Quote Originally Posted by Mike Taylor View Post
A well respected Protea angler that I spoke to last year said that "... if you haven't caught something in ten minutes change what you're doing. Not JUST your fly. Change the depth, the retrieve, the spot you're fishing, the type of fishing and your fly". He is, I admit, somewhat outspoken in his views, but I felt this was good advice.

He also said that a good angler will change flies when he's not catching, but a great angler will change flies when he IS catching to improve his catch. I'm still at the point where I'm thrilled when I find a fly that's working and stick with it.
THIS applies more to dam fishing (where I fish min 2, max 3 flies) - but I would say stick to the flies you have, adjust/vary the rest (sink time, retrieve . 30 min on a pattern is a good call (unless anglers around you are fishing same/similar line+retrieve, but are reliably catching).
If one fly is catching, then change one of the others to something different, every 15/30 min.
Also - most guys fish too fast & too big, with too thick a tippet.

Quote Originally Posted by wernerm View Post
One of the best Vaal anglers on this forum has recently made me think about this as well. He has a very basic fly selection, basically maybe 10 patterns in different sizes and color variations. That just leaves you with two variables, what size the current insect selection in the water is and what size they are.
I usually fish a set of flies for 30 minutes before changing if nothing happens.
I pretty much fish the Vaal with about half a dozen patterns, in probably 2 different colours & 3 sizes, but have at least 6 of each in the box. All patterns of the same size are weighted the same. IF I need more/less weight, then I change to a larger/smaller version.

My 0.02