My ‘trout’ lake wet fly box
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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.
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{{+1}}Mallard and claret – Chatto’s soft hackle version{{-1}}
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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.{{end}}
Last Updated: December 24, 2011
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{{+1}}Eucumbene damsel – Chatto’s original{{-1}}
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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.{{end}}
Categories: Flies, Foam and poly flies, Loch flies, My 'trout' lake wet fly box, Streamers & pulling flies
Tags: lake, Lake nymphs 
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{{+1}}Chatto’s “inch” nymph{{-1}}
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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.{{end}}
{{+1}}Cormorant – variant to the original tie{{-1}}
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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.{{end}}
{{+1}}Cormorant – BH competition version{{-1}}
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The cormorant fly is a popular loch fly and particularly in rainbow trout waters. The original tie has a peacock herl body with silver rib whereas this competition version has been jazzed up a bit by substituting clear holographic tinsel for the herl body.{{end}}
Categories: Flies, Loch flies, My 'trout' lake wet fly boxTags: Attractors, flyfishing, lake, loch No Comments »
{{+1}}Gold ribbed hares ear{{-1}}
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This is probably up there in the top 3 or 4 best known nymph patterns. It's a pattern that has stood the test of time and is suggestive of a wide range of caddis and mayfly nymphs and is best fished close to the bottom. It doesn't matter if your in Argentina or Australia or any where between, past, above or below this is a true universal fly pattern.{{end}}
{{+1}}TBH hot butt caddis bugger{{-1}}
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If your fishing in water with reasonably numbers of caddis your going to want to give this 3 cm bugger a swim. Caddis represent up to 70% of a trout's diet and whilst this fly is bigger than any caddis nymph I have seen trout love it. It is also a must tie on fly for discoloured water. You can fish it as a nymph but my preference is to fish it across, down and on the swing.{{end}}
{{+1}}Bead head mallard & claret{{-1}}
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A variation on my Soft Winged Bob flies is to turn them into anchor flies for use as the point fly in a team of loch style flies. They are attractive to fish and because of the smaller size and additional weight they sink faster than most flies and keep my leader straight making it easier to keep in contact with my dropper flies. The weigh is a 2mm gold, copper or black tungsten bead (or brass bead and 8 wraps of .015mm lead on the front half of the hook shank).{{end}}
{{+1}}Bead head bag fly{{-1}}
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I now tie it in three versions. The first is as set out in the recipe below. Originally designed for red fin feeders it has become my favourite bag fly overall. It has red hackle fibres tied under the tail and as a light beard and over time I found these a great trigger point for all versions. The second version is all brown except for the red beard and is a great alternative to a Diawl Back. Finally I tie a bead head version for when I want to fish a little deeper.{{end}}
{{+1}}Bead head diawl bach{{-1}}
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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.{{end}}