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Fly Fishing for Big Brown Trout in
Large Loughs from Float Tubes .....
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Minkie
A Minkie is
the same as a Zonker except that thin strips of mink are used
instead of rabbit.
The mink is a finer fur with more action in the water and can
therefore be
tied in smaller sizes than rabbit fur strip Zonkers.
Mink fur is very soft and pulsates with life.
This and the Appetiser are good roach and rudd fry
imitations. |
Fly Patterns with Proven
Track Records for Catching Exceptionally Big Brown Trout in Loughs
If you think that
several of these flies shown here happen to look similar in a
general way, and you detect a common underlying theme, then it
follows that large brown trout (over 8 lbs) everywhere probably
have a general attraction to that shape, action or colour.
Bear in mind that your
local prey colour and location must be represented for best
results.
The big
trout recipe is relatively big - usually a
minnow
or
other
fish
or
leech or
shrimp or
crayfish.
But that's big relative to
a midge. Simply using large flies may be counterproductive on
"ordinary" big trout.
It's the size of the trout's food choice today that
matters. Remember that a truly large trout eats fish up to 1/3rd
it's length, so a 25" trout has no problem dealing with an 8"
fish, but
today
it may be mopping up a shoal of 1" perch fry instead. |
California Leech
HOOK: 3XL, No. 2-10
TAIL: marabou
with a few strands of Krystal Flash
UNDERBODY: Krystal Flash
BODY: Mohair,
sparse, combed out, brown, black, olive, wine
ORIGINATOR:
Bill Schiess If
you are inclined to pass over this pattern for any reason I
suggest you tie or buy some before doing so. It will avoid a
moment several years from now when someone else wipes you out
fishing the same water as you, and you find afterwards they were
using a California Leech, and then you wonder how many big trout
you missed out on !
Bill Schiess, a Henry's Lake guide with
immense experience, described it as the pattern he would
use if limited to only one fly. I had an interesting experience
the first time I used one, landing 6 trout averaging 2 1/4 lbs
in about 30 minutes, until my first California Leech was almost
completely shredded but still catching, including a "double" of
2.5 and 2.75 lbs.
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Badger Matuka
HOOK: 3x long
shank, tandem 8's & 10s
THREAD: Black or olive
THROAT: Marabou, red
RIB: Silver oval tied down over wing hackles
WING: Two Badger saddle hackles
TAIL: Wing Saddle hackle tips
BODY: Silver flat
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Smaller imitations of flies and nymphs are not to be
ignored. Where the big trout are under about 11lbs a heavy hatch
of big fly like sedges, mayfly, will get big browns feeding on
them, and when they are, that is the food item to copy and
present. But they do go piscivorous at about 4 lbs and meat dinners is
the way to place your bets usually. It seems to me that from
about 7lbs the small fly is losing it's pulling power even on
fly rich loughs like Sheelin.
On these very fertile loughs the really well clued in
experienced old hands get fish from 5lbs to 9lbs very so often
by stalking with floating flies. So it can definitely be done
when they are feeding visibly.
Outside these heavy hatches and calm evenings, the trollers
are doing the catching of big browns. So for sunk line fishing
the bigger flies are the flyfisher's equivalent of their
hardware.
You have to pay attention to what is the most significant food
item at the moment in numbers and size, and figure out what the
big browns will do about it |
Zonker
# 6 lure hook 4xl,
UNDERBODY: hot melt glue, or lead with wool
over with belly bulge 1/3 from eye
BODY: pearlescent Mylar tubing tinsel
THROAT: red or yellow
WING: Rabbit fur zonker strip
beaver fur strip back/wing 1 1/4" long hair
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Humungus
HOOK: Long shank 8 - 10 Kamasan B175
TAIL: Black marabou
UNDERTAIL: silver flashabou
BODY: Silver diamond tinsel chenille
RIB: Silver wire
HACKLE: Cream Grizzle/Cree palmered
EYES: 4mm Bog chain
ORIGINATOR:
Dave Downie
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By day:
Colour
and translucence are important, optical active fibres like soft
hackles, mink, marabou add visual liveliness. The mobility in
the soft materials looks lively enough to entice a fish which
may be much more wary than the average smaller trout.
By day an eye or centre of mass flash from the
chest area of a prey fish all are important and help a predator
to "lock on". Also the different species of prey fish have
identification features that predators zone in on.
Many minnows have a characteristic stripe
along their side. Sticklebacks have red colour patches during
mating and spawning.
Young perch have orange fins, and bars on their sides that a
grizzle hackle imitates well.
In daytime the bigger trout move out of the
shallows towards deeper water unless there is good cover like
waves, weeds, suspended algae, or overhanging timber.
So
usually a sinking line gets the fly closer to them in daylight
and increases the chance of an attack.
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Grizzly Shrimp
HOOK : 0 - 4
THREAD: black
TAIL: grey squirrel tail
BODY: humped back
badger fur
LEGS/HACKLE: grizzly saddle hackle palmered
BACK/SHELL: grey squirrel tail
Variations: use red squirrel tail with brown saddle hackle
Hint: trim head at an angle and apply head cement.
ORIGINATOR:
Del Canty |
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Olive Matuka
HOOK: 3X long
THREAD: Olive
THROAT: Marabou, red
RIB: Gold wire
WING: Saddle hackle
TAIL: Saddle hackle
BODY: Olive dubbing
Small (#10-14) matukas imitate perch fry. A black
and silver matuka with red marabou throat hackle is also very
effective. |
Have a sinking line after daybreak unless
there is a very good reason to do otherwise, like a big mayfly
hatch for example.
At night:
A
bivisible with light and dark contrasts, a good silhouette, more
firm hackles to disturb the water and make vibration signals of
location.
Add in certain recognition features that resemble the
main forage types in your particular water and you have a fly
specifically tailored to the large browns in your local water.
Examples are striped side (minnow), red fins (roach/perch), red
belly (male stickleback), and eye, and so on.
At night it is important to get the fly
high in the water so they can see it against the sky, so make
sure to have a floating line set up within 1 hour after sunset.
Twilight poses it's own problems.
How visible a fly will look unreal?
How see through a fly will disappear and not get noticed?
A fluorescent spot or some flashabou is good at this time.
Crystal chenille or a prominent rib are good.
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Purple Showgirl Trolling Fly
HOOK: 3XL to 4XL, size 4 to 10
THREAD: 6/0 Black
TAIL:- Black marabou the length of the hook shank
BODY: Light purple
pearlescent chenille
WING: Black marabou
ORIGINATOR: Bill Schiess
There are many lures, and "damselfly
imitatations" that have a wing and tail of marabou. The mobility and
action of this material is incomparable, and makes excellent trolling
flies for use while moving between fishing spots. Purple Showgirl is a
tried and tested pattern with a huge track record of successful catches
on Henry's lake in the Mid-West US.
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Black Crystal Bugger
under construction
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The stiff hackles of a night fly disturb the water and send
signals that predators can detect and home in on.
A white wing or yellow area show up very bright at this time of
grey light.
A surface wake making fly like a bob fly is capable of grabbing
attention from distances and has "pulling power".
Increasing the size
obviously adds visibility too.
The trout will often pick out a slightly
larger fly from many similar natural food items that are
otherwise similar and therefore anonymous.
But it is not good to go too large relative
to the local food however in case the illusion is broken.
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Dapped Natural Fly: double or triple Daddy Long Legs,
Grasshopper or Mayfly
under construction
The dap has a track record of bringing
up larger than average trout, superior to conventional
traditional wet fly when imitative flies are being taken. This
is not to say that a sunk line style can't equal or beat the dap
for size of fish. |
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Gold Humungus
OR “SHUGGIE”
HOOK: Long shank 8 - 10 Kamasan B175
TAIL: Black marabou
UNDERTAIL: gold flashabou
BODY: gold diamond tinsel chenille
RIB: gold wire
HACKLE: light cree palmered
EYES: gold 4mm Bog chain
ORIGINATOR:
Dave Downie
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The factors by which the trout recognises food are :
colour,
outline shape,
size,
visibility: movement through water,
visibility: movement of component parts of the fly,
visibility: contrast in bright vs dark,
visibility: opaqueness - translucence.
Most factors
must be in sync with the food that is usually eaten in this
local area in order to make our particular offering acceptable.
But we can alter a few features, enhancing them, so that our
food item gets noticed, and picked out.
Tie big flies that lift out "dry" because they are easier to
cast
I had an interesting conversation with Del Canty during summer
2008 on the subject of extra large flies for big fish and
casting them. |
Canadian Brown leech
# 6,
ORIGINATOR: Bill Schiess
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Fluorescent Orange
Woolly Worm
HOOK: Long shank 0 - 4
TAIL: fluorescent orange
wool tag
BODY: fluorescent
orange chopped wool dubbing
RIB: gold oval
HACKLE: grizzle palmered
reverse wound
ORIGINATOR:
Traditional pattern with a long UK-Irish history as the Soldier
Palmer, translated to the Woolly Worm in US, and modified by
Del Canty for low light
conditions.
High
visibility, bulky silhouette, surface wake feature fly with all
it takes for good night fishing. This
style is currently having a resurgence of popularity in the
large trout Orkney Islands lochs. The bulky body may require
careful and repeated striking as big fish can get a good grip on
it. In recent years, this style has evolved into the
Woolly Bugger/Humungus family of flies with the addition of a
marabou tail. |
Del fished extra large size flies for trophy fish for many years
and had figured it all out already. He put me wise to waterproofing the fly.
I am not talking about using dry fly floatant. This
refers to
making flies designed for underwater presentation, streamers,
fish imitations, leeches and so on.
This refers to making your large flies in such a way that they
readily shuck off the water on liftoff into a cast. The
idea is that you are not chucking a heavy wet lure at the end of
a length of line.
Ideally after the cast, when they land on the water they should
cut down into it readily, not sit on top of the surface like a
big ball of fluff.
The appearance of a fly is important
for sure. But the design that produces that outward appearance is also
very important.
If two fly dressings look identical and one is more waterproof than the
other, then that one is superior. A big fly that sheds water, and
penetrates well even when dry is a well designed fly. It goes into and
out of the water in a superior way every cast.
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Grizzly
Muddler (Sculpin-Crayfish)
HOOK: Long shank from tandem 2 - 4s,
front point clipped off, extended 4x
TAIL: badger fur
BODY: badger fur
RIB: none
HACKLE: Deer hair spun and clipped as shown, then the
underside is clipped flat with hook pointing upwards in weedless
position
ORIGINATOR:
Del Canty
This is an example of the streamlined
patterns with a large appearance, but low weight (for casting)
that Canty ended up using after many years fishing for and
catching exceptionally large trout from the tube.
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BLACK IPN (Idiot Proof Nymph)
Also called
Black Fritz Woolly
Bugger
Hook: 4 wide gape
Tail: Black marabou with pearl flashabou each side
Body: Black/Pearl Fritz
Head: 4mm Gold bead |
Think about it, a fly that
sinks well when it's supposed to, will require less lead under
the fly dressing. It will then cast better than another heavily
leaded fly. The leader and knots will be subject to reduced wear
and tear during casting, and as a result they will be stronger
when a big fish does eventually get hooked. Nothing should be
left to luck.
So long as you tie your own
flies, you should design the larger size flies to release extra
water quickly and therefore be cast at a lighter "dry payload"
weight. You will feel fresher at the end of the day as a result.
Your catch rate should also be raised a(nother) fraction too.
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Injured Flat Body Shad
HOOK: Long shank from tandem 2 - 4s,
front point clipped off, extended 4x with a keel hook shape
added near the eye, hook point up
TAIL: soft badger fur
BODY: white chenille, crushed flat in vertical profile
RIB: green sparkle glitter glue along exposed body and
hook
HEAD: Formed from the green sparkle glue and pearl bead
eyes on burn-melted-ended mono
ORIGINATOR:
Del Canty
Another large but streanlined fishy pattern from Canty
used for large Mid-West and Alaskan trout from the tube.
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Appetiser, Black chenille Fiendly Tube, Waggie
Marabou Tandem Muddler |
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Give due consideration to the fact that the
body materials used in a particular fly pattern can have an
effect when striking into takes.
After the predator seizes a fish, it is pinned between the
tongue and the roof of the mouth with great force. As in pike
fishing the initial strike often will not move the bait, or the
hooks at all, and therefore the hooks do not penetrate into the
mouth parts. Line pressure must be maintained at strong pull,
until the fish gets alarmed, at that point it will open it's
mouth to spit out the offending item, and next after that it
will headshake and then run for cover or deeps. When it opens
it's mouth the grip is relaxed, SO LONG AS THE PRESSURE FROM THE
ROD IS STILL ON the hooks will then move. When the hooks move
they penetrate the side of the mouth. THAT IS WHEN THE PREDATOR
GETS HOOKED AND NOT BEFORE. SO IT'S IMPERATIVE TO HOLD TIGHT
AFTER STRIKING, UNTIL HOOKUP.
For this reason it is important that the
fly is not constructed of materials that easily tangle in teeth,
thus locking the fly in place, as this will prevent the hooks
moving when pressure is applied. Think carefully whether you
need a body at all, or can the flowing shroud of materials, wing
and tail do the job with better hooking power.
Another technique, well known by pike
anglers, is either to strike again at intervals. The best way in
my opinion is to strike and
maintain severe pressure until you are happy the fish is
properly hooked. I tried both techniques, and now this is how I do it.
Each
predator species takes a small fish in a certain way. The perch for
example has little teeth in the front of it's mouth, so it chases and
snaps at the tail of the smaller fish, then when the prey has been
disabled sufficiently, the perch usually takes it engulfing it from
behind .
A pike is
different, it also follows at first, but when it attacks it goes out to
one side, overtakes until level, then it makes a
circular turn away from the angler grabbing it's prey crosswise across
the middle as it goes. This is also the way brown, trout,
ferox trout and salmon take
medium sized prey. They are similar to each other in the sense that they
have teeth to grab a fish crosswise, and backwards facing tongue teeth
to hold it firmly. But when attacking significantly larger prey these
predators, especially trout sometimes use the perch's method of
attacking it first.
When taking slower small prey they engulf from behind or whatever direction they
approach from. Small and slow and unlikely to escape is taken in the
same calm way as rising to a fly or insect.
Trout can swim up and
overtake a small fish and sideswipe it with a headshake making a
concussion shock wave that injures and disables.
They also know how to
lash violently with their tail making a shockwave that stuns small fish.
This method is a favourite when hunting a shoal of fry. They deal with
the shoal using shockwaves. One moment the shoal of small fry is there,
then they are panicking trying to get away. Suddenly a dark fry-free
corridor opens up, parting the fleeing shoal where the trout is powering in
underneath it, lashing a spade-like tail from side to side as it does so. A few seconds later dozens of little white bodies float
up to the surface right above where the dark corridor was. The trout comes back sipping them down the injured
individually taking them almost like spent gnat.
These factors influence
where your hooks should be located in a long lure. A hook should be in
the tail of a long lure. A lure with flowing hackles or long
streamer or marabou fibres benefits from the stinger tandem hook, as
these long slim lures provoke the tail crippling take more often.
A shorter lure requires the hook to be at centre of mass, behind the
head - the chest area. It's no harm to have a visual guide showing this
area. The eye, the red spawning male stickleback flash is located here.
A bit of extra flash here helps. Not all over ... just in this part of
the lure in particular.
If you want to stop-start the
retrieve while being followed by a predator, and I do this a lot, some
marabou included in the pattern can still move and vibrate, imitating
gill and fin movement, and maintaining the illusion of life even though
water speed is zero.
Norm
Copyright for this article
is Norman Greene's - reproduction only with permission of
the author.
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