What rod do you use?

[willowhead]

all good advice........Chris if you see this.....we just got home.

[Mike Connor]

People must decide for themselves how they wish to fish. Nevertheless, some things should be obvious. People did not use seventeen foot rods weighing several pounds so that they could get the exercise from lugging them around all day. They used them because they were the most efficient tools for the job, and they still are, but nowadays you can get a 14 foot match rod that only weighs 150 grams or less. This will also usually be very much cheaper than any good quality purpose built fly rod.

Weight is not a problem with long rods, the leverage is the problem. This is why they are not suitable for single handed casting using modern techniques. Control, precision, and presentation, are the keys to successful spider fishing, most especially in low clear water. Using a rod as described, with a suitable line, you can easily cast fifty feet with absolute precision and delicacy, after very little practice, and also have perfect control over the line and flies. This allows you to stay further away from the fish, which more or less guarantees that you will catch more anyway. In order to cast fifty feet even with a single fly, much less a team, using a modern plastic #3 weight fly line and any appropriate fly rod, you need to be very good indeed. I know a few people who can´t even cast fifty feet with a #5 weight, despite trying for years! Even assuming you did manage to cast fifty feet with such a rig, you have absolutely zero control of the line or flies.

Nowadays we have a huge number of anglers, a vast range of tackle, and relatively easy access to a plethora of information and materials, but the ratio of experts to other anglers has not changed positively, indeed, rather the opposite is the case! This expert knowledge, is the reason a skilled wet fly angler can cover a stretch previously fished by others, and take more fish than they even imagined were there at all! This really has to be seen to be believed. There are not that many such highly skilled wet fly anglers any more anyway. Indeed, I know of none at the moment, but that is certainly due not least to my own personal circumstances. There will be some somewhere.

Although I am pretty good, I am still only a pale shadow compared with a couple of anglers I knew. I still lack the extremely precise knowledge of specific insect behaviour, which they possessed. They may have learned much of this "by rote", from other anglers, their fathers, whatever, but they possessed it. There can be no serious doubt of this. Add this to their intimate knowledge of the patterns they used, and how to dress and manipulate them,and they were simply unbeatable on their home waters. Even on strange waters, with a little time, they were still unbeatable, simply because they had more knowledge and skill than anybody else.

The long rod was used two handed, the weight is not really a factor as such. Most weighed several pounds. The line was not cast with the rod as such, merely flipped. Like a roll or switch cast, but just using the tip of the rod. Only a barely perceptible "flick" of the rod is required. Difficult to describe, but very easy to do. Much easier than casting a single handed rod normally. Short rods of nine feet and below, can be much more easily cast single handed. Modern thirteen foot rods don't weigh much anyway. With a casting line of 20 feet, and a cast of ten, one has an effective maximum range of about 30 to 40 feet, with very great accuracy and control. Very little line is on the water, basically only the cast ( Leader).This is curiously enough an ever recurring distance, witness the AFTM standards for thirty feet of line for instance,

The actual length of the rod depends rather a lot on where one uses it. On open moorland becks and rivers one can use a thirteen foot rod with ease. Much longer rods were once used. The longest "traditional" rod I have personally seen and handled was about eighteen feet long, made of various solid woods, and very heavy.

For some time modern rods of about 11 feet were quite common, used in "modern" fashion, with a smooth tapered casting line, and a reel. But these too seem to have now mostly fallen by the wayside. I am pretty certain this is because the people using them tried to use them single handed, and this is more or less impossible unless you are built like Hercules, with wrists and forearms to match.

One must use the long rods correctly, or one tires very quickly indeed, and I have no doubt that one could seriously injure one's wrist trying to cast such things in modern fashion. I never saw anybody fishing streamers with the old gear, although there were a few who used dry flies, and nymphs, even though they did not call the flies nymphs. Although, the "creeper" described elsewhere is really a streamer actually. ( Originally, “fishing the creeper” meant using large stoneflies as bait!). Albeit a very primitive one.

For a while I tried some modern seventeen foot telescopic rods, but was not entirely satisfied with them. For my present purposes, I find a fourteen foot rod to be excellent, although I have several such rods in various lengths. I also use a reel. And I have some special lines, which I made up myself. These are braided soft polypropylene, and 18 feet long. I buy the braided line on spools. It is sold as marking line for bricklayers. I also usually use modern tapered leaders. This equipment is also first class for techniques like Czech nymphing, or mixtures of the techniques, like Czech nymph on the point, and soft hackles on the droppers. The Czech nymph providing the weight.

Which gear one uses, is largely dictated by what is available at the time, and the methods which result are also dependent on this. Apart from one or two, and it really was only one or two, people who experimented with new dressings, new methods etc practically all the anglers at various times used similar methods, with minor variations. There are not really many such methods. One is to fish the flies upstream and dead drift. Which Webster did. Another is to manipulate the flies, which some did. And more or less the same two basic methods again, but downstream. Downstream fishing has very considerable disadvantages to upstream fishing. The gravest being the constant disturbance of fish one desires to fish for.Webster himself states that his casting radius was about forty to fifty feet. His thirteen and a half foot rod, 20 foot casting line, and the gut cast of sixteen feet or so. One may obtain an excellent rod for these techniques very cheaply. Rods like this are suitable;

http://www.mullarkeys.co.uk/fishing/rod ... slam/8670/

You can also use these for tenkara fishing which has become quite popular of late.

I use a number of set-ups, but for most of my upstream spider fishing I generally use a modified 14 ft match rod. ( merely different rings and reel fittings) This has a test curve of about 6 ounces. You can get these cheap at Mullarkeys in the UK and similar places. My 14 footer is almost identical to the one shown in the URL above, except it has a sliding reel seat, and I have changed the rings for larger single foot rings. ( not essential) and not necessary if the rod has suitable rings.

None of this is really critical as long as you get a match rod. The original techniques were used with very heavy rods up to seventeen feet, made of various woods. The match rods as described have fairly crisp actions. This is essential when upstream spider fishing.( With a soft rod, you will not be able to set the hook quickly enough). A soft rod is quite useless for a number of techniques. For downstream fishing a soft rod is usually better, but this also depends on the angler´s skill, and the techniques used. When swinging wets downstream and across, a soft rod will usually get you more hook-ups, ( as a beginner), as opposed to just pricking the fish, but this is not one of the more successful techniques, although nowadays it is the most widely used. A soft rod also aids in keeping open loops when casting in the modern style, and prevents tangles etc, it also keeps the flies wet. ( False or very rapid casting dries them out quickly, and may prevent a good entry). As none of this is necessary with the rig described, the same rod may be used for all techniques.

I merely changed the rings on mine. But even this is not really necessary, as one fishes with a fixed line length. You can use a twelve foot rod as well of course. They will also suffice for most things. The extra one or two feet does make a big difference though.

I sometimes also use a piece of thin nylon braid for line, which is 25 ft long. The brown sea-fishing dacron in about 60 lb BS is also suitable. It needs to be about 1 to 1.5 mm diameter. Normal tapered leaders of nylon but with a braided ( furled leader) butt with the same diameter as the cord. I treat the line with watershed, and occasionally use other floatant on it. ( Silk line mucilin). I use the lightest carbon fibre reel I can find, with enough backing to allow playing the occasional larger fish. Normally I only use the fixed length of line when actually fishing though.

One does not cast this setup like a "normal" rod, the rod is merely "flicked" using both hands. A bit like a Spey roll cast, or a "switch" cast. Only very little movement of the tip is required to put the line out, and the line and leader straightens completely, and lands very gently, with very very little disturbance. It is essential that flies have a good "entry", as they otherwise simply will not sink, so gentle is the cast. No false casting is used, or is desirable.

That was basically it. This rig can be amazingly successful. Much more so than with a "standard" nine foot rod etc. One has perfect control, ( after a little practice!) and can fish the spiders as they were meant to be fished. It is also a very comfortable and precise method of fishing. The shorter the rod, the less control and comfort.

As I already wrote, the sea-fishing dacron, like this;

http://www.nextag.com/dacron-fishing-line/search-html

which is obtainable in loads of colours and diameters pretty cheaply. Will also work Of course you must soak it in watershed, and let it dry thoroughly, and you can dress it occasionally with mucilin. The great advantage of the polypropylene is that it requires no care or treatment at all. I like to dye my lines a dull dark green using a broad tipped magic marker, and letting it soak in well. But of course you can make them any colour you like. I would not advise using the naked white line, as it will cause too much "flash" when casting.

You may of course use any length of line you like, but with a 13 to 14 ft rod, as you get beyond 25 feet or so of line, control once again becomes an issue.The whole point of the exercise is to give you more control. Using a 20 foot line, a nine foot cast, and the 14 footer, you can cast to anything within that range, of about 40 feet, with great accuracy, and have control of the whole thing. This is farther than most people cast anyway when river fishing with wet or dry flies.

Of course you can use a shorter rod as well, but there is no point in doing so. Any cheap light match or float rod will serve your purpose here. You should check that the line passes through the rings though! Some match rods have very fine tip eyes. In normal use the casting line does not pass through the rings, but you have to thread the rod up of course, and you may occasionally wish to reel the line in. You can also use these lines on more conventional rods, they are very cheap, and they work better than most plastic coated fly-lines, but the main advantage is with the long rod.

I did not start doing all this to save money. This was a secondary advantage. I do it in order to get a better rig for my purpose. You can use anything you like really, even greased string works! But the rigs described are optimal. Just a little experimentation and practice should have you up and running with a rig that suits you exactly, in a very short time. The dropper spacing can be varied quite considerably, it depends on what you wish to do, and how you wish to do it. This is also a perfect rig for loch bank fishing in traditional style, or boat fishing. Indeed, it works very well for a whole range of techniques, including various dry and wet fly techniques, but superbly well for fishing spiders upstream.

You can get a complete kit put together for less than twenty quid if you look around.

There have been very considerable changes over the years to the tackle in general use. This has also caused very wide sweeping changes in the methods available. Also, and presumably of far greater importance is the massive increase in the popularity of fly-fishing, and fly-dressing, and the number of skilled people involved in developing patterns for specific purposes. Extreme commercialisation, coupled with many other modern problems, like pollution, abstraction, and the fishing pressure on many places, as a result of general public mobility, increased leisure time, and disposable income, has also changed the face of angling.

What people concentrate on varies widely. Some concentrate very heavily on fly patterns, others on specific techniques, and yet others try to combine patterns with techniques. One must try to take the best of what is available, and fit it into one´s own personal scheme of things. One can not stand still. Nevertheless, it is of not inconsiderable value to know what has gone before.

I dress all my soft hackles, and most wet flies on straight eyed hooks. I find them aesthetically more pleasing, and they are easier to use. One can finish flies very close to the eye with no problems. This is important on many flies with herl heads and similar. I also think this prevents excessive hinging, which can occur with up or down eyed hooks, and the flies hang and fish in a straight line. However, with regard to the action, I doubt that it makes much difference on most patterns. At one time all flies were tied on blind hooks, and the tippet was incorporated. This also meant that the flies hung and fished straight.

Dapping is not the same thing at all. One may use such long rods for dapping, indeed very long rods are still used on some Irish loughs for this purpose, there are a couple of seventeen foot telescopic dapping rods still on the market, but a floss "blowline" is used, and either live insects, usually mayflies, ( E.Danica) but crane flies and grasshoppers are also used, or dapping flies. These are basically very large bushy dry flies.

The idea is to allow the fly to occasionally sit on, and skim the surface. The breeze carries the line. The technique can be very good indeed, especially in a medium wave, and is great sport.

TL
MC

[Mike Connor]

Which rod you use is primarily determined by the techniques and setups you want to use and where you want to use them.

There are infinite ways and means to set up a leader. How one does it, depends on how one wishes to fish, and with what!. There are very many descriptions extant for various parts of a leader, especially in older books.

The leader itself is known as “foot link”, “collar”, “cast”, “stinting”, “leash” “lash” “strap”Etc

The point fly, which is the fly furthest away from the rod, on the extreme end of the line, is also known as a “stretcher”, “sheet anchor”, etc.

The “bob” fly, which is the fly nearest the rod is also referred to as a “top dropper”. Also, flies designated as “bob” flies are usually designed to have a specific function like “working”. The flies are dressed to support this.

On a three fly cast, one has the point fly, middle dropper, and bob. One of the reasons many of the older books gave specific positions for various flies, is that they were designed to operate in different ways. Often, the point fly or one of the droppers was the main attraction, and the others were used to provide control, although one also caught fish on these now and then. The way in which a leader is built, and the size and weight of the flies used, also dictates how it may be used.

Once again, a number of people asked about leader rigging. My apologies for not covering this at the start, but after a while one tends to take some things more or less for granted, and is simply not aware that somebody else might not be aware of the basics involved. Thanks to those who pointed this out!

As stated in various articles, I use leader rings for a lot of things. These rings come in various sizes, from 1mm upwards. They are made of either silver, nickel silver, or stainless steel. I usually use 2 mm stainless steel rings, as they are a lot stronger than the silver rings, but the silver rings are also adequate. They come in either round or oval. I prefer the round.

As they are so small, they weigh practically nothing, and make a lot of things easier and more efficient. One can use a tapered leader for quite a while, without having to cut bits off it when changing flies, and changing flies or altering set-ups is a great deal easier. Knots to rings are invariably stronger than knots to line, and one also has much fewer tangles as the rings tend to hold the line straight. Also one may ignore the "step-down" rule which otherwise obtains, when joining line to line with knots, with impunity. This "rule" is that you may not join a piece of line to a line of much thinner diameter safely, using many knots.



Being able to ignore this saves a lot of messing about. If I want to use a 3lb tippet or dropper on a 6lb line, I just tie it to the ring. No problems! If I wanted to do that using line, I would first have to add a few pieces to "step down" the line diameter first, adding more knots! Also, one may not always easily obtain the length one requires using this method. It is altogether a nuisance. The rings obviate these problems.

When using very short droppers, ( I invariably use droppers no longer than 3" there are various reasons for this which I will explain elsewhere), it is much easier to tie these short lengths to the rings, if one ties the fly on first, and then knots the line to the ring.

It is important to get rings of a round section, and of course with a smooth surface. There are some rings extant with a flat section, and these may cut the line, it is also more difficult to tie knots on them. Rings with bends or kinks in them should be avoided, they can casue other problems.



When you get your rings, thread them on to a safety ( diaper, or nappy) pin when you take them out of the packet, and when using them, thread your line through the ring, BEFORE! you take it off the safety pin!

The rings are available from various suppliers, This is where I got my last lot;

Rings Carrilon
http://www.carrilon.co.uk/product_info. ... cc94fbd99a

These are also OK, but only 1.5mm diameter ( you will need to search for "Leader rings" on these sites)
Rings Riverge

In the USA, feathercraft do them as well;
Rings Feathercraft

I also use these rings on various other rigs, for dry-fly fishing, and even in the salt, on the rare occasions I use a dropper there for special techniques. I have never had one fail. I use tucked half blood knots, (usually five turns on the finer lines used for freshwater fishing) exclusively, for attaching line to these rings, and also for attaching flies to line, and I have never had one break or loosen. When drawing the knot up, wet it thoroughly ( spit!), and draw it slowly and firmly tight.

Tucked half blood knot.

Thread the line through the ring, hook eye, swivel, or whatever;



Wrap the loose line end five times around the standing line. Don´t twist it! Wrap it!



Thread the end through the loop at the eye.


If you tightened this now, you would have a normal blood knot.

Thread the loose end through the loop you just formed



Close and tighten the knot, by wetting it thoroughly, ( Spit!), holding the hook, swivel, ring etc tightly, ( with a pin etc if necessary), and drawing the knot together by pulling on the standing line.



Trim the tag end closely, but not too closely!

I don´t use super glue or anything else which is often advised, on my knots. It is just a nuisance, and I can see no real advantage in doing so. It might possibly hold droppers out a little more stiffly at a right angle, but this has never been a problem for me. If you want to try it, go ahead. I prefer to keep things simple, and messing about with super glue or similar stuff, with cold hands on an exposed river bank, is not my idea of simple! There is always a lot of discussion on knots, which is stronger, easier to tie, and so on. I have never had any trouble using the blood knot described for these purposes. I can tie it blindfolded in the dark and with freezing fingers if necessary! Although I have used other knots I have never found any particular advantages in doing so. Although of course I do use other knots for various things. If you use other leader materials than ordinary nylon monofilament, then you will need to use other knots. The half blood is not suitable for fluorocarbon line for instance, it will slip.


Setting up a team.

Setting up a team of flies for various conditions and circumstances is not quite as easy as it might first appear, and the choices made by really good anglers are by no means random. Of course, many people have varying ideas on this, as on many other things. These are my own basic guidelines, and considerations, and are not written in stone!

Firstly, one has to decide on the general tactics to be employed, and the equipment in use. For complete beginners, it is best to get some experience using simple rigs, and a maximum of two flies, before trying more complex rigs. Although this precludes the use of some tactics and setups, it saves a lot of initial messing about. Unless you are a competent caster, multi-fly-rigs are a liability!

Equipment also dictates to some extent what you can use, and how you use it. The most versatile equipment for fishing teams is a long rod and light line. This means at least a 10 foot rod, and preferably a lot longer. The reasons for this are mainly to be found in the superior line control, and the casting technique used with longer rods. The flies are not cast "overhead" as is usual with most modern gear, a modified switch-cast is used, in conjunction with a relatively light line. Although opinions run high on these matters, it is nevertheless a fact that you will not be able to use or control many rigs with a short modern rod and heavy line.

It is essential to be able to present the flies properly, as they will otherwise simply not work very well. This means delicate and stealthy casting! Slashing the line or flies down hard will result in failure to catch many fish. Also, one should be clear on how one wishes to fish. These methods were invented for maximum efficiency in catching fish. This is not what everybody wants to do! Many people just want a nice pleasant day out, with a few fish to keep them occupied, or grace the table later.Of course, one is not bound, as a sporting angler, to operate with the same determination and application as many subsistence anglers once did. One may "take it easy" using such methods.

Regardless of how effective a team of flies might be with the right equipment and tactics, they can be perfectly useless with the wrong equipment and tactics. Having the right flies is not even half the battle. If you wish to use a comparatively short single handed fly rod and a modern plastic, or maybe even a silk line, then your only real option for fishing spider and similar flies upstream, is to use a single fly, and fish it like a dry fly, but sub-surface of course.

.You might even use a bob fly and a nymph, or a similar rig, but if you try to use various teams with such gear, especially working teams, or special tactics teams, you will end up being frustrated and fishless. The only places you have even a modicum of control using such equipment, is in relatively slow-moving water, and with a short line. These are unfortunately exactly the places where most tactical teams are least likely to work successfully, and also where a longer line and rod would be of advantage in concealing you from the fish.

Even if the united Wharfedale anglers rise as one, ( or even if only one of them rises united!!!), and threaten to smite me as a result, there is no getting away from these simple facts.

Innumerable reams of paper have been devoted to the subject of upstream fishing, and more are produced every day. Quite a few modern books extol the virtues of such tactics, and not a few even provide diagrams on where to cast, etc etc etc. Unfortunately, it wont work with short rods and tactical teams! Most modern fly-fishing equipment, although excellent for a large number of things, is quite useless for fishing teams upstream. In well over forty years of intensive fishing, with a whole range of rods and lines, I have never found a way to do it successfully, except with a long rod, and I have never seen anybody else doing it successfully either.

For quite a few years, I read various accounts, and tried very very hard indeed to follow what many said or wrote about upstream fishing, but after some years of believing I must be useless or stupid, it finally dawned on me why it didn´t work! It doesn´t work, because it is impossible, and those who say it does work are simply telling lies. On a couple of occasions I even asked well known anglers to show me. They never could! The only people I have ever seen successfully fishing upstream teams, have been using long rods and light lines!

Of course there are occasions and places where one may use a team with less than optimum equipment, and catch a few fish, but these are not very common at all. One may also use certain "variations", like casting more across than up, or even casting down, but none of them work very well in comparison to the real thing.

Modern short rods, and heavy oiled silk and PVC lines, were developed for various reasons. One was ease of use, transport etc, and the other was to drive a single dry fly, on a relatively long line, fast, and into the wind if necessary, and also turn it over properly, using a fairly short rod. Most equipment in general use will do this quite admirably in the right hands, and quite excellent it is too. Unfortunately, this has nothing whatsoever to do with the criteria required for upstream wet fly fishing! These simple facts are usually simply neglected! Also, there is often talk of "short lines", and "long lines", etc. What is a short line? What is a long line?

Doubtless most will agree that this depends on the context. For many, and apparently for quite a number of authors, a "short line" is any line cast within a radius of about thirty feet, regardless of the rod used. For others, a "short line" may be where the actual casting line is one and half times the length of the rod.

Now that is suddenly quite interesting, because the length of the "short line" has now become dependent on the length of the rod! If you have a six foot rod, and cast a "short line", you would then be casting nine feet of line, and assuming you actually followed through to horizontal with the rod, you would command a radius of 6+9+leader.


Assume a leader of nine feet, then you command a radius of 24 feet. This is not very much, you have to get very close to the fish, and owing to the shortness of the rod, you have very little control of the line once you have cast it. Indeed, you can not even control the leader properly by raising the rod! Also, casting long leaders on short lines is not the easiest of exercises, even for a proficient caster. This is difficult enough with a single fly, but with a team? Forget it! Such a rig is only suitable for fishing a single fly, or at the most a two fly rig, and even that with reservations!

Now assume a twelve foot rod. Command radius is now 12+ 18+ 9 = 39 feet! This is still a "short line" remember! The line is always under more or less perfect and immediate control, simply by raising the rod. The leader is shorter than the rod itself, no problems with dropper spacings, or knots jamming in the tip ring, etc. But, most important of all, one is almost twice as far away from the fish! A light line may be used with such a rig, and very little force is required to drive it with accuracy anywhere within the command radius. Overhead casting, or any excessive force is simply not required, just a "flick" with the rod. This works quite well even into a fairly stiff wind.

So, all the following remarks only apply to using the right equipment. To whit, a rod of at least twelve feet in length, and a light line. Although this mainly applies to fishing running water, most especially medium to rapid streams, it does not specifically exclude still water fishing, although it is of less importance there in most instances, there are also many instances when greater control and better presentation will catch you more fish on still water as well.

Why fish upstream at all? This too has been done to death, and there are many reasons given for it, but only one of those reasons is really important to me, and that is that one does not disturb the water one wishes to fish. Assuming stealth and care in presentation, this alone guarantees more and better fish. In heavy or coloured water, or when there is a good breeze, this can be less of a factor, but it usually still makes a difference even then.

Simply obtaining a long rod and a light line will not immediately guarantee you more fish. You have to learn to use it, and this can not be done in a day! As with most things, a learning curve is involved, which varies from person to person. Also, some people have natural talent, and others less so. This is perfectly normal. There is always somebody who is the "best" at something, usually as a result of the combination of natural aptitude, practice, and determination. However this may be, and even for those with less aptitude or time to invest, it is still a great deal easier to learn to fish with such equipment than it is to "do the impossible" with unsuitable equipment, and after a relatively short while, you will catch more fish. This is a foregone conclusion. Of course, mere length is not the only criterion. The rod must also have certain specific characterictics, which we will go into later.

Regarding the "secrets" involved, there are only two, and they are not particularly secret either; stealth, and control. Without these, no fly-fishing is going to be very successful anyway.Of course, skill, knowledge and accurate observation are also important to success.


OK, we have our gear, and we want to make up a leader with a set of flies. How do we go about choosing them?

There are a number of possibilities here, depending on one´s knowledge, beliefs, and inclinations. We will take the "easiest" first. This merely consists of using three general patterns on the leader, as point, dropper, and bob fly, respectively. A nunber of the older authors advocated this system, and it works reasonably well. Three "Stewart" style spiders or similar will catch fish under a number of circumstances and conditions, and more than a few anglers, especially those who wrote about it, like Stewart and Stoddart, but quite a few others too, were content to leave it at that.

Disregarding for the moment some of the weird theories a number of these people had on the subject of flies, this works, because in many instances ,fish, especially in relatively fast waters, will take almost anything that looks sufficiently like an insect. Of course, using a rig like this, and "sweeping the water", one will also catch relatively large numbers of small fish! For a long time, fish of practically any size, including two ounce trout, and even salmon parr, were considered fair game!

One hopes that such is no longer the object of the exercise, and as a result, and to avoid this, one has basically two choices. One limits one´s casting to known "marked" fish, or to lies where small fish are not likely to be in abundance. This is not a certain method of avoiding small fish of course, and it has one other extremely major disadvantage.

Larger fish tend to be warier and more critical of their food than small fish, so in effect, such a "general" rig, automatically discriminates against larger fish! This is the main reason I do not like to use "general" rigs of this nature. I have tried these on very many occasions, and "fishing the water" with general rigs, will get you plenty of fish, even occasionaly a good one, but the vast majority of them will be small!

Also of interest here, is that small fish will invariably take flies at any time, hatch or no hatch, whereas their larger brethren are much more hatch oriented, and will simply ignore many "general" flies. Even just a few simple trials will suffice to quickly convince anybody of this. Of course there may be occasions when one or more of the "general" patterns is sufficiently imitative of a "hatch" which is in progress, beginning, or abating, to induce larger fish to take them, and this results in a "red-letter-day" for the angler concerned, but it is for the most part serendipitous.

So we come to team choice method number two. This is basically the same as the first, but with one absolutely major difference. The flies used are chosen to match the hatch which is occurring, or may be expected to occur, and the flies should be good imitations of specific insects. No really special entomological or other knowledge is actually required for this. The hatch times of most common insects and some good imitations thereof are easily found in any number of books. Many of the old subsistence fishers knew this perfectly well, and their lists and patterns are invariably reliable. I could give a list of patterns here, for various rivers and times of year, some are fairly universal, others less so. Even superficial enquiry will turn up lists suitable for your rivers and conditions. Of course, if you actually observe a hatch of certain insects being taken by the fish, then change to appropriate patterns if you know them.

Both of the above team choice methods assume passive ( dead drift) presentation, either in or just below the surface film, and the choice of appropriate flies. It should be noted here, that just because some insects are evident on the water, this does not necessarily mean that the fish are taking them! One must observe what is actually occurring!

TL
MC

[Mike Connor]

Both of the above team choices will work. The second method will work better, depending of course on the accuracy of your individual fly choice under various circumstances. The first method has the "advantage" of only requiring a few fly patterns. The second method requires a fair selection of good patterns, probably about two dozen or so, but it will catch you more and better fish.

As previously noted, the objectives of anglers have changed quite radically over the years. Virtually all anglers nowadays are sport anglers, and they have little or no interest in catching large numbers or weights of small fish. This would also be detrimental to most fisheries anyway, which ought to be a consideration when choosing one´s methods.

Contrary to much popular opinion, one of the main reasons for using a team of flies nowadays, is not so that one might catch several fish at once! This may occur on occasion, but is actually more of a nuisance than anything else. In former times, when anglers used nine or more flies on a cast, their motivation was to catch as many fish as possible, as quickly as possible. Few sport anglers, if any, did this, it was largely done by highly skilled subsistence anglers. There is very little point in trying to emulate such. As also previously noted, even very small fish were taken, and no sporting angler would purposely do this nowadays. There would be no point in doing so.

Using a team allows one much greater leeway and tactical attack, even when one is targetting a specific fish. Of course one needs a team specifically tailored to this end. Here again, one has a number of possibilities. One may go the "general team" route, which might consist of a "general" bob fly, a middle dropper, maybe a Stewart style spider, and a point fly or "stretcher" perhaps a lightly weighted nymph. Such a specific team for early in the season, say April, might be, a weighted pheasant tail or hare´s ear nymph on the point, a "black spider" on the dropper, and a bushy dry March brown on the bob.

This team differs considerably from the previous two, as while it is still fairly "general" in regard to the flies, which should of course still be chosen appropriately, it is far more specifically tactical in nature, and allows far more "operating possibilities" than the first two. One covers more of the water column, as a result of the weighted
point fly. How much depth one covers, depends on the weight, which should be adjusted to suit depth and conditions prevailing, and one also covers specific stages of the hatching insects. Even when no insects are hatching, which incidentally is more or less an impossibility, there is always some activity, even when it may not be directly observable, the fish may still be feeding actively, but not on or near the surface.

Many older authors, and even some new ones who ought to have more sense! Promoted the idea that if no "hatch" was "on", that the fish simply stopped feeding. This is nonsense. Some fish will be feeding on various things when others are not, and many will take anything appropriate which comes along. General surface feeding as such, may more or less cease at times, but this does not mean the fish are not feeding at all.

Many species of fish do tend to feed at specific times given the opportunity, but some, if not all of these, will also feed at any time. This also depends heavily on the aforementioned opportunity! This is also why fish in small relatively barren streams will often grab almost anything, at any time of the day or night. They must take advantage of every opportunity, and many still remain stunted or lean, as a direct result of the dearth of such opportunities. This is also of course the reason that fly choice in such streams is rarely critical, although it would be a mistake to ignore it altogether and just "sling anything in" as a matter of course! Indeed, there are only two generally prevalent conditions when fish will not feed at all, when it is too hot for them, ( = lack of oxygen), and when it is too cold ( = slowed metabolic rate).

In most other circumstances, when fished properly, a general tactical team like the one described, will catch a lot of fish. The same objections as to the first "general" team also apply, in that one will catch a lot of small fish with it, as it also tends by its nature to discriminate against larger fish, with however, a couple of important exceptions. Owing to the make-up of the team, and the equipment in use, a number of manipulations may be carried out, which make "general" flies, more attractive to the fish.

There has been a great deal of controversy about this over the years, but nobody can seriously doubt that certain types of movement increase the imitational value of certainn flies, and thereby induce a fish to take them, where it would otherwise simply ignore them. at best. We may once again note a number of possibilities. There are certain specific manipulations, such as "skittering the bob fly", or a "leisenring lift", known and even used by many anglers, which induce fish to take the flies in question. Then there are "general" manipulations. These are manipulations which cause one or more of the flies ( of course all the flies are affected) to move in a certain way THE WHOLE TIME THE CAST IS BEING FISHED! Or at least a good part of it.

One may manipulate the leader in order to give the nymph a certain movement, or to give the bob fly a certain movement, or indeed even the dropper if so desired. Usually the manipulation is carried out to give !!!ONE!!! of the flies on the leader the specific movement required. The flies are so designed that they react accordingly. The weighted nymph acts as a sheet anchor, the bob fly acts as a float, ( and indicator). One must choose which fly one wishes to manipulate and direct one´s efforts to achieving the effect required. The weight of the nymph is quite critical here, as is leader make-up, and fly-spacing. This was the main "secret" of the old wet fly artists. They knew when and how to manipulate their teams to achieve the effect required. This increased their chances of catching fish IMMENSELY!!!!

This is not simply a case of "jigging the leader", or "waggling the rod", and is in any case not even practicable without the right rod, line, and leader! When "wet fly artists" were described as "magical", this was ( and still is!), the main reason for their apparent wizardry! It is basically the result of using common sense, coupled with knowledge of insect and fish behaviour, and the right gear, to achieve specific results. It works so fantastically well, because when correctly done, it adds another dimension to the flies so manipulated. The almost perfect illusion of life!

Many things are possible with this set-up, and I will describe some of them later in detail, as they also apply to other things. For the nonce, we will move on to team choice number four.

So, we have looked at dead drift fishing with a general team of spiders, which can be quite effective, but depends more or less entirely on serendipitous movement of intrinsically mobile flies, and only really allows minimal sub-surface covering of the water, which is mostly effective when surface activity is apparent. Can be very successful, but can also be a total waste of time.Also invaribly results in large numbers of small fish

We have looked at a similar team, more closely designed to match the hatch, or what might be expected to hatch, which is a little better than the first team, but not really a lot, dependent as it is on a particular hatch taking place, and we have looked at a "general tactical" team which allows specific manipulations of various team members, allowing us to match the insect behaviour more closely, cover more of the water column, and giving us a very wide palette of possible tactics and approaches, depending on the specific team make-up, weight, properties and so on, and now we come to the "non-plus-ultra" of wet fly fishing.

One must forget all one has heard and read on the subject of dead drift dry fly fishing. It simply does not apply here. For quite a long time I believed what I read about this, and much of it was chalk stream literature and similar stuff. While it is true that the majority of mayflies and similar creatures float downstream more or less drag free and immobile in relation to the water surface, this does not by any means apply to all flies which land on or take off from the water surface, sedges and quite a number of terrestrial insects often moving quite a lot, and generating savage responses from the fish as a result!

With regard to aquatic creatures IT DOES NOT APPLY TO ANY OF THEM! Aquatic creatures are all capable of movement in some fashion. Some slow and laboured, some very quick and agile, BUT THEY ALL MOVE!!!! Why shouldn´t they? They are in their element, and quite apart from anything else, under constant attack from various other inhabitants! They survive as species, because a sufficient number of them survive such attacks to reproduce, but massive numbers of them die in the attempt,simply being eaten! The actual hatched insects one sees flying around are only the tip of the iceberg. Many, the vast majority, never even reach the surface of the water. No matter what the insect, or its hatching modus. They all have one thing in common, THEY MOVE! Some in very specific ways.

Fish will often "key" on ascending sedge pupae for instance. Even relatively unsuitable flies fished with the correct motion, which for a number of species is a short ascent, and then a slow drift downwards again, before ascending yet again, will take fish after fish.

Imagine then, one has the right flies, and the right motion? The result is a foregone conclusion. One may take practically every single fish which is feeding on such insects. Even when there are hundreds of thousands of naturals This this is done by "exaggerating" either fly properties or recognition points, and motion. Insects and other creatures which deviate slightly from the "norm" are invariably doomed to a swift demise. The aberration need only be very slight, and that creature is marked, as if it were wearing a sign saying "EAT ME!".

Of course one can not really successfully attempt to imitate the movement of reed smuts and similar tiny creatures, but when fish are concentrating on such things, they may often nevertheless be índuced to take something else.

All of the teams and tactics described will catch fish at various times, some better and more consistently than others, but the last team mentioned, given the right flies and manipulation, will catch fish practically all the time, and curiously enough, even when THERE ARE NO NATURALS APPARENT, but the time is right.

That is to say, even long after a caddis hatch has finished, the team described will continue to catch fish. It will also work before a caddis hatch begins. Not only that, with the right team, one has every aspect of the hatch covered from start to finish. This is more or less impossible with any other method. One can also often tell more or less exactly when the fish change from taking the ascending pupae, although they may continue to do so right through the hatch, to when they start taking the hatching or hatched insects, so one is also reliably informed about what is going on, and a great deal of often hopeless guesswork is avoided.

Much the same applies to many other species, but caddis hatches are a very good example.

So, I will move on to some specific teams for specific situations, and the flies and manipulations required for them in the next chapter. This will take a moment or two, as I am still compiling "typical" situations form my notes. I can´t possibly cover everything, and I don´t know all the situations or possible responses anyway, but enough to get you well started I hope.

TL
MC

[Mike Connor]

My apologies, but I find myself obliged to digress somewhat, in order to save some unnecessary explanations and complications later on. It is germane, so please bear with me.

There are libraries full of books about flies, the number of patterns increases daily, and the vast majority of them suffer from similar problems. Nobody tells you what they are for, or how to use them! Not only that, but many are only suitable for very specific usage, and unlikely to be successful if used in any other manner. If you are not aware of that specific use, then the fly is more or less useless to you. Of course it might catch a fish somewhere, sometime, but there is no way of knowing when, where, or why, it might just as well not, and is basically then merely a waste of a good hook, materials, money, and a place in the box, which might be much more profitably taken by some other more suitable fly

Decision criteria for flies are often full of problems, especially for beginners, largely because some quite basic logic is not applied. One extremely vexed and much discussed case in point, is that of winged wet flies. I love winged wet flies, I like to look at various styles, I like to dress them in various styles, I like to talk about them, and I like to hear what others have to say about them, but the blunt truth of the matter, is that I very rarely use them at all now, because they are simply not suitable for most of the methods I use! This not only applies to winged flies, but we will come to that!

There, I have said it, and no thunderbolt descended!!! Heartened by this, I will continue carefully negotiating the minefield!

All the beautiful Clyde, and Tweed, and North country, and South country, Welsh, Irish, and other flies, with their upright wings, down wings, flat wings, forward wings, etc etc are really nice to look at, and they can be really effective when used in a particular fashion. BUT!!!!! That fashion is as dead drift wet flies, usually barely sub-surface, just like many spider flies. Unfortunately, this is a technique I very rarely use at all with such flies. It is just not very effective overall, or consistent enough for me.

As Webster and others pointed out, winged wet flies, especially some of the fine delicate Scottish creations, are the best flies one can use for upstream dead drift fishing. I agree wholeheartedly with this, and now and again I will even have a day on the river doing exactly that, purely for sentimental reasons and to "keep my hand in". But they are more or less useless for anything else!

As a large number of authors have pointed out, natural winged flies do not move much under water. This is usually because they are either dead or dying! Any movement at all must only be very slight indeed. Webster accomplished this by using very finely dressed flies and soft materials for hackle and wings.He used the dead drift exclusively! Indeed he cautioned anglers from inducing any movement whatsoever! Other authors agreed with him, and I agree with him too, if you use such flies!

Anything more than slight movement is completely unnatural, and makes fish suspicious. Indeed, it will often make them shy away in fright. I have observed this on numerous occasions. Unfortunately, many of my tactics depend on my working my flies!, or on my team behaving in such a way that my flies have a certain movement. This simple fact precludes my use of sub-surface winged wet flies on tactical teams! There are occasions when such flies will catch fish, even when moved, but it is not logical, natural, predictable, or efficient!

Should you wish to emulate some of the great Scottish and other Northern, particularly Yorkshire, wet fly men, like Webster ( who I personally consider one of the "immortals" ), and others, then by all means dress yourself some beautiful delicate winged creations for upstream dead drifting. When dressed and used correctly, at the right time, they will take fish, sometimes very many fish, but they are no use for tactical teams.

There are a number of winged wets which may imitate all sorts of things, from nymphs, water beetles, to small fish, but as I don´t know which they might just possibly represent under any given conditions, I can find no sensible grounds for using them at all.

There are a few winged flies, notably sedges, which I will use as bob flies, but all my sub-surface tactical team flies are either spiders, or nymphs, or pupae, of various designs. Incidentally, although I have just given a logical explanation for this, I did not initially arrive at this conclusion as a result of pure logic. I discovered that I hardly ever got a reasonable fish on a manipulated upstream sub-surface wet fly, and it also affected my catch rate on other flies.Other people I knew who used long rods did not use them either, and it was a while before I found out why.Some logical reasoning is easy with hindsight!

Further to this, I love Cutcliffe´s flies, I love his rationale and his reasoning, and I have used many of his flies very successfully in various circumstances, but for the majority of my purposes, and with regard to the subject of this series of articles, namely upstream tactical teams, these flies wont work very well. The stiff cock hackles often require too much manipulation to achieve the required effect sub-surface. This also negatively affects the other flies on the team.Often giving them too much movement! I will occasionally also use such a fly as a bob fly, but never sub-surface.

OK, to specifics. As I already mentioned the sedge (caddis) hatch, here is one specific team for such a hatch. My favourite point fly for these hatches was once a sedge pupa pattern from one of Richard Walker´s books, and I would also "ring the changes" with a couple of my own. This was pretty successful. But, since I saw Jim Slattery´s "Triple Threat Caddis", it just shouted "fish" at me, and I have been using it as my main point fly, in various colours and sizes, in sedge hatches ever since. I add turns of lead as appropriate to hook size, and water speed. The first third of the body is wound with either one, two, or three layers of lead wire. I need weight on this fly in order to get it to depth, and in order to manipulate it, and the rest of the team, properly.

My dropper is usually one of my own "tricolour yarn caddis", unweighted, in similar colours to the triple threat. I have had most success with orangey cream brown or olive versions, but that of course depends on the specific hatch. . My bob is either a deer hair sedge of appropriate size and colour, or one of my own "tent glue wings", depending on my fancy at the time. You may also simply use an indicator if you wish, but use something natural! Fish will usually ignore more or less natural looking things which cause a small disturbance, but they may well not ignore a fluorescent orange indicator or similar, especially if it is moving unnaturally, and it may panic them. This can have disastrous consequences for the angler. Panicking one fish may also panic a hundred others! ! Whatever you use, it must support the rest of the leader, and not be pulled under by manipulation. This particular rig will work either upstream or downstream, but I prefer upstream if I can manage it. Depends on the water, terrain etc.

With this team, the main initial object of the exercise, is to get the triple threat point fly to rise and fall like the real thing. This is accomplished by manipulating the bob fly in short stops. This also gives a similar but faster ascent, and a slower descent ( because unweighted), movement to the dropper. The duration of the “stop” governs the amount of ascent, and the weight of the point fly governs the rate and amount of descent. Extraneous weight is best avoided altogether. One might use split shot or similar, but this causes other problems, and is aesthetically displeasing to me at any rate.

My top dropper is attached to a leader ring about four feet from the butt of my tapered leader, which is attached to a permanent nylon butt piece about two feet long, which is attached to my fly line ( this is only to compensate a little for fly-line thickness and help a little with turn over).

My dropper is attached to another leader ring about two feet further down the leader, tied to the first by means of 6 lb nylon. The droppers are 3 lb nylon. The point fly is attached to the same leader ring as the dropper by a length of 3lb nylon, usually about two feet. The droppers are three inches long. Tie the fly on first, and then attach the dropper to the ring. I use the 1.5 mm leader rings for this, but I colour them black with a marker to stop them glinting.



The only manipulation required with this rig, , is to "stop" the normal drift of the bob fly by raising the rod slightly, every foot or so of the drift, although one may of course vary this as desired. This causes the bob fly to make a relatively small disturbance, and also causes the two sub-surface flies to rise and fall as desired. Sort of a repetetive “Leisenring lift”.

Using this method, one may take fish in practically any sedge hatch, even if the colours and sizes are not dead on. If they are dead on, then that is better of course, but this can often be difficult to determine. On occasion, I will also use a "Partridge and X" ( X= Orange fur, cream fur is my second choice, green, brown, yellow etc), instead of the "Tricolour" as a dropper, if I think I am not getting enough attention to the flies. These are dressed a little fatter and shorter than normal, and using fur dubbing. Plain silk bodies are not as effective.

If I then get a couple of takes on the "Partridge and X", I change all three flies to the same colour scheme as the "X". This often results in fast and furious action. Normally, no other manipulation is required for this team. The only "disadvantage" with this team, is that in some stretches where the flies are hatching steadily, and there is a good head of decent fish, ( often long relatively smooth gravelly stretches of constant depth), that one often gets multiple hook-ups, which can be a nuisance.

If this happens too often, I usually remove the dropper, or change the point fly for a weight instead of a fly, depending on which is causing the "problem". This of course means that fish that "hit" the weight are missed, but as long as they are not pricked, they will usually come again, and this is in any case better than an almighty tangle, or a break caused by two large fish. I have also had a triple hook-up on this rig a few times, but luckily at least one of the fish was always small, and no catastrophe occurred. One may also simply use a weight as point to begin with, instead of a fly, if too many takes is likely to be a problem. Fish take many manipulated flies more positively and deeply! If you are fishing catch and release, then debarb your hooks carefully, or use barbless to start with. It is also a good policy in this case to avoid flies which are proven “deep hookers”, and you must also practise your striking!

Theoretically at least, the point fly is the "worked" fly here, but one often gets fish to all three flies. The only fly one may remove, and still have a working rig, is the dropper! Removing others will often cause the rig to fail completely! The point and the bob are the working elements here, but sometimes the fish will prefer to take the unweighted dropper. This has to be tried out. If you are not getting anything on the dropper, and fish on the point, and bob, or just on the bob, then you can also remove the dropper.

In order to fish this rig properly, to get the bob to “stop” as desired, you need to fish at an angle upstream. This means you should fish from the shallow side of the river into the deep water, or if the run is more or less of constant depth , from either side. If the deep water is on your side then you need to cross over the river. You can´t control the rig properly fishing straight up your own bank. Of course, on a wide river, then cast as desired so as to have control.

Curiously, during many sedge hatches, good fish will hold station in midwater in the middle of the run. This is quite unusual actually, as in many other hatches they will stay close to the banks, or near other cover. I assume that this is because the insects themselves mainly ascend in midwater, or most of them seem to get there somehow! Careful observation of rises will also confirm this. If the fish are visibly “bulging” then they are taking the pupae close to the surface, and one merely needs to adjust the weight of the point fly to the correct depth for the water speed.

Sometimes, fish will insist on having the fly at a certain depth. Above and below this depth, they may simply ignore the flies. Also, they will rarely go down to take a pupa. If in doubt, start shallow, and increase depth as required. If you can see the fish, don´t try to adjust your drift line once you have commenced a drift! This will put fish down! If you are at the right depth, they will move a long way off station to intercept pupae. Also, it is invariably a bad idea to watch the fish! Watch your bob fly! It will dip or move when the fish takes. Takes to the point or the dropper usually come as the fly is rising, during the “stop” of your bob fly. So if it moves after you stop it, set the hook immediately.

Set the hook GENTLY! This is better for a number of reasons, not much force is required to set a hook when you are in contact with your flies. Excessive force may cause a break if the fish moves back to its station fast, after taking. This is the main cause of so called “smash takes”, it is angler error, not massive fish! Secondly, setting the hook gently will usually prevent the fish from going immediately ballistic, and you can bring him well down towards you before he even knows what is going on.

Get small fish in and released as quickly as possible. Don´t let large fish get below you! Move down the bank if you have to, but keep the fish upstream of you at all costs. DON`T FOLLOW IT UPSTREAM! Of course, you will often have to let large fish run, but try and avoid them running through the whole stretch! Hold as hard as you can. It is much easier to fight fish on a long rod if you keep them under your rod, with plenty of strain on them, and they tire a lot more quickly. 3lb line will stand an awful lot more than most people imagine.

Other teams and set-ups to come.................

[Mike Connor]

A few people asked how it is possible to fish a team like the sedge team, with a weighted fly on the point ,upstream, and still control it. In point of fact this is quite easy. The water speed at the surface is always faster than at the bottom, and is usually ( but not always!) "graded" for speed in the water column. The lower in the column a fly is, the slower it moves. This means that the bob fly which is floating, usually moves faster than the sunk flies. The heavier the sunk flies, the deeper they sink, and the more they slow the bob fly. Lifting the rod slightly, when the line is at an angle to the stream, causes the bob fly to "hesitate". This also causes the sunk flies to "hesitate", and also to rise in the column. This is only a fairly subtle movement, but it is more than enough to induce fish to take. It imitates the behaviour of the pupae very well. They also only make short slow rises and falls. They don´t make foot long jumps!

This technique will not work directly upstream, as lifting the rod slightly will not cause the bob fly to hesitate properly.The key to all these manipulations, is that they should be subtle, and sparse mobile flies are usually required. There is no call at all for any large or fast manipulations.

If one wishes to use the "standard" spider or wet fly teams, one may do so of course. At the right times, these can also be very effective. The tactical teams are usually a lot more effective though. On the spider and wet fly teams no manipulation is required. It is in any case too difficult to control such teams by manipulation. In such cases one merely relies on having accurate imitations. The spiders also have some movement caused by slight drag etc, which makes the soft hackles move in a semblance of life. Once again, violent, or strong movement is not required. The winged wet flies rely more or less purely on being good imitations, although some subtle hackle movement is doubtless advantageous as well.

In practically all cases when using tactical rigs, the object is to give !!!ONE!!! of the flies on the team the right movement. Of course, whatever one does affects all the flies on the leader, but such movements are usually complementary. Usually, one concentrates on the bob fly, as this of course is the fly one can see. It is the main control unit. There are rigs which do not use bob fly controls, but they are much more difficult to use. One thing which is often advised by various authors, is that when you catch a fish, to change the other flies on your team to the one that caught a fish. This is usually inadvisable! It might have the desired effect on a "standard" wet fly or spider team, but it most likely will not work on a tactical team, because it changes the behaviour of the flies.Also, provoking multiple hook-ups is not really sensible anyway.

On a large multi-fly leader, with nine flies for instance, changing the flies to the one that caught will almost certainly get you more fish, but, such a leader is only really workable on a large or clear ( free of trees and bushes etc) stream, and also requires very considerable skill and routine to keep operating it properly. It is also very hard work to use such a rig properly, and for a sport angler, there is very little point in doing so at all. When you do get a tangle in such a rig, you will fervently wish you had never even bothered trying it! Believe me, I know!

Also, it is a case of objectives here again. I usually want a pleasant day out with plenty of good fish, the majority of which I release in any case. I don´t want a great big bag full of fish, or to catch every fish in the stream. I want fun and sport. There is no sense in a sport angler "sweeping" the stream in the old style. It will invariably cause more frustration than it is worth in any case.

I never use more than three flies, and I will often go down to two, or just one, depending on circumstances. One is not obliged to use tactical rigs all the time. One may put up a cast of spiders or winged wet flies, or use a dry fly. or a dry fly / nymph combination, or even a single spider, just as one pleases, or seems a reasonable idea at the time. Of course, it is more or less impossible to "work" a single small fly with any degree of success, although one may use tricks like "skittering" a dry fly, or a "Leisenring lift" and similar if one desires. These things all bring satisfactions of their own though, and one increases one´s skills all the time.

For a very simple general mayfly ( Ephemeroptera) tactical team, one might use the following. A weighted" hare´s ear´" on the point, no dropper, and a dry "hare´s ear" on the bob. The spacing here is not critical, and is largely dictated by how deep you want the point fly to fish. I usually start with a three foot tippet, and adjust as required.

This rig is often very successful in various hatches, as it simulates the ascending nymph, and the emerging fly, very well.

Leader set up is more or less the same as described for the sedge team previously, but of course without the middle dropper, and the bob fly in the position of the middle dropper, and with a longer point. Although for many rigs it is advantageous to cast from the shallows into the deep water, regardless of whether one is bank fishing, or wading, ( bank fishing is generally preferable, it does not disturb the water so much, and it is usually easier to be stealthy as well), with some rigs, one may also simply cast straight up one´s own bank, if this is the deep side.

Technique here is quite simple. The rig is cast into the deep water close to the bank, or other cover, ( weed beds, large stones etc), and then the rod is lifted slowly until the cast is fished out, and then re-cast. Here one may also use the "vibration" technique. This means that while the rod is being lifted, it is "shaken" gently, as if one had a tremor. This movement is transmitted to the bob fly and of course to the nymph on the point. One may also add SMALL! jerks to the retrieve as desired. At the slightest sign of hesitation of the bob fly, or of course if a fish takes it, set the hook, simply by lifting the rod somewhat faster. When you actually see the fish take the bob fly, wait a fraction before lifting. This can be difficult to judge, but one can do it easily enough after a little practice.

This rig also has the advantage of being compact, and can be cast into relatively small areas quite easily and accurately. The tails and necks of pools, the edges of eddies etc, without much chance of tangling or snagging.The manipulation is quite easy to master, and one may catch a lot of fish using it.

One may of course also add a middle dropper to this rig as well if desired, and also use other flies which may be more appropriate to the hatch in progress. Should one see a fish rise, the technique is the same, but one should of course aim to drop the bob fly a foot or so in front of the fishes nose. This is not “classic” dry fly fishing, where one would aim for a yard or so in front, and try for a drag free drift. We don´t want that here! Too far in front, and the fish may be alarmed by other things.. Of course the flies must land gently, and the point fly must sink immediately. Nine times out of ten, the fish will grab the bob fly, before you even start to raise the rod. If it does not, it may still take the nymph, so fish the cast out before re-casting. If he does not take, then try him again after a little pause.

One can not manipulate a single dry fly in this manner, as without the nymph “sheet anchor”, there is nothing to hold the leader steady while manipulating, and in any wind etc, the fly will merely be blown around the water causing a large disturbance.

Reasons I don´t usually use a middle dropper here, especially when fishing straight up my own bank side, and also why I invariably use a longer point, is because the chance of foul hooking a fish is greatly increased by using a middle dropper and short point, and I don´t like foul hooking fish. When fishing up and across into deep water, this is less of a problem.

Where the stream is of more or less uniform depth on both sides, or has deep water or undercut banks etc on both sides. FISH YOUR OWN SIDE FIRST! Then gradually fan your casts up and across, before moving on. Most fish will be taken close to the banks or in cover. Close,also means CLOSE!!! Try to drop your point fly three inches from the bank. If it lands on the bank, pull it off slowly and gently, and fish the cast out as normal. If you pull slowly and gently, you will usually be able to avoid a tangle or a snag.

In situations where a rising fish has not taken, the mood, taste, motivations, and inclinations of the individual angler, then determine what to do. Normally, after three failed attempts at a rising fish, and assuming he is still rising, I would move on. But there are fish who will take a fly on the tenth or even twentieth cast, as long as you have not alarmed them. Usually I would "mark" such a fish, ( notice where it is!), if it is a good one, move on, and maybe come back and try for it again later. This of course also depends on how one is fishing at the time, but we are discussing tactical teams here.

This simple technique can be quite deadly, because the "vibrations" cause the nymph and fly to simulate "convulsions", which many nymphs and emergers display while hatching. Sparse and straggly "hares´s ears" and similar flies, in various sizes and shades, are very good for this. Hackled flies and spiders don´t work as well, and may often be refused. This is probably because they have "too much movement". The relatively short straggly fur, general shape, and minimal movement, of a dubbed fur fly are more effective here. Indeed, this technique can be so effective that it actually becomes boring. If you move up a bank side and catch nearly every fish along it, which is easily done under the right conditions, then you often want to try something else for a change!

For this, and some similar techniques, it is essential that the leader is deglinted and degreased. Deglinting only needs to be done once, and is accomplished by pulling the leader carefully through a piece of Fuller´s earth/glycerine/soap mixture. The earth is a mild abrasive, and takes the shine off the nylon. After that, the leader just needs an occasional wipe with a small sponge holding very dilute soap. I use a small piece of sponge in a 35mm film can, about a third full of dilute washing up liquid.

After deglinting and degreasing, rinse your leader quickly, before you actually cast to a fish. Otherwise the action of the soap as it breaks the film may cause odd light patterns, which will alarm the fish. If you don´t have any of this, stuff, then get some! If you forget it, then rubbing your leader in soft bank-side mud will also help a great deal. Normally, there is no need to degrease weighted flies, but it can occasionally be useful. For the bob fly in this case, I use a hare´s ear which has been pre-treated with watershed. You may use various floatants of course, but some, like Gink, and one or two others, leave oily rings on the surface around the fly, and the odd light patterns caused by this may alarm the fish. This may seem like nit-picking, but it makes a big difference. Fish will often not be alarmed by a fly "plopping" in, they are used to things falling in the water, but odd light patterns caused by floatant, detergent etc, will put them down.

Over the years I have heard a great deal about "lining" fish, and how it should be avoided. Also about the various curve casts etc one should use in order to ensure that the fish sees the fly first, etc etc. Indeed, for quite a long time I actually believed it, and went to great lengths and not a few contortions attempting to achieve it. However, the truth is, as long as the line does not glint, or do anything strange, and is not accompanied by any other light effects etc, the fish ignore it, they don´t know what it is, and they don´t care. This is also why I now use very short droppers quite confidently. This is easier to control, saves tangles, and the flies fish better. One also has more or less immediate contact when a fish takes.

Moving back to motivations for a moment. Over the years I have shown various people this technique, among others. It is one of the few manipulation techniques which may be accomplished with a relatively short modern rod, if one is stealthy enough, and it is quite simple to learn. One particular guy I showed this to, now uses nothing else. He catches a lot of fish with it, and sees no reason to even try anything else. He tells everybody I am a genius, and holds forth at length on how he used to catch nothing much, and now "gets his limit" every outing. I feel rather disappointed at this. Of course I am happy for him that he now enjoys himself a lot more, but I am not over keen on the "fishmongering" mentality he seems to have developed. He has found a technique which is very successful, especially on some local waters here which are ideal for it, and has effectively closed his mind to anything else! I think that´s a shame really. I think he is missing out on a lot of things.

The point of this digression is to point out that many people get into habits. They learn a particular technique or set-up, and they catch a fish on it, or they even catch a few fish on it, and they never ever do anything else after that. This is also why many people still flog the water downstream with unsuitable wet flies, hoping to catch a fish. Now and then, they actually do, in some conditions one can catch quite a few, and that is then all they ever do. Getting into such habits is generally a bad thing for an angler. If you want to be really good, then you must keep trying other things, and also thinking about what you are doing and why. Any half way competent angler can catch a fish now and then under good conditions. Before you can really say you are even approaching "skill", you must be able to catch them in very poor, or indeed "any" conditions!

TL
MC

[Mike Connor]

What really is the difference between a very skilled and "successful" angler, and all the others? They may all catch fish at some time or other. For most people, it seems that a "successful" angler is one who does in fact catch a lot of fish. This is not necessarily the case of course, it depends rather more on one´s own definition of success. There are anglers who get more satisfaction and enjoyment from catching a single fish in a difficult position, and go home happy after releasing it.

If one has sufficient time, opportunity, and determination, or enthusiasm is perhaps a better word, then one will eventually become skillful in a number of ways. Of course, many people, especially beginning anglers, want to know what they can do now to catch more fish, or enjoy themselves more.

There are some things that everybody can do immediately, regardless of skill level or knowledge, and that is to concentrate on attention to detail! Make sure your knots are correct, check your flies carefully, make sure your leader is deglinted and degreased, don´t rush things, take your time, you are not in a competition, ( at least I hope not! ). This alone will catch you more fish! When your gear is in order and properly prepared, then you simply have more chance of catching fish.

Before you even start fishing, take the time to have a good look around you, and at the water. Think about what you see, and try to put it into context for your fishing. If, as many do, you tackle up in a hurry, and rush into the water in your waders and start flogging the water with the flies you always use, and in the same manner you always do, you will miss a lot of things. Untold numbers of people have written and quoted the expression "there is more to fishing than catching fish", and of course they are all right! Even more surprising then that many seem totally obsessed with simply catching fish, and invariably end up being unable to "see the wood for the trees".

When people tell you various things, or you read stuff, don´t just simply accept what is said or written, have a think about it. Often, it takes years to get over bad habits learned early, or to finally realise that something you have been doing was not very sensible or liable to be of great use. Angling is about asking questions, and mainly asking yourself!

Learn to dress your own flies! Many techniques and methods require simple but specific patterns, which you simply can not buy! It need not cost much, and you don´t actually need any tools at all, apart from a pair of fine scissors. Complicated flies, and expensive equipment, regardless whether rods, reels, lines, and all the other paraphernalia, will not make you a good angler. Only you can do that. In very many cases, you will gain a great deal more enjoyment from making your own stuff than you ever will from buying it. This is quite regardless of whether you can actually afford some things or not.

Make yourself a plan of action. what you want to do, and a basic plan of how to go about it. Very many anglers spend years, or even lifetimes haphazardly collecting loads of stuff, buying loads of gear, reading books and magazines, or not! But many never learn much as a result of all this. They are hardly any more skilled at the end, than they were at the beginning! This does not really matter of course, as long as they enjoyed it, but when one talks to many, they all say that they would like to be "better" anglers!

As a number of people asked, yes, many of these techniques will also work downstream, but you will still need sensible equipment, you must still be stealthy, and you must still be able to cast and manipulate your flies properly. The single main problem with downstream fishing, is that it scares fish you want to catch, and if you are obliged to throw a long line in order to at least alleviate this to some extent, then you lose the fine control required for optimum fishing. Either with tactical or passive teams. You will also be obliged to cover a great deal more water if you want to catch a few fish, which is not even a possibility for many nowadays, restricted as they are to some certain stretch of river or stream.

You can not fish as thoroughly or exactly when you fish downstream either. It is really as simple as that. Also, it may at first appear to be "easier", but this is largely illusory. It can be lazy fishing, but lazy fishing is not likely to be very successful anyway! Some things are in fact more difficult! You need to cast and control a longer line, which is more difficult than casting and controlling a short one! Of course you still need all the other skills and knowledge as well, and it is nevertheless certain that you will not be so well rewarded for your efforts, as if you had learned to fish upstream from the start. It only appears difficult to many because they are using the wrong gear! If you want to learn it, keep this in mind!

As I wrote at the beginning of this series, all the techniques described here only work really well with the proper gear, used in the proper manner. It is quite impossible to fish a tactical team either upstream or down, using a short rod and a long line. If you try it, you will fail, because it can not be done! If all you have is a 7´6" rod, and a #6 plastic fly line, it makes no difference how much they cost, they wont work with these techniques. This is not just an opinion, it is a simple matter of fact. Indeed, such a combination is also more or less useless for fishing passive teams as well. There are in fact not many things you can do with it at all!

Enough philosophising for the nonce! Back to teams.

In the meantime, the basic principles should be clear. The possible combinations of fly teams is of course more or less infinite! The manipulations possible are however really quite limited, bearing in mind that we only wish to induce "subtle" movement, giving the illusion of life, and in some cases very specific behaviour of particular creatures. The range of movement of small creatures is limited. They may move slowly or rapidly, but they can not usually move very far in any given period of time. people often confuse manipulation with large violent movements. This is not the object here.

Larger animals like grasshoppers, or crayfish, or minnows, and other similar sized things can move farther and faster than smaller creatures, and one may manipulate even single large flies designed to imitate such creatures with a lot more action. This wont work with small flies. Too much action is disadvantageous.

Another basic principle here, is that the slower the water, the more realistic your flies, and their movements, have to be! This also limits the insects you can successfully imitate using these techniques.

So, on to a very special team for slow water and pools. The point fly is a weighted corixa. This fly is not used much in running water, which is a serious mistake! A very large number of winged wet flies and similar stuff, which people fish downstream with lots of movement, are taken because of their resemblance to aquatic beetles! This does not appear to be widely known, although there are isolated references in the literature. Many of these beetles, most especially the corixa, commonly known as a "water boatman", are very strong swimmers, with a very characteristic swimming action.

Of all the fish I have caught and examined, there was hardly a one without at least a couple of such beetles in its stomach, and many had dozens of them! These creatures are very widespread, and are found in all waters. They are also good flyers, and can take off from the surface if they wish. When under water, they come up to the surface periodically, and collect air bubbles between their non swimming legs, and take them back down to the bottom. Thus giving them a very bright silvery appearance on their undersides. The carapace is usually of a dark brown shade. They are also possessed of two very powerful "paddles" with which they propel themselves rather jerkily, in the familiar "rowing" motion, hence their popular name. This is one of the few small insects which can swim very strongly indeed, even against a current, and the fish take them avidly.

The fly itself is quite simple. A good layer of lead on a size 12 hook, a fat oval body of cream fur, ribbed with silver tinsel, a back of dark brown feather or similar, and most important, two "legs" as paddles. These are brown rubber, tied in horizontally at the front of the hook. when the fly is moved the legs "paddle". The rubber legs must be selected so that this actually occurs! Thin round rubber works best. I use shirring elastic coloured with a brown marker.

The bob fly in this case is the same fly, but with a cork or foam body, and a stiffish dark brown hackle instead of the paddles.Cut away below the hook.

Technique is quite simple. The rig is pitched in, and "worked" back, by stuttering movements of the rod. The rod is raised in a series of small "jerks and stops" with pauses in between. Usually, fish hit the point fly very very hard! On occasion they will also hammer the bob fly. I like to have the point fly at least three feet away from the bob, and sometimes more, depending on water depth.

In order to see how you must retrieve, look into any pond or slow flowing water, and you will see such a beetle going about its business in the manner described. These beetles are a major food item for trout, both in still and running water.

TL
MC

[Mike Connor]

Tactical spider rig.

This rig works on completely different principles to many others, and although I mentioned in a previous article that one may cover shallow broken water better with a "normal" three fly spider rig, this is not quite true!

This rig is an absolutely deadly rig for shallow fast water, and may also be used in other places. It also allows lateral coverage of runs and riffles, which many other, especially weighted tactical rigs will not.

Basically quite simple. The point fly is a bushy buoyant dry fly, or an indicator fly, and the droppers are either spiders, or other suitable wet flies. Technique is also quite simple, the point fly is cast and used just like any other dry fly. Most fish come to the droppers. The slight drag which is inevitable when fishing any dry fly on a more or less straight line, and is usually a major disadvantage, causes the spiders, or other suitable flies, to move very attractively indeed. This rig is also excellent for snaggy weedy water, as the flies fish at a maximum depth of the dropper length. I use three inch dropper lengths almost exclusively. The whole rig , except for the dry fly, should be carefully degreased.

You may of course simply use one dry fly, and a single spider on the dropper. This can be extremely effective for upstream fishing to rising fish.

Stewart style spiders are ideal for this rig, but one may also use finely dressed Clyde style wets, and similar winged wet flies on this rig, to great effect. One really deadly combination in an olive hatch, is to use two Greenwell spiders dressed Stewart style, and a bushy "rough olive" or hare´s ear on the point. Of course there are many possible variations and combinations of flies. A sedge ( caddis) on the point and two fattish partridge and "X" spiders can be quite deadly on occasion, or two pupae in appropriate colour and size.

No real “manipulation” as such is required here, the water does it all for you. The drag caused by the leader and flies spanning currents of various speeds, causes more than enough movement in the flies. This rig is extremely versatile, and can be absolutely deadly. It wont work very well when used downstream on a tight line of course! The point fly immediately suffers from excessive drag, and the droppers will move too fast!

It is however an excellent beginner rig for upstream fishing, and there is no mistaking takes. If the point fly disappears, or moves oddly, then set the hook! Over ninety per cent of the fish taken will be on the droppers. Occasionally, a fish may take the point fly while the rig is moving, but this is quite rare actually. I stick to my usual leader setup and dropper spacing with this rig. Like this;



It is not usually quite as successful on slow smooth water, unless the water is coloured, or there is a bit of a breeze, etc. and doubtless using such a rig would get you run off a classic chalk stream at shotgun point! However, for fishing small streams, broken riffles and similar water, the rig is ideal, and extremely successful.

It will also work well on “still” waters in a wave, or when there is a bit of ripple on. It “may” sometimes also work in a flat calm, but is then not quite as reliable.

Of course, it is a surface oriented rig, and works best when there is surface activity, although of course it can also be used for “prospecting”.

Although many fish wont take a dragging fly, as long as it is not hurtling across the water at breakneck speed, most will simply ignore it. You may of course also simply use an indicator on the point if you wish, but the dry fly has several advantages. It will often take a fish immediately as it lands on the surface, and even after the micro-drag caused by the leader sets in, one may still take a fish or two on it. I have had some marvelous days just using this rig. It is easy to set up and control, one may use flies like winged wet flies with it, which can be quite deadly, but are otherwise difficult to fish with, and as such largely useless!

One other variation of this rig can also be very very deadly for both trout and grayling, and that is to use one or two buzzer pupae on the droppers, or a hare´s ear nymph or similar Various Glymphs will also work well.This even works in the depths of winter in certain places!

TL
MC

[Mike Connor]

There is often considerable confusion about how manipulation is used and how to apply it. This should explain a few basics;

First of all, note the two diagrams below;



Water flow is from left to right! In the first picture, the cast has just completed, and the rod, line, and leader, are in a straight line. The dots represent the flies. I am not a brilliant artist I fear, but the diagrams should be clear enough I hope!

In the second picture, the point fly has sunk to working depth, and the leader is in a straight line pointing upstream from the bob fly. Any movement of the bob fly, now causes the sunk flies to rise, and also to move slightly more towards the angler.Dependent of course on how far and how fast it is moved. The flies rise, and veer off course, until equilibrium of the respective drags of the point and bob fly are once again reached.

One can not LIFT the bob fly, one merely moves it. The water does the rest.

The sequence of events in the above pictures is actually a lot more complex. When the flies land on the surface, the point fly begins to sink immediately, as it sinks, it moves out from the point of entry, ( towards the middle of the stream) owing to the drag from the bob fly. The time it takes to do this, depends on the weight and the speed of the water flow. The bob fly also moves towards the point of entry, towards the far bank, ( given a little slack line). This all happens very quickly.

Duration and extent of events here, are also heavily affected by the design of the flies in use. A heavy point fly will sink faster and exert more drag on the bob fly. A buoyant bushy bob fly will exert more drag on the leader. Various designs of flies affect what occurs and how, as does the water being fished.

Eventually, as shown in picture two, the drags of the flies reach equilibrium, the leader is now pointing straight upstream, with the bob fly in front moving downstream.

Any pull on the bob fly now causes the sunk flies to rise, more or less depending on the rig in use, and also to move out a little more towards the angler. These movements are quite subtle, but they are more than sufficient to provide “life” to the flies, and to induce fish to grab them. Direct manipulation of the bob fly on a very short line, ( Dapping in effect) might work in some circumstances, but it would cause large and violent movements of the flies, and that is not what we are doing here. Indeed, we wish to expressly avoid it! We want minute movements of our flies, in order to simulate life.

There are also other ways and means of influencing the behaviour of the flies. Throwing an aerial mend into the cast ( mending from the water can be done, but is best avoided , because of possible disturbance. It can be done carefully though if desired), so as to form a line belly, is one. This may be used to adjust the lateral travel of the flies, and also to speed them up or slow them down somewhat, but the main control is always with the bob fly, which is being carried downstream by the current, and dragging the cast after it. What we are doing is using drag to aid us in simulating small living insects.

It is quite immaterial what the exact angle is , moving the bob fly will always cause the flies to rise. Although the degree of rise will differ according to the angle, and also to the type and design of the flies in use. The only time this will not work very well, is when one casts straight upstream, but it will still work to an extent.

All this only works because the surface current is ALWAYS! faster than the current below. It seems people are imagining some other scenario here, which is causing conceptual problems.

Any, even very slight, change of direction, or speed, of the bob fly, affects the speed and depth of the flies below.

AT NO TIME IS THE TIP OF THE ROD UPSTREAM OF THE FLIES!! That would .per definition, be downstream fishing, and is far more difficult to control properly with a tactical rig. Not least, because the sunk flies ALWAYS drag behind the bob fly, especially when weighted, and this causes all sorts of extra problems, requiring other completely different compensatory tactics when fishing downstream.

This is also a major problem when using standard “dead drift” wet fly teams upstream. Anything which unbalances the team, ( such as large or heavy flies in the wrong place) will cause the flies to behave differently, and one will have problems detecting takes etc. It may even cause tangles and other problems as well.

Point flies were called “stretchers” because they were designed to “stretch” the leader, and ensure that the other flies were also fishing properly. Without a proper stretcher, no rig will work properly, except for very short drifts. Indeed, this is also why advocates of the method which Stewart used more or less exclusively, are limited to using very short drifts, and consequently having to cast very frequently. A cast of spiders soon gets mucked up by the current, and varying drag across a run.

Also germane here, even with these tactical rigs, the drift is only a few yards maximum, before lifting off and recasting! The flies never get level with the angler, not even close to it! There is no point in allowing this, although a lot of people do it. It also makes casting quite unnecessarily more difficult. If a fish has not taken after being covered during such a drift, then it is unlikely to do so anyway. Furthermore, as soon as a belly forms in the line, any slack becomes apparent, or any appreciable amount of line gets below the angler, one loses control of the rig. For beginners, it is better to use a shorter line to begin with.On a twelve foot rod, an eighteeen foot line, or less if needed, even down to the length of the rod itself, until one can control it, and commensurate with staying far enough away from the fish.

In wider runs, or larger rivers, one can fan the casts somewhat from the same casting position, so as to cover more water laterally. The first one, more directly upstream, and fanning closer to the bank with each succcesive cast, although as a rule, most fish will be taken close to the bank. The actual tactical approach to fishing certain places is also important, but it is the subject of another larger article.

The tactical team here described covers the water COLUMN!!! NOT the width of the run. All the flies travel more or less the same path downstream, but at different depths. Some lateral coverage is attained by virtue of the manipulation, when the flies veer off course, but that is not the object of the exercise!

If one desires to cover a wide width of shallow broken water, then one is better served with a team of light mobile spiders, or other standard wet flies, without manipulation. This is not quite as successful as the tactical rigs, but it takes fish.

TL
MC

[MuddlerDaddy]

Hey Guys,
Thanks much for your input on rod selections ! I love to fish for trout but my biggest problem is that I live 3 1/2 hours from my favorite streams. I go about every 5-6 weeks and will stay 2-3 days so you see I really do not have the time to experiment with longer rods and such - but I do see the advantage of longer rods. About a year ago I was thinking pretty serious about a Tenkara rod because it looked like a lot of fun but changed my mind. I was confused about what rod length to get !!

I do have a TFO 10' 5 weight moderate action that I used on the White River in Arkansas. I will see how that will work on the streams as there are a lot of trees, bushes etc. I also have a 9' 3 weight that Im going to try. I think both will work fine for soft hackles. Normally on the small streams I use a 7 1/2 or 8 1/2 foot rod.

Mike, many thanks again for the valuable information you provide ! I will be reading it several times over..

Rick