Dry fly only!

[izak]

I switch to a monster wooly worm

Whenever the dry is not working (probably my own fault) I find the biggest uglyest wooly worm in my flybox, catch a fish, and move back to the dry.

[Herman Jooste]

Whenever the dry is not working (probably my own fault) I find the biggest uglyest wooly worm in my flybox, catch a fish, and move back to the dry.

Now that's going to be my plan for the Vaal on Sunday

[Chris Shelton]

Doesnt look like there is any talk of dries flies in this thread

So let me start with a little story of something that amazed me on my trip to CPT. I have used RABS many times in my life but never ones the size of the RABS that i was exposed to in CPT. I was told that this was the size they were supposed to be and the reason that they are so much smaller is because when they started to get commercially made they where serverly reduced in size to save money.(Cant remember the guy who invented them?)

Anyway what amazed me was the way fingerling size trout would absolutely nail these big RABS that were almost half their size. Mind blowing the amount of aggresion Feeding trout can have!!!

They were invented by Tony Biggs. The abbreviation stands for 'rough and bouyant'. Tony also refered to it with tongue in cheek as the 'red arsed bastard'

The way Tony ties them is exactly the way the former name suggests, rough and bouyant, with longer than usual pheasant hackes. He would whip up one or two of these on the stream with his bare hands, no vice. The fly has proven itself to be one of the all time great fish takers.

There is another one that he invented which takes on similar proportions as the RAB, but tied with Mallard feathers instead. This he called the BTF...'brown trout ****er'

[Chris Shelton]

Chris, I know you are dryfly only, so you would enjoy this: It took my more than a year on the cape streams before I caught my first rainbow on a dry. up untill that point I nymped, and had good success. I was so exited when this happend I slipped on a rock and almost broke my back. To this day this is the most memorable moment of my 20 year fishing career (only the last 2 1/2 flyfishing). It felt that I finally found the perfect way of fishing. There is something very special about cathing trout on a dry.

Now I try to dry most of the time, I also enjoy it more. Still have a lot to learn though, but slowly getting there.

You have just earned my deepest respect, well done mate! Come and join me on the stream one day

[izak]

You have just earned my deepest respect, well done mate! Come and join me on the stream one day

Thanks, Ill take you up on that.

[gkieser]

I have found that there is a place for the Traditional dressing of mayfly patterns, especially in slower moving water. If you look at a mayfly sitting on the water they seem to sit at an angle, with the thorax a bit higher than the abdomen and I battle to fish parachute style flies in confidently in these slower moving waters when the fish are rising all over the place.

Up till recently I used to use a simple pattern:
Tail: Hackle fibres
Abdomen: Stripped Peacock Herl
Thorax: Dubbing
Hackle: Sparsely tied
Wings: two hackle tips.

This sits closer to the way the naturals sit (to me) but can sit at too much of an angle and I came across a pattern that is kinda in the middle: The Hackle stacker patterns designed by Bob Quigley:

http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flyt...60704fotw.html

It is a modified parachute style of tying, but when I tie it the hackle fibres protrude either side of the thorax and at a bit of a downward angle so the thorax sits just off the water. I've recently found that the fish take this much more confidently than parachute style mafly immitations in the slower moving water.

[Chris Shelton]

I have found that there is a place for the Traditional dressing of mayfly patterns, especially in slower moving water. If you look at a mayfly sitting on the water they seem to sit at an angle, with the thorax a bit higher than the abdomen and I battle to fish parachute style flies in confidently in these slower moving waters when the fish are rising all over the place.

Up till recently I used to use a simple pattern:
Tail: Hackle fibres
Abdomen: Stripped Peacock Herl
Thorax: Dubbing
Hackle: Sparsely tied
Wings: two hackle tips.

This sits closer to the way the naturals sit (to me) but can sit at too much of an angle and I came across a pattern that is kinda in the middle: The Hackle stacker patterns designed by Bob Quigley:

http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flyt...60704fotw.html

It is a modified parachute style of tying, but when I tie it the hackle fibres protrude either side of the thorax and at a bit of a downward angle so the thorax sits just off the water. I've recently found that the fish take this much more confidently than parachute style mafly immitations in the slower moving water.

I have experimented with this myself Grant. I find if you tie in the para hackle so that the fibres point downwards, and just one turn around the post, they look like little pin pricks in the water, much like a spider walking on the surface tension. I also quite often only use thread for the body and fashion a bit of a thorax around the post. I also vary the length of the parachute hackle. I have found that the fibres can extend all the way to the end of the tail, which gives the fly a bit of a 360 degress circular profile when viewed from underneath or above. I have caught most of my bigger cruising trout in the stiller moving glides on this kind of pattern.

[ShaunF]

Does a Mrs Simpson wif painted eyes qualify ?

[KevinC]

I have found that there is a place for the Traditional dressing of mayfly patterns, especially in slower moving water. If you look at a mayfly sitting on the water they seem to sit at an angle, with the thorax a bit higher than the abdomen and I battle to fish parachute style flies in confidently in these slower moving waters when the fish are rising all over the place.

Up till recently I used to use a simple pattern:
Tail: Hackle fibres
Abdomen: Stripped Peacock Herl
Thorax: Dubbing
Hackle: Sparsely tied
Wings: two hackle tips.

This sits closer to the way the naturals sit (to me) but can sit at too much of an angle and I came across a pattern that is kinda in the middle: The Hackle stacker patterns designed by Bob Quigley:

http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flyt...60704fotw.html

It is a modified parachute style of tying, but when I tie it the hackle fibres protrude either side of the thorax and at a bit of a downward angle so the thorax sits just off the water. I've recently found that the fish take this much more confidently than parachute style mafly immitations in the slower moving water.

Boet- you can take you hackle stacker patterns and shove them... they are just such a mission to tie, using tippets and snapping stems just to try and tie a messy looking hackle! Eish, I'll challenge you on the Holsloot this afternoon- you can only use hackle stackers on the slower waters and I'll use tiny black para mayflies... the challenge is set...

[dlampert]

Okay here's a question for the dry fly purists:

When you get to a deep section of the river, do you still fish your dries over the deep sections or pass that section of the river by?

If you fish it, what patterns do you use to get these guys to come up from the depths (If of course they are holding deep - sometimes they hold shallow even in deep pools, but I'm not talking about those situations)?

The only success I have had on deep sections with deep holding fish on dries is those hugely oversized RABs, but I wouldn't really call it success.

Grant,

The only thing that I have found that will move fish in deep water (unless a hatch is on) is big RAB's or big hoppers (although I guess any large fly would do it). I have seen it many times with the most memorable one being a fish on the JDT. It swam about 4m across a pool from a depth of about 2m to nail a big RAB - very exciting watching it.

Rgds,
Darryl