Fly dressings

[Ron 'The Hat' Clay (ACA)]

That's where you and me differ sf.

I've never in my life taken to competitive fly fishing, although I have won, and come second and third in a few non-serious matches over the years. That's why I go out to catch overwintered fish using insect imitating flies most of the time, even to the extent of sometimes blanking.

But I would rather catch a gorgeous overwintered fish of say 3 lbs than 30 or more stockies. On my local ressie I have got this sussed quite well. I ignore the "picket fence" of stocky bashers and go to the other end of the lake where there are hardly any anglers. Last year I caught 5 fish in one afternoon all over 3 lbs, the best 7 1/2 lbs, all bright as new pins and with full fins that fought like stink.

Ribbing with cock hackle stalk over floss is how **** Walker used to make his midge pupa (I use this term instead of "buzzer" in reverence to **** because he stated quite rightly that these things don't buzz!).

All you do is strip white cock hackles of the fibre and tie in the thin end of the stalk at the tail of the imitation and wind back to the thorax in the normal way.

Unfortunately the trout's teeth often make a mess of these flies, but you'll not mind that. I do not have any photos available at the moment.

I have also caught many fish on the basic woolly worm pattern. A big hot orange one was deadly in the Natal lakes when they were on daphnia.

 

[shootinfishin]

We're not that different at all Ron.

I am in the Navy. If I fish service competitions I get the day off, these are league matches so fish mean points, regardless of whether the are rank stockies or overwintered. In other words at these times I'm getting paid to fish.

When it is my own time such as the weekend, I am entirely like yourself in that I'm more puritanical and like a challenge with no interest in fresh stockies.

 

[Ron 'The Hat' Clay (ACA)]

Hell the Navy can't be bad. Getting paid to go fishing........

To be quite frank, I have seen a few of these matches taking place on Rutland and Grafham and they are not for me. The expressions of the competitors in those boats seem quite frightening as they roly poly frantically for the stockies.

They should let the darned things grow up a bit in my opinion.

The British reservoirs produced their best fishing shortly after they opened. Both brown and rainbow trout were stocked as very small fish and left to grow out for a year or two. When the waters were opened for anglers the fishing was incredibly good as those fish had grown big and fat on life such as worms, living in the newly covered land.

I have in my life been lucky enough to have fished "virgin" waters, lakes that were stocked with trout fingerlings and never fished for 3 or 4 years.

Then a few of us got permission to fish such waters - Wow!!!

 

[shootinfishin]

they roly poly frantically for the stockies

WEll they better not be as it's international rules and roly poly aint yet allowed!