davidriley
Member
A friend of mine has access to some trout fishing, which he usually targets with the lure rod and a Mepps, or soft bait. Thought I would educate him into trying a few jig flies.
The two on the left of the photo with the red tag are my version of the 'Bloody William', which is a 'William's Favourite' with a red tag tail. Black hen hackle, black floss silk body ribbed with oval silver and a red fluorescent wool tag with a touch of U.V.Enhancer flash pearl. A useful fly when there is a bit of colour in the water.
The fly below is a 'Black & Peacock spider' , a beetle or general bug imitation, normally fished in still water but I always found it to be useful on rivers too. Black hen hackle with an underbody of black floss silk overwound with 3 strands of peacock herl twisted. The body is ribbed with fine copper wire taken from an old electric motor!
The two in the top centre are the 'Pheasant tail'. An old English pattern, which can be fished wet or dry. My version is of the wet spider pattern. A furnace hen neck hackle with orange tying silk. The body is two or three strands of a cock pheasant centre tail ribbed with fine gold wire. I like the orange tying silk to show through at the tail end.
Below the 'Pheasant Tail' is my jig version of a pheasant tail nymph made famous in England by Frank Sawyer and Major Oliver Kite. The dressing is 3/4 strands of cock pheasant centre tail feather wound over a body of brown tying silk with some lead wire wound over the hook in the thorax area. Although you can't see it from the photo, when you reach the lead head the feather is doubled back over the thorax region. Very fiddly. I cheated! I tied a couple of extra strands of cock pheasant herl in before the thorax and then tied it down at the head.
The two bucktail flies are me 'playing'.
David
I guess it just depends what the fish want on that day. Will pop it hard and fast some times but other time it takes long (5-10 second) pauses in the retrieve with no action to get a bite. I tend to start out with a specific cadence........ pop-pop-pop-pause------ pop-pop-pop-pause------ pop-pop-pop-pause------ then throw in so odd pauses and see what happens. Majority of the time i am working a bobber and jig (float 'n fly) the whole way in but have had days when the wind and current seem to make enough action and i really do not have to do much.