies mentioned above and utilizes two of my favorite fly tying materials, Peacock herl and Ring neck Pheasant (Church Window) feathers.
Murdoch
Another old fly this little beauty has its origins on the salmon and trout streams of Ireland probably around the 1820’s. Its alternative name of ‘hares ear and red’ gives away its ancestry. Early versions of the fly presented were no more than a gold ribbed hares ear with a woodcock type wing tied on top. Over time the recipe has evolved.
Chironomids
When fly fishers refer to Chironimids they are generally referring to the grub or pupa stage of their life cycle. The term buzzer also refers to Chironomids but seems best suited to describing the insect when it has started to show its siphons. Toward the end of the life cycle Chironomids emerge and take to the wing in swarms of tiny non biting mosquito like insects often referred to as midge. Chironimids are found in both still and running water but I generally carry them in my lake fly box because that is where I am most inclined to use them.
WIP:
Epoxy marabou blood worm.
Chatto’s black alpine buzzer
This is the second in the series of three versions of the same fly. This first in the series is the bloodworm version. which is the original colour of the pupa as it emerges from the slime on the lake bottom. Over a short period of time the bloodworm changes to a dark colour with varying amounts of red present as the transformation occurs. As it reaches the surface the dark colour mellows and the pupa assumes a grey or olive colour similar to its terrestrial colour.
Epoxy midge – black with hot butt & UV cheeks
When Chironomids are around they tend to be around in large numbers and trout become quickly switched on and gorge on them. There are number of techniques to target chironomid feeders and one of my favourite is to fish three chironomid imitations with the heaviest on the point with a long leader on a floating line and fish relatively static. You will be surprised how many fish find your flies.
Boobies
Once you get your head around booby fishing you will find that they can be a very versatile fly. They have their day when fished on the surface but really come into their own when fished as part of a team of flies.
Booby blob
Both boobies and blobs are each tremendous search flies in their own right particularly for stocked rainbow trout. This fly presents the best of both of those worlds and has the head an tail of a booby and the body of a blob. With a little flash in the tail it’s one screamer of an attractor pattern.
Attractors
More often than not I include an attractor pattern in my team of flies. If I am retrieving my flies fast I generally use one of the bigger attractors such as a fat boy or blob and fish that on the top dropper so that is the first fly fish see as my team is ripped through holding water. Hopefully that gets their attention and whilst they may not close on that attractor it does put them in a position where they may see and take the otherwise less obvious following flies. If I am fishing static or slow I prefer my attractor, generally a squirmy wormy or blob to be on the point so that fish see that. If they don’t want that fly the theory is that fish may be inquisitive enough to have a closer look at it and then may swim up and investigate your other offerings. If I am prospecting and using a range of retrieves from slow to fast I generally prefer a smaller attractor such as a the dunkeld or a tiny blob or even a small slightly flashy bugger or damsel on the middle dropper.
Cormorant – variant to the original tie
I carry black and olive versions of this fly. A simple to tie fly that incorporates two of the greatest fly tying materials, marabou and peacock herl and it continues to be a popular single or team fly. It’s also a fly that has lent itself to adaptation and you will often come across versions with glass or brass bead heads, bodies of all sorts of tinsels and colours and wings in a range of marabou colours. These days the cormorant and its many variations are fished in all sorts of ways from almost static right up to roly poly on a full range of fly lines.
Dunkeld – Chatto’s fuzzeled variant
The Dunkeld is certainly one of my top 5 middle dropper flies for lock style fly fishing. Until 18 months ago I was using a version of the Dunkeld that had a hackle Palmered along the body as in the original. At that time I was experimenting with “fuzzeled” bodies an an alternative to bodies with a Palmered hackle and applied that technique to this fly with immediate success.
Fat boy – Chatto’s original
This is a “Blob with attitude” and because it actually looks like a fly I find it a a little easier to tie on than its very basic second cousins. It has a place in my fly box because from time to time, and particularly in competition fly fishing, you find yourself fishing in the most unpleasant conditions. In situations like that a blob with attitude may save the day.
Streamers
It’s a subtle distinction between what I consider ‘loch style flies’ and what I consider ‘streamers and pulling flies’. The main difference for me is that by in large I regard each of my ‘loch’ flies as best when fished in a team of flies.
Alternatively as well as being useful point flies in a wet loch style team the flies that I set aside as ‘streamer and pulling flies also fish well by them selves. The list below are the few ‘streamer and pulling flies’ that like to carry in addition to my woolly bugger, booby, wee wet and nymph fly boxes to ensure that I have as many as possible of the lake fly fishing opportunities covered.
Claret caddis
Any time there are caddis on the wing this fly is worth a swim in the middle position of a team of three loch flies.
One of the most important things to remember when tying this fly is not to overdress it … make sure you can see a gap between the two wings even when the rabbit fur is dry and fluffed out.
Woolly buggers & variants
My first fish on fly fell to the magic of a Woolly Bugger and many have gone the same way since then.
My understanding is that the Woolly Bugger has its origins in America where it appears to be tied, as a leach imitation. having said that there is also an English fly with bead chin eyes called a Dog Nobler that is very similar to a traditional Woolly Bugger. Whatever the name or origin this style of fly is a great fish taker in a wide range of conditions. There are probably more variations to the Woolly Bugger than I have had breakfasts. Some are over-dressed some under-dressed, some weighted others not, on all sorts of hooks and in all sorts of colour combinations. Most will work sometimes but many are “once of” flies that don’t consistently take or attract fish.
I have tried out many over the years and now carry a range of Woolly Buggers that have specific applications. In each case they have a reason for being and they have been proven over time to take or attract fish.
My basic tie for a Woolly Bugger is similar to so many others. Having said that I do have a few quirky criteria that I strictly adhere to every time I tie a Woolly Bugger.
Throughout this web site I describe my woolly buggers according to size as set out in the following table:
MINI = approximately 20mm
SMALL = approximately 30mm
MEDIUM = approximately 40mm
STANDARD = approximately 50mm
LARGE = approximately 60mm
XL = approximately 70mm
Non bead head versions of:
Weighted with at least enough turns of lead wire to ensure that the fly doesn’t float.
Bibio bugger – Chatto’s original
There are a few flies that I have absolute confidence in and consequently have no hesitation in tying them on if I am in unknown territory and am up for a bit of prospecting. This fly is really a merging of two of them and it is so consistent that its has earned its own place amongst my top 10 or so trout flies. The two flies that were merged to form this fly were of course the bibio and the standard black woolly bugger. Whilst the bibio still holds its own place in my top 10 or so trout flies this bibio bugger has displaced the standard black woolly bugger.
Black and red hot head bugger
I generally only tie it in two versions the fly described below and a brown and pink version. Particularly if the water is a little discoloured I find these flies work well either as middle dropper attractor flies or as my top dropper bob fly but from time to time also fish them on the point particularly if fish are switched onto small flies.
Brown pink hot head bugger
You can of course tie a hot head on any fly and from time to time when I am tying flies I add hot thread head to a couple of flies just to ensure that I have some options in my fly boxes. This fly takes the hot head concept to the next step and includes a bigger than average thread head which is a significant feature of the fly.
Mark II woolly bugger – alternate tie
The MK 2 woolly buggers evolved from standard black and olive woolly buggers as a fly that would imitate an American frog that had bright red between its hind legs and consequently the red tag is traditionally tied in below the tail. This tie is a little more popular than the original tie these days and is main point of difference is that the tag tied in on top.
Olive damsel bugger
Keep an eye for swallows dipping on the water feeding on midge. That’s a sure sign that there will also be damsel nymphs around and then of course further up the food chain there are likely to be trout feeding on both the midge and the damsel nymphs. This is the time to start thinking about fishing either damsel buggers or olive woolly buggers.
Tungsten bead heads versions of:
Much heavier than brass beads tungsten beads are available in a range of finished such as painted, anodised and coated. More often than not I fish a tungsten bead head fly on the point in my loch style fly fishing teams.
BH olive damsel bugger
At different times of the year you will start to see swallows dipping on the water feeding on midge. This is the time to start thinking about fishing either damsel buggers or olive woolly buggers because unfortunately for the midge it’s not only swallows that have them on their menu it’s also carnivorous damsel nymphs. Damsel nymphs come in a range of colours ranging from dull browns through to light and dark olives.
Humungus – black and gold
The tie of my fly is very close to David Downey’s fusion of those two flies which he describes as perhaps the best still water fly in the world. I use it as a top dropper attractor and for that reason use a brass rather than a tungsten bead. Particularly in water that is a little discoloured I am confident this fly brings a lot of fish to my team.
Shrek – original
This fly was out of left field as far as I am concerned and when first introduced to it had no great expectation of it finding its way into my fly box. I was wrong. The bright tinsel body certainly stands out and rather than spooking fish as I expected it seems to trigger a response from trout particularly in “smelt” water or slightly discolored or tannin water.
Shrek- Chatto’s Fiona
A similar fly is also known as a “Bloody Mary” but I use the name ‘Fiona’ (Shrek’s lady) as this fly is the same fly as the Shrek just different colored materials. Both are basically Woolly Buggers by design and just as the emerald green is a great option in the Shrek the red works well in combination with the black tail of the Fiona.
Todd’s Vampire (variant)
Based in Maple Ridge, B.C. Todd Oishi designed his “leach” (Vampires are also a blood sucker hence the name) fly with a tail of black rabbit fur or black marabou and with Vampire Vippy as the body. I have not been able to find any Vampire Vippy and tie my Vampires with UV straggle fritz.
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