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Flies are for Fisherman

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ska1911
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Flies are for Fisherman

#1

Post by ska1911 »

I have been thinking about this topic for some years now totally agree. My thoughts cover mainly trout fishing but may be relevant for other species as well. For me, i came to the conclusion, that it's not worth the time to tie a fly that takes longer than 3 Minutes. Over the last 5 years i reduced my fly selection to about 3 nymph, 2 streamer and 2 dryfly patterns. Most of them are tied in under 2 minutes. I used to tie much more sophisticated flies in the past, but don't see any reason for doing this anymore. What i found out is that the weight of a fly (nymph) has much more impact on its effectiveness than the specific pattern. For dryflies, i fish a deerhair caddies 95% of the time, no matter where and what is hatching (i just change the size).
its really funny...there is an enormous amount of literature on entomology and flies around, but rarely any books on fish behaviour. in my flyfishing beginnings i also thought that in order to become a good flyfisherman one has to become an expert on entomology and fly tying first. Today i think that a really deep knowledge in entomology has no significant effect on flyfishing success. Rather we should invest our time in studying fish behaviour and biology. i really don't want to offend the fly fishermen interested in insects or passionate flytyers, and it's perfectly fine if you have fun observing and studying insects but for me becoming a better fisherman means becoming more efficient and as we all have limited time i think its better invested in fishing, studying the river and studying the fish behaviour in your river.
my eye opener was bob wyatts fantastic book "what trout want". it is interesting that fly fisherman (of course i do myself include here) seem to be extremly susceptible to committing what we call alpha errors in science and statistics (and also a lot of other cognitive biases). We think that we have cracked the code with a fly, or at least we are trying to but in reality there is no code or no causal raltionship, just random events. i think it is legitimate to call this fly fishing superstition.
Sure, sometimes we really crack the code for a specific fly fishing situation, but as we live and fish in an extremly complex space of variables, we can never be sure... Maybe it was the fly, maybe not...want i wanted to say is that with decreasing focus on tying sophisticated fly patterns my fishing success increased significantly. I instead spent the time for improving (simplifying) flies and making them more durable, spending more time on the water, becoming better in reading the water, observing trout, refining my fishing techniques.
would love to hear your thoughts and experiences on this topic!
Cheers, Stefan
Boisker
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Re: Flies are for Fisherman

#2

Post by Boisker »

What’s the dry covering the 5% Ska?

I carry too many flies, but not in that many patterns... probably 8 dries and 6 nymphs... but it still adds up. Dries by size and colour.... nymphs by size, weight and colour.
I had a period of tying realistic flies (not very well)... they were fiddly, used too many materials and took too long, so all my flies are now straight forward and relatively quick ties. Although I usually try a couple of new patterns each season, they don’t take up fishing times as I do it all on winter evenings.
ska1911
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Re: Flies are for Fisherman

#3

Post by ska1911 »

A black klinkhamer ;)
Boisker
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Re: Flies are for Fisherman

#4

Post by Boisker »

Makes sense... covers emergers and tied small enough midge
Don’t think I will ever be as minimal in the number of flies as you’ve got... I like tying a few through the winter, and making minor tweaks to the same pattern...
I fished a sedge type with a red or green butt with some long flow on it towards the end of last season.. really like it, so tied more, down to a 22 for this season..
Image
I’d miss trying out slightly tweaked patterns, it’s part of the process for me :D
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Paul Arden
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Re: Flies are for Fisherman

#5

Post by Paul Arden »

I like tweaking flies too. I had about 100 working patterns for stillwater trout but more telling I have two flies for tropical saltwater and two flies for the jungle. I lost my working box about six months ago with my trout flies will need replacing but I certainly won’t be tying 100 patterns next time around!

Lovely emerger!!!

Cheers, Paul
It's an exploration; bring a flyrod.

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Paul Arden
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Re: Flies are for Fisherman

#6

Post by Paul Arden »

In the tropical salt the two flies I use are a Clouser and a Crab and if I fish the Clouser like a crab permit still eat it! I also have a popper for fun.

Trout is a bit different but one of the most successful flies I’ve ever used has been a fiery brown shipmans. I’ve had thousands of fish on this fly. And everywhere from freestone rivers to chalkstreams to lakes. They’ll eat it as sedge, as an emerger, in fact they just eat it. Nymphs for me is about size, weight and how fast they sink. As far as I’m concerned they are all the same.

I very much agree with Bob’s “prey image” ideas and think they really solve some difficult issues. I also subscribe to Dick Walker’s Chinaman theory. I believe flies are about suggesting life not imitating insects, hence why scruffy smudge flies work better than hard outlines. The only thing I disagree with Bob is on colour, he said it wasn’t important in his original book when in fact I believe that colour can in fact be a trigger in itself. Hot Orange is a good example. Fluorescence I am not so sure about. I ran a lot of tests on colour in my stillwater days for example a claret suspender beats a olive suspender hands down even when the fish are on olive emerging buzzers.

But if you combine Bob’s prey image with RW’s Chinaman, and stop trying to tie something that looks like the natural and instead tie something that suggests life in a hazy way, I believe the catch rate goes up and the number of necessary flies diminishes quite rapidly.

I realise that the fly is ultimately what they eat but it’s a lot less important that what many people think. You know about half the search terms for people finding Sexyloops are searches for flies? :D

Cheers, Paul
It's an exploration; bring a flyrod.

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Boisker
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Re: Flies are for Fisherman

#7

Post by Boisker »

I did say I can’t resist adding the odd new pattern... after posting ‘8 dry patterns’ patterns last night I was sat in bed reading a blog on spiders... I’ve never really fished spiders, and don’t intend to get fully into them..
But this morning got out of bed and found myself tying a March brown spider (or sort of... it’s not a true one as I substituted some materials and didn’t use silk :whistle: ).... I don’t really intend to fish it in a traditional manner... but on the point with a little dry 8-10” above on a dropper... sacrilege :D
I’ve fished similarly with very lightly bead head nymphs....
but just know that when there is a hatch but only the very occasional rise and the spotties are nailing ascending nymphs this little spider is gonna kill it :yeahhh:

I just can’t resist :D
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Paul Arden
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Re: Flies are for Fisherman

#8

Post by Paul Arden »

:D Spiders are great. You need to read The Practical Angler by WC Stewart if you haven't. I used to fish them on the Water of Leith to great effect. When fish are feeding just subsurface they can be the answer. Hung under a dry should work very well :cool:

Cheers, Paul
It's an exploration; bring a flyrod.

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Boisker
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Re: Flies are for Fisherman

#9

Post by Boisker »

Very satisfying to tie, thread, partridge feathers, dubbing and copper rib... simple and pleasing to the eye.
I was chatting to a guide/instructor who predominantly fishes ‘spiders’ down in Cornwall, the subtlety in slight variations of technique to control the drift was really interesting.... maybe one day I will give it a proper go :D :D
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