Wet flies

A wet fly is a fly designed to be fished below the water’s surface of the water or a dry fly that has been drowned and is being fish below the surface of the water and they fall into two main classes.

The first class is representational flies are flies tied to representational food sources and designed to deceive the fish into thinking they are taking a natural. Within this representational class flies may be representations of naturals that spend part of their life cycle in the water or they may be tied to represent terrestrial or land bound food sources. Fish respond to food in two main ways.

The fist and most obvious is when they are actively feeding. At those times fish can have an appetite for everything from nymphs, yabbies, small fish, shrimp, worms, lizards, frogs, grasshoppers, cicadas, beetles and for that matter almost anything that will fit in their mouth it’s not surprising that a fly tied to represent a natural that is dropped in their line of sight and looking like something alive often gets their attention. Fish generally are binge feeders and are by no way picky when it comes to feeding time. They will aggressively strike at food even when food is already hanging out their mouth. Once satisfied however they do lay relatively dormant whilst digesting their meal. When fish are actively it is generally when there is plenty of food around and results often depend on presentation and retrieve.

The second reason why fish strike a fly is that its a feeding opportunity that requires the exertion of very little energy. They may not be actively hunting for food but if it’s presented right in front of them they will sometimes eat it any way. They can be quite picky in this situation but if you can present a fly that is easily accessed and represents a favourite food sources that will often have a go at it even if some of the strikes are a bit half hearted.

The second class of flies are those that tied as attractors. These are flies that have been tied to illicit a territorial or protective response. It doesn’t matter whether a strike is because a fish is inquisitive, startled of defending its territory but often fish will strike a fly because they saw it or their attention was drawn to the fly by another fly or flies fished in the same team. Targeting fish in this third group often requires a lot of prospecting rather than targeted casts. Attractors can of course resemble naturals but often are nothing like any thing found on the trout’s diet.When fishing wet flies, it is important to remember that the higher the wave on the water the higher the fly hook size can be, but still take into account the brightness and clarity of the water. Wet flies fit into a number of logical categories.They are tied as deceivers or attractors. The success of the wet fly often depends far more on its form and function rather than how much it looks like a particular item on the trout’s menu.

Somewhere between true representational flies and attractors are those flies that are tied basically to represent naturals but have hot spots such as beads, coloured sections incorporated into the fly, incorporate flashy material or are tied in some other way as to make the fly look like the natural that it represents but to stand out amongst the crowd. Hot spot flies are particularly useful in teams of flies where having something that stand out may help representation flies to stand out or may just have enough bling to trigger a a territorial or protective response.

Loch 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, bob flies attractor flies and point flies.Loch

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 involves basically four separate sub-categories of flies; bob flies which are generally either wake flies or dropper flies: the middle fly in the team which generally a dropper fly or an attractor and of course point flies.

Wake flies

On a sinking line the top dropper fly or Bob fly is often the fly that gets deepest and the first fly that trout see. Fish will often follow the Bob fly all the way in but turn away at the last moment and take the middle dropper fly or point fly. Alternatively when fish are taking just below the surface creating a surface wake is just the trigger needed to solicit a strike.

Bob flies / top dropper

Match the hatch from streamers, nymphs & emergers or other fly boxes or try these specific loch flies as either your ‘bob’ fly or your middle dropper fly..

Loch flies- attractors

Generally fished on the middle dropper to bring attention to the team of flies – any of your flashy flies can be used but it may be worth having just a few of the following to fill any gaps..

Point flies

By far my most successful point flies are the flies I carry in ‘My woolly bugger fly box’ but most nymphs, midge pupa and grubs, streamers and pulling flies,boobies and even dry flies and emergers have their day as point flies. The choice of course depends on what the fish are feeding on and a good starting point is to match the hatch where possible. The other thing to keep in mind with point flies is that it can be a trade off but it’s often worth having a heavier “anchor” fly on the point so as to ensure that you have contact with your full team of flies even though that anchor point fly may not swim as well as unweighted alternative. For those special occasions where bead head woolly buggers or bead head nymphs don’t fit the bill I have on hand a couple of specific ‘anchor flies’ for loch style fishing as set out below. .

Bead head bibio bugger

TBH Bead head bag fly

Bead head bibio

Bead head diawl bach

Bead head Mallard & claret

Other wet flies.

Streamers and pulling flies

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.

Woolly buggers and 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 other 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..

Brown woolly bugger

Bibio Bugger

Bead head damsel bugger

Banded bugger

Mini Bugger

Nymphs

The word nymph has of course two fly fishing meanings. The first is “Juvenile, sexually immature stage of certain insects, usually similar to the adult in form, and which require an intermediate stage before becoming an adult. Mayflies, Caddis flies, Dragonflies, Damselflies, Stone flies and Midges are all insects that spend part of their life cycle in the water and have a nymph stage.” The second is flies tied to imitate the first i.e. “the nymphal stage of an insects life cycle”.I have narrowed down the selection of nymphs that I carry to just the list below. I note however that I have extended the population of flies that I carry in my nymph fly box to include my bead head spiders.

Spiders

I am a firm believer that when fishing rivers you have to get down to where the fish are holding and also that flies particularly in faster running water should include “hot spots”. Bead head spiders are an important part of my bead head ‘nymp’ fly box because that help satisfy both of those criteria. I like to fish them either on the point or first dropper and find that are a great adjunct to a second weighted fly or an unweighted nymph, wee wet or spider..

Partridge and orange spider

Bead head mnymphs

The word nymph has of course two fly fishing meanings. The first is “Juvenile, sexually immature stage of certain insects, usually similar to the adult in form, and which require an intermediate stage before becoming an adult. Mayflies, Caddis flies, Dragonflies, Damselflies, Stone flies and Midges are all insects that spend part of their life cycle in the water and have a nymph stage.” The second is flies tied to imitate the first i.e. “the nymphal stage of an insects life cycle”.I have narrowed down the selection of nymphs that I carry to just the list below. I note however that I have extended the population of flies that I carry in my nymph fly box to include my bead head spiders.TBH = Tungsten bead head and BBH = brass bead head.

TBH brown mayfly nymph

TBH caddis nymph

BBH black fuzzy nymph

TBH cheeky

BBH collared Adams nymph

Bead head spiders

I am a firm believer that when fishing rivers you have to get down to where the fish are holding and also that flies particularly in faster running water should include “hot spots”. Bead head spiders are an important part of my bead head ‘nymph’ fly box because that help satisfy both of those criteria. I like to fish them either on the point or first dropper and find that are a great adjunct to a second weighted fly or an unweighted nymph, wee wet or spider. TBH = Tungsten bead head.

TBH orange thread spider

TBH hybrid pheasant tail nymph

TBH hybrid Adams nymph

TBH dark magic spider

TBH Hot butt spider

Chironomids

Fly fishers refer to Chironimids by a number of names but Generally when using the term Chironomid are referring to the grub or pupa stage of the 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.

Alpine buzzer

Chironomid

Jelly worm

Corixia

Whilst there are over 5000 different species of aquatic bugs Australia only two are of significance to the fly fisherman.
The family Corixidae or Water Boatman come in a variety of shapes but all generally consist of a body between 5 and 10 mm in length. They have two sets of wings with the font wings presenting almost as legs and the rear wings often trailing behind almost as rudders and the body is a relatively flat beetle shape (3 :1). The insect is a free swimming but seldom moves far from cover. They inhabit sluggish streams and still water and they are generally dark in colour. They are air breathers and swim to the surface from time to time and trap an air bubble which they hold under their abdomen.

The second aquatic bug of interest to fly fishers is the Back-swimmers or the family Notonectidae. Their general shape and habits are similar to the Corixidae family and they are not generally distinguished between when it comes to representing them with an artificial fly. Having said that they are a little slimmer and their colours are a little more varied ranging from shades of olive, through to dark khaki and brown. I only carry one corixia fly as I use them so seldom.

Corixia

Grubs

Grub is a generic term often applied by fly fishers to describe the lava of terrestrial insects such as beetles, moths and butter flies, grass hoppers and crickets. They often find themselves unwittingly in the water and on the trout’s menu..

Shrimp

I have extended the population of flies that I carry in my nymph fly box to include Shrimp flies because I fish them ostensibly in the same way that I fish my nymphs. Shrimp are well represented in both running water and fresh water throughout Australia and are significant members of Crustacea order of invertebrates. Trout will take brown nymphs as shrimp so only carry a specific imitation if “needs must” .

Shrimp shell shrimp

Snails

There are of course aquatic, semi aquatic and land based snails but generally as fly fishers we are more interested in the aquatic species.They are of course Gastropods and there are over 48 species in spread across Australia. They range in size from 3mm right through to 25mm. More often than not I fish a black and peacock or a bibio as a snail but just for the occasion that I might want to tie a real snail imitation on I carry just this one representation.

Chattos snail

Boobies

Boobies are an essential fly if your going to cover all the bases with your impoundment fly fishing techniques. They are also great flies for targeting other species especially Australian bass. Because they cross over between species, have specialist applications and and are bigger flies any way I have separated them out into a separate fly box.