Search Results

Beetles are of the order Coleoptera and there are over 28,000 species found in Australia. Terrestrial beetles Many different types of beetles are fond in the vegetation throughout Australia. There are those that live in forests, other that live in pastures and yet others peculiar to tussock ridden…

Foam beetles have probably been around since not long after foam itself was first invented but I'm not sure if any of the traditional foam beetles are of the scale of this monster. Ray Ellis has scaled up the basic foam beetle to create a great representational fly for Christmas beetles, other big…

Closed cell foam is exactly what the name implies. It is for with multitudes of tiny closed cells each filled with air. The material that closed cell foam is made out of varies but it is heavier than water and therefore sinks, it is only the trapped tiny bubbles of air that cause the material to…

See also: Getting started – wet trout flies Getting started – salt water flies Getting started – bass and native fish flies Getting started – the gear There are only really two types of flies dry flies and wet flies. A dry fly is any fly that is designed to be fished on or in the surface film of…

OF FLY TYING AND FLY FISHING TERMS   See also: A TO Z OF FLY TYING SKILLS ABDOMEN. Rear most of the three body divisions of an insect. ADIPOSE EYELID: an immovable transparent outer covering or partial covering of the eye of some groups of bony fishes, such as mullets and trevallies. AMADO. A…

If the fish is big enough it will take a mouse. This applies to trout, barra,cod, saratoga and a range of other fish. This little mouse lands right way up most of the time, swims well and has a reasonable mouse profile. The eyes and the ears are really only for the angler and hopefully add a little…

For a few years now I have fished for bass on and off with wiggle minnows. I always thought they should have worked but the limited success made me wonder if it was all about the shape. Being pretty confident that bass take frogs I decided to modify the wiggle minnow concept so that it would look…

As the name implies this fly has been designed specifically for fishing into mangroves and other tropical structure such as gravel and rock bars. It has several attributes that make it the ideal fly to entice fish like Barramundi, Mangrove Jacks and Fingermark out of structure and to take the fly….

Food source [months] Fly suggestions Adult yabbies [30] [30] [30] [20] [20] [20] [10] [10] [20] [30] [40] [30] Yabby Woolly bugger Floating yabby Shrimp shell yabby Small yabbies [00] [00] [60] [60] [50] [50] [30] [20] [10] [10] [00] [00] Mini woolly bugger Woolly bugger Worms (as vegetation is…

Food source [months] Fly suggestions Adult yabbies [30] [30] [30] [20] [20] [20] [10] [10] [20] [30] [40] [30] Woolly bugger Floating yabby Shrimp shell yabby Small yabbies [00] [00] [60] [60] [50] [50] [30] [20] [10] [10] [00] [00] Mini woolly bugger Woolly bugger Worms (as vegetation is drowned)…

Food source [months] Fly suggestions Gudgeon and galaxia [50] [50] [50] [50] [10] [10] [10] [10] [10] [10] [10] [50] Bead head nymphs Magoo Shrek Mrs Simpson Murdoch Adult yabbies [30] [30] [30] [20] [20] [20] [10] [10] [20] [30] [40] [30] Yabby Woolly bugger Floating yabby Shrimp shell yabby Small…

Boobies are a fantastic bass fly when fished on the surface but occasionally they hang so low in the water they get a bit hard for me to see. To overcome that when seeing the fly is necessary I added a back of 2mm closed cell foam – works like a dream. This is undoubtedly my favourite bass fly….

This definition covers insects from two separate orders. The first are the aquatic bugs of the hemipterus order and the second the aquatic beetles of the order coleopteran. Water boatman and back swimmers Whilst there are over 5000 different species of aquatic bugs Australia only two are of…

On hot summer days or at almost any time for that matter you can get huge hatches of termites and flying ants. They vary in colour but the dominant hatches are of brown termites, red ants and black ants. When the fish are feeding on ants they just sup the insects down one by one often at the…

Foam beetles remain very popular because they can be truly representational and of course because they float so well. Process A Tie a hackle in at the front of the body. Use a softer hackle suited to wet fly tying and tie it in with the shiny side facing you so that the legs will lean backward….

The Black Prince cicada can be found along the full eastern coast and hinterland of Australia. It is prolific in many forested areas in the wormer months and when it inadvertently falls or flies into the water more often than not provides a big protein rich snack for a range of fish species…

Beetles are of the order Coleoptera and there are over 28,000 species found in Australia. One species that is a popular food source for trout is the tea tree beetle. This representation is tied in shades of black and brown colours that have stood the test of time. Many of the recipes you see use…

From what I can gather the original Wiggle Minnow was conceived by Mark Felty of Felty’s flies in Sydney. By varying the materials used, the colours and size I have accounted for trout, bream, flathead, mangrove jack and even barramundi on wiggle minnows. The recipe I have set out below is just one…

This is the big brother of my foam hopper which is a formidable trout fly. When I converted it for use as a bass and tropical fly fishing I added a sparkle chenille under-body and grossed it up dramatically so that it would withstand the aggressive nature of fish like Australian bass and tropical…

Large populations of red claw crayfish of the genus Cherax Quadricarinatus are native to Tropical Queensland and have been farmed as a food source and for stocking purposes very successfully for a number of years. There preferred habitat is still water impoundments but they also fare well in slow…

For the sake of convenience I have broken my fly suggestions up into 5 distinct sections. I have put those sections in the order in which I methodically go through as I determine what fly or flies to tie on. MATCHING THE HATCH WITH DRY FLIES It's hard to beat the exhilaration that comes with…

Redirecting… [duplicate id=2221]

Food source Seasonality (Jan–Dec) Fly suggestions Adult yabbies Woolly bugger Floating yabby Shrimp shell yabby Booby Small yabbies Woolly bugger Floating yabby Shrimp shell yabby Booby Ants & termites Foam flying ant / termite Foam flying ant / termite 2 Ant Midge Midge Beetles Red tag…

Beetles are of the order Coleoptera and there are over 28,000 species found in Australia. One species that is a popular food source for trout is the tea tree beetle. This representation is tied in shades of black and brown colours that have stood the test of time. Many of the recipes you see use…

If you fish fast water and need a very buoyant hopper or a buoyant fly to support a nymph try this one. Materials Hook Thread Tail & over-body Wing Legs 4 to 10 2X long shank or bass stinger 3/0 thread for trout flies Wapsie 210 Denier thread for bass flies for bass flies Closed cell foam Deer…

“Black Crickets” of the sub-family Teleogryllus move around freely at night and often find them self in trouble in the water. Like their hopper and locust cousins they are high in protein and sought after by trout. From a fly tiers point of view these crickets are up to 35 mm in length when mature…

This fly has a poddy mullet shape, casts well and as the name implies it has an action which is similar to both a jerk bait lure and suspending lure. The set up of the jig hook and extension puts the tow point 15mm back along the fly so that a medium to fast strips cause the fly to dart off in…

Whilst there are over 2000 species of Grasshoppers and Locust in Australia there are really only three "hoppers" that are of significance to fly fishers. My bullet nosed foam hopper has a general hopper type form and function and works well in smaller sizes as a representation of a Trouser-Brace…

A great fly to use when target fish are actively feeding on small fish such as sardines, whitebait and pilchards. You can either fish it on a floating line and strip it across the surface with dramatic effect or fish the fly on a sinking line, count the fly down and then retrieve it up through the…

On hot summer days or at almost any time for that matter you can get huge hatches of termites and flying ants. They vary in colour but the dominant hatches are of brown termites, red ants and black ants. When the fish are feeding on ants they just sup the insects down one by one often at the…

AKA: Proportions – dry fly The physics of dry flies are quite simple either they rely on  buoyancy (displacement) to simply float or they rely on the materials used to be light and  resist water  penetration and consequently to be supported on the surface tension of the water. Booby beetles and…

I reserve my dry fly selection for flies that are fished on the surface of the water and either represent the dun or spinner of a an insect that spends part of its life cycle in the water such as a Mayfly, Caddis fly, Midge, Dobsonfly, Cranefly etc. or they represent terrestrial insects that have…

==Located near Imbil south of Gympie Borumba Dam is unique in that it offers both great Bass and Saratoga fly fishing. The layout of the lake is interesting in itself and basically forms a cross. On the north east axis you have the dam wall and main lake and opposite that you have the Yabba Creek…

Cania Dam has been on my bucket list now for a couple of years and consequently I have been undertaking quite a lot of research so that when I do get up there hopefully this year I have enough information to make a reasonable job of that fishing trip. This is what I have found so far. Lake Cania is…

One of the things we try to do when we fly fish is "match the hatch" in form and function. Well if you put a burley trail of bread out have a look at a bits of bread floating around they really doesn't have any one single form – there just bits of bread. They do however have function in that they…

Large populations of dark olive Yabbies of the Cherax Genus have developed in both Lake Jindabyne and Lake Eucumbene. Many anglers suggest that the Yabby has been responsible for changing the feeding habits of trout in the lakes as the populations of Yabbies have increased. In fact in both Lake…

What does it take to make a nymph float? There are really two simple elements behind the science that explains why things float or appear to float. The first part of the science is pretty simple and is down to Archimedes who worked out that for something to float it had to displace at least its own…

Designed by Jack Gartside this fly is one of those flies that just works. It's amongst the most successful surface flies for American small mouth and large mouth bass type flt fishing. In Australia it is also a very useful fly and when tied along the lines of the original it takes Australian bass…

==Lake Maroon is one of South East Queensland's best freshwater fly and surface fishing destinations It lays close to the base of the Great Dividing Range on Burnett Creek, a tributary of the Logan River. It is a relatively small impoundment with a surface area of 350 ha and an average depth of 9.6…

Hi Kerry, Thanks about your email looking for information on Lake Maroon. I love Maroon and have had a couple of podium finishes there in Fly Fish Australia competitions. I am not aware of any guides that fish the Lake Maroon area so I cant help you there but I have set out a little information on…

==Lake Maroon is one of South East Queensland's best freshwater fly and surface fishing destinations It lays close to the base of the Great Dividing Range on Burnett Creek, a tributary of the Logan River. It is a relatively small impoundment with a surface area of 350 ha and an average depth of 9.6…

Theory:  Optional but great background. Spend (10 to 15 minutes) on [example Link="p=3549" Title="My favourite 6 knots"] Data base of fly tying skills:  A great fly tying resource at your finger tips. Step by step instructions on most of the major fly tying skills. It's as easy as a b c ….

This is the lava of a Caddis fly (or Sedge) and is common from September through to December particularly in the flooded margins of lakes. Can be fished relatively static as a prospecting fly with a very slow retrieve or used as an ambush fly when polaroiding. Materials   Hook Thread Head Legs…

Whilst there are over 2000 species of Grasshoppers and Locust in Australia there are really only three "hoppers" that are of significance to fly fishers. Hoppers are normally fished as dry flies but it is worth noting that as some hoppers drown and sink and consequently fishing a hopper pattern wet…

Whilst a lot of the things we seek to imitate with flies don't in fact have tails we still tie what are commonly referred to as tails into most of our flies. I am a firm believer that in some flies realistic eyes are a trigger that elicits a response from fish. There are many ways of adding eyes to…

I have lumped the flies that I prefer for Australian Native fish into one group as by in large the species I target are all structure oriented. They tend to frequent areas with structure such as weed, sunken logs, rock bars, under cut banks, holes and drop offs etc. and generally react in much the…

If bass are not actively feeding they will generally sit deep and either in or close to structure and out of reach of dry flies and you'll find it easier to target them with a seductive wet fly fished deep and slow. When their active its a whole different story and they will be attracted to almost…

(Alternative spelling of name = ‘Coch –Y –Bondhu’) The Cock-Y-Bonddu is a Welsh beetle pattern which is equally at home on Australian trout waters. The original was tied with flat silver tinsel wound around the hook shank  just behind the body. This little bit of flash isn't intended to represent a…

Geehi is an area just a little south of the NSW snow fields and the source of the Geehi River which flows into the Swampy Plains River and ultimately into the mighty Murray. This fly was designed it seems around 1920 by Dr Keith Zwar from Melbourne as a representation of beetles that found…

Flies that represent spiders and beetles are very buggy and suggestive flies. Weather being used as a polaroiding fly, a static wet, one of the flies in a team of loch style flies, or a fly to cover rising fish spider type soft hackle flies may be taken as a snail, submerged beetle, drowned…

=NSW=Located in that part of New South Wales that is still referred to by some as “old town country”. By virtue of how it is accessed the lake is virtually split into three areas of public access. The only access point I have used, and consequently the focus of this post is via Burrendong State…

See also: Getting started – dry trout flies Getting started – wet trout flies Getting started – salt water flies Getting started – the gear Bass and native fish flies are are flies that have been designed specifically for use fresh water environments to catch bass and other native fish that spend a…

I am a firm believer that in some flies realistic eyes are a trigger that elicits a response from fish. There are many ways of adding eyes to a fly. Alternatives A Burnt monofilament eyes Very realistic eyes can be made by taking a short length of monofilament and burning each end with a flame. The…

One of the best search flies in slow moving or still deeper water using a sinking line and a booby. If fishing from a fixed position cast it out, let the line sink to the desired depth, and then retrieve the line using a constant stripping motion, a pumping retrieve or a combination of both. The…

When I fist tied this fly and asked my wife what it looks like her immediate response was "it looks like a guppy". Well it wasn't tied to represent a guppy and I don't think bass have guppies on their dinner menu but the name stuck. When bass are feeding on big insects like Cicadas and Hoppers that…

This is a nifty little fly that merges the hares ear nymph and the traditional booby both very high pedigree flies into one very useful loch fly. It also has a bit of flash about it which helps the fly fill an important role in my fly box for an attractor fly to use on my middle dropper when I loch…

Poppers are a bit harder to cast than a normal fly because of the wind resistance but if you slow your cast down a little I'm sure you'll soon get the hang of it. Once you do you have another tool in your arsenal which is useful in three diverse situations: When pelagic fish are actively pushing…

Slickrigs are one of the most successful soft plastics that "Squidgies" ever produced. In the 130mm size they come in packs of 4 lures fully rigged ready to fish … on that basis alone have been a popular barra lure for a number of years. When I started to get involved in competition barra fishing…

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. Basically there are two main types of wet fly: The type is representational flies which are flies tied to represent food that trout…

=NSW=The Thredbo River runs from just east of the ski fields of Thredbo to Lake Jindabyne where it enter the lake at Waste Point. Once known as the Crackenback River it is very accessible and consequently receives a lot of attention from both fly fishers and those pesky lure fisher folk. Moving up…

=NSW=The Tumut River runs for 145 km from Blowering dam just east of Tumut to the Murrumbidgee River at Gundagai. During its passage it flows through the picturesque town of Tumut before cutting through fertile and generally green alluvial plains which have built up over a millennium. The river…

Data base of fly tying skills: A great fly tying resource at your finger tips. Step by step instructions on most of the major fly tying skills. It's as easy as a b c . [member Link="page_id=3024" Title="Data base of fly tying skills"] Flies to be tied by each participant: Click on photo or name to…

This is definitely my preferred popper for targeting Australian native bass in their natural river and lake habitat. Bass strike for 3 reasons. The fist and most obvious is when they are actively feeding. At those times bass can have an appetite for everything from nymphs, yabbies, small fish,…

If I could only carry one surface fly when fishing for Bass, Yellow belly and other native species my black Poll-Head-Popper would be it. When Bass or Yellow belly are feeding on big insects like Cicadas and Hoppers that crash onto the water they also become susceptible to poppers cast around their…

This is more of a class of flies rather than just a fly. Perhaps the best known Para Dun Emerger is the Parachute Adams. It was derived form the Adams Irresistible and whilst the Irresistible sits high on the surface film the parachute version sits comfortably in the film making it a very useful…

There are over 100 different species of Damselflies in Australia and the lava which are usually slender with three terminal gills, that present as tails, form a significant part of a trout's diet. Their bodies have around 10 segments, they have 6 legs and they often have emerging wings. Most appear…

Spider type flies like the Black and Peacock are very buggy and suggestive flies. Weather being used as a polaroiding fly, a static wet, one of the flies in a team of loch style flies, or a fly to cover rising fish spider type soft hackle flies may be taken as a snail, submerged beetle, drowned…

On many occasions over the years I have been told that trout are true opportunistic feeders and that they will eat almost anything. From my experience this statement is both true and false. If you approach your fly selection on the basis that trout eat anything, over time (probably your first…

I was recently at my home on the shores of Lake Jindabyne the wind was up and blowing from the north east at about 20 Km, it was cold and overcast and there were intermittent snow and sleet showers. All in all it was a miserable day and better suited to tying flies, reading or writing than actually…

Whilst the tips I have set out below evolved from fishing in the Snowy Mountains of NSW, in general terms they are equally appropriate to a whole range of fisheries. These tips are all designed to help you locate trout to encourage their cooperation.   Location, location, location Location is…

=NSW=Lake Eucumbene is one of 16 lakes in the iconic Snow Mountains Hydro Electric Scheme and was completed as the second dam in the scheme in 1958. The full water level is 1030 meters putting the lake around 100 meters higher than Lake Jindabyne. The dam was created by damming the Eucumbene river…

For me polaroiding is one of the most rewarding forms of fly fishing. It involves the process of sighting fish with the aid of polaroid sunglasses and then working out and executing a when, where, what and how equation with the aim of enticing the sighted fish to take the fly. I like it because it…

I have been keeping a data base record of my fishing outings now for around 15years. When you do a search say on November, December and January for Lake Jindabyne its interesting to see the similarities for that period of time over the years. There is obviously some skewing of the results because…

Theory: Optional but great background. Spend (10 to 15 minutes) on [example Link="p=3402" Title="Choosing the right fly"] Data base of fly tying skills: A great fly tying resource at your finger tips. Step by step instructions on most of the major fly tying skills. It's as easy as a b c . [member…

Please read this article in conjunction with the companion article fly fishing tips. Loch style fly fishing is fly fishing over the lee side of a boat with the wind at your back with the boat side onto the wind, using a system incorporating one or a number of flies. It is a technique that is well…

AKA "All depth booby". Boobies have been generally fished as a wet fly to target trout and other species This version is relatively neutral in buoyancy but can be fished at a a range of depths with the depth being determined by the speed of the retrieve and the fly line it's fished on. With a…

There are over 100 different species of Damselflies in Australia and the lava which are usually slender with three terminal gills, that present as tails, form a significant part of a trout's diet. Their bodies have around 10 segments, they have 6 legs and they often have emerging wings. Most appear…

This is the lava of a Caddis fly (or Sedge) and is common from September through to December particularly in the flooded margins of lakes. The bead head version has been designed to be fished as an anchor fly when loch style fly fishing or as an anchor fly when fishing rivers. Materials Hook Bead…

Prawns and shrimp are crustaceans, of the family Isopod, and are endemic to our Australian estuary waters. They are toward the top of the food chain for a lot of coastal species of fish including bream, flathead and whiting. Prawns and shrimp are similar in form and function to each other and have…

The red tag is as relevant today as when it was first invented some 140 years ago. It is perhaps the quintessential beetle imitation and is popular worldwide. Materials Hook Thread Tag Body Hackle Size 12 – 16 Black silk Red wool Peacock herl Greenwell hackle Process   A Wind the thread in…

Legs on flies may well be one of the most significant trigger components of a fly. They add balance , movement and reality. There are many ways of representing legs on flies including the following: Alternatives A Palmered hackle legs A woolly bugger is a good example of a fly with a palmered…

The number of fly boxes you carry is obviously one of personal choice. One difficulty you may encounter when you are setting up your fly boxes is which flies you should include, and how many flies you should carry in your fly box or boxes. The last thing you want to be doing is standing on the bank…

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…

No this is not a fly promoted by a news network, rather the CNN stand for "Cheap aNd Nasty". I first tied this fly for use around structure where if you don't loose a few flies then your not in the game. The fly I had previously used in those situations was an estuary fly that cost between $2 and…

I like to fish wet flies in the rain. If you are one of those fine weather fishermen you are missing a lot of sport. On sunny days the fish swim near the bottom of the river, lake or stream for a number of reasons. They do not have eye lids and the sun can damage the eyes. More importantly the…

==There are many rivers and creeks surrounding Gladstone, as well as a couple of close by dams, many of which offer great fishing at the right time of the year. Gladstone is a major Queensland city located approximately 550 kilometres by road north of Brisbane and 100 kilometres south-east of…

After a some of the best fishing for years in late 2011 expectations were high and most of us anticipated a really good fishing in 2012 … how wrong could you be. The fishing started off very good with the midge/damsel season extending well into January but as the midge and damsel settled down so…

Fishing in the Snowy region is often tough at this time of the year but if you put the time in and fish well you will find fish My suggestion for Tantangara is to concentrate your efforts loch style fly fishing the Tantangara hot spots. For Eucumbene polaroiding the rocky and timbered shores and…

Cormorant flies have plenty of movement generated through the wispy marabou wing that extends the full length of the fly and has, as a hot spot, a very visible chartreuse tag. That tag is perhaps the key to the success of this fly as an attractor as it solicits plenty of reaction takes. I don't…

==This is an popular recreational lake located in the heart of Ballarat. It dried out in the drought but filled again in 2010 and is now a top fishery once again and is shared by fishers, sailing boats, sculls and other users. Even with all this activity the lake fishes well throughout the season….

Hi Jon, Yours is a good question. (Full question is at the end of the blog) There are 3 reasons why I have gravitated to my set of six fly boxes as set out below: My "trout" lake fly box My bass EP & perch fly box – lake and river My booby fly box My dry fly box My nymph fly box My salt water fly…

Published: Dec 31, 2016 Revised Mar 07, 2021 This is a list of flies that I know all work well for both Lakes Tantangara, Eucumbene and Jindabyne. For the sake of convenience I have set them out in my "go to" lock style teams and also some "matching the hatch" options and finally some alternative…

The Jerky J Swimbait 7" is one of just a handful of soft plastics I rely on when Barramundi fishing in competitions. Predominately this is a dusk, dawn or full moonlight soft plastic. My three favorite colours are: Green Shad as in the top of the photo above Boneless Chicken which is a translucent…

== I have fished the Boyne pretty much through all seasons and understand why it is regarded as one of the iconic fishing locations for the Gladstone Region. It can produces Barramundi all year round even though the number caught is often low. Other target species include Mangrove Jack, Grunter,…

== The Calliope is a big river system and provides a variety of fishing options from very tidal hot water salt water at the power station near the entrance to almost fresh water above the Old Bruce Highway bridge just outside of the town of Calliope. Throughout its reaches it offers a range of…

==Cania Dam has a reputation of being an all round fishing venue but in reality for me it is best suited to the warmer months when there is plenty of insect activity. Even then, for the best results, fish a morning session from at least half an hour before sun rise to when the dawn bite window…

== Even though South Trees Inlet is connected to the Boyne River it is a separate water course in its own right. Historically it was an inlet with a problematic braid linking it to the Boyne River but the transfer of water from the Boyne River to the inlet was very light. Between 2002 and 2005…

==Awoonga Dam was created by damming the Boyne Rive with a  rock fill structure faced on the lake side with a concrete skirt to mitigate erosion in the case of overflows. The 650 odd meters of embankment is 540 meters high at its highest point and was built from rock excavated from a quarry on the…

=NSW= Opened in 1976 Brogo Dam was created by damming the Brogo River with concrete faced compacted rock dam wall. It has an uncontrolled unlined rock spill way which unfortunately allows fish to escape down the Brogo river when the lake overflows but does not allow bass to return to the dam from…

=NSW=Completed in 1967 Lake Jindabyne is part of the iconic Snow Mountains Hydro Electric Scheme. Its an iconic lake has a reputation as a brown and rainbow trout fishery. It also produces reasonable numbers in the coldest of months. Jindabyne is the gateway for the NSW snow resorts and as you can…