Got a problem,  threads all tangled, don't know which hook to use,  your feathers flustered, well then,      ask the          '  The Fly Doctor.  '

E mail him your questions and the answers will appear on this page.

    Send your problems for diagnosis to : flydoctor@dressedinfeathers.co.uk

hi doc emailing to ask you about a fly and how to fish it as i am going to

kingennie fishery and i was reading the weekly report and it mentions the

green pea.   thanks jim  anyone out there help?

Another query from Jim,

Hi doc could U give me some idea what flies to use on droppers and where to use them

Jim,

A glance through any catch returns book will show that trout can usually be caught on a variety of different patterns on any given day, as so by using a variety of different patterns on one, two or even three droppers, you can “hedge your bets” as to what might be successful. However, droppers can offer so much more than simply a choice of menu for the trout. When used sensibly, droppers can dictate how the flies are fished and most important of all in my view, the depth at which the flies are fished. A non specific representation, fished at the correct depth, will invariably out perform the correct imitation fished either too high or too low in the water column. 

Initial fly selection depends on the type of fishing you intend to pursue and the particular method you wish to use.  Within these two parameters further options to consider are: time of year, weather conditions, water conditions, local fly hatches, colour, size and of course, function. It might seem obvious to state that the function of a dropper pattern is to catch fish but sometimes dropper flies and indeed point flies are used sacrificially to allow the other flies on the leader to fish in a particular way or at a particular depth. If they happen to catch fish then that is a bonus. The important factor here is to balance the cast to produce the desired result. Putting the fly that sinks quickest on the point, with the lightest or most buoyant fly on the top dropper helps minimize tangles and gives better turn over but it also enables the flies to be fished through a depth gradient in order to search for the taking depth. As an example, a floating line with a leader length of say 15 feet and something like a heavy epoxy buzzer or gold head Damsel on the point, a Cruncher or PTN on the middle dropper and a Diawl Bach or even a CDC Shuttlecock buzzer on the top dropper, can cover depths down to about 8 -10 feet. For deeper fishing, increase the length of the leader and the weight of the point fly. If this does not get deep enough, change to the appropriate sinking line. 

Throughout the day, trout are quite likely to change their feeding preferences either from one food item to another or to switch to a different life cycle stage of the same insect.  In these circumstances, fishing droppers with patterns that represent these various food items or life cycle stages can keep you tuned in to those changes. Fishery staff are best placed to be able to suggest what food items are on the menu and which patterns have been productive so don’t be afraid to ask. As an example, last year I visited a new fishery and was told the fish were taking dry Mayflies but not until around mid afternoon. It made sense therefore to fish Mayfly nymphs in the morning changing to a nymph on the point, an emerger on the middle and a dry Mayfly on the top dropper from lunchtime onwards which kept me aware of the changes in feeding patterns as they occurred and kept me catching regularly throughout the day. A similar strategy can be used for olives, midges and sedges.

Even when fishing dries, droppers can often be beneficial. In a reasonable wave or when fishing at distance, it can be very useful to fish a big bushy dry fly on the point to fix the position of the smaller, more difficult to see dropper patterns. Alternatively you could try fishing a mix of dries and emergers such as an F fly on the point, a CDC Shuttlecock or Klinkhammer on the middle dropper and a Shipman’s Buzzer on the top dropper. Depending upon time of year, terrestrial patterns such as Hawthorne, Bibio, Beetle, Hopper or Daddylonglegs could all be worth adding to the cast. Close inspection of the surrounding vegetation as well as the recent contents of spider’s webs should provide you with some idea of potential patterns to use.   However, in calm conditions or when fish are locked onto a particular terrestrial insect, careful presentation of a single dry fly is often the best approach. 

 If fish are thought to be high in the water or taking just subsurface,  the” washing line” technique might be the best tactic. This uses a floating line with a Booby or other highly buoyant fly on the point and one or two small nymphs or buzzers suspended from the droppers which are simply left to drift on the wind a few inches beneath the surface. If Boobies are not your thing, use a bushy dry fly on the point, grease up the leader butt  and put two lightweight nymphs on the droppers to create a similar presentation. 

For Buzzer fishing, droppers are used primarily to present variations in size, or colour but life cycle stages can also be accommodated. Epoxy buzzers or bloodworms tied on heavyweight hooks, sink very quickly and are normally considered as point flies. Smaller sized epoxy buzzers on lighter weight hooks tend to be middle dropper patterns while Blakestone type buzzers, spiders and emerger patterns are kept for the top dropper position. The size and colour of buzzers change as the season progresses generally starting small and black, then to large black and brown, to small olive and tiny green and back to small black but there will always be some overlap with some localized variations. It is also worth noting that red and orange buzzers are very effective towards dusk, irrespective of what was hatching during the day. 

In traditional loch style fishing the emphasis is all about creating movement, especially with the top dropper or bob fly. Loch style casts usually have a heavy point fly, often tied on a double hook, to anchor the team of flies in the water to allow the droppers to be successively dribbled through the waves. These patterns are usually some sort of flashy attractor pattern such as a Dunkeld or Alexandra with a drab, slightly more imitative fly on the middle dropper such as a Black Pennell or Mallard and Claret but the top dropper is inevitably reserved for bushy palmer patterns such as Soldier Palmer, Kate McLaren, Invicta or even a Muddler to create maximum surface disturbance.

When fishing lures, the heaviest fly tends to go on the point, especially if it has a long marabou or fur strip tail. Avoid long tailed flies on the droppers as these tend to become tangle magnets. The middle dropper is usually some sort of nymph pattern such as a Montana, PTN, Stick fly, Diawl Bach or Buzzer with the ubiquitous blob or other attractor pattern on the top dropper. If fish are very deep, a very fast sinking line with a Booby on the point and two buzzers on the droppers, produces a sort of “reversed washing line” that can be extremely effective on its day. If daphnia is on the menu then green or orange based lures usually produce the desired results.

The disadvantages to using droppers are that tangles and breakages tend to occur more often and good presentation suffers as a result. There is also the age old problem of the top dropper fly preventing quick and easy netting of a fish which has taken the point fly. In these situations it is worth reducing the number of droppers but where presentation is critical, or when strong winds make casting difficult, the removal of all droppers is often the best option.
Tight lines, 

Les.

Answers to our last set of questions.

Jim,
The first thing to say about indicators is that like boobies and egg flies, they are not permitted on many fisheries, so check before you use them.
That said, indicator restrictions usually only apply to the artificial types of indicator such as the polystyrene ball type, float dough, or indicator yarn but so long as you are allowed to fish with more than one fly, then the same effect can be achieved using a buoyant fly pattern such as a floating fry, deer hair sedge, flue brush or even a booby (where allowed) attached to the dropper. Simply adjust the distance between the dropper and the point fly to achieve the required depth. This has the added advantage that fish will sometimes also take the indicator pattern. When the fishing depth of the fly is relatively shallow, say 18” or less, the New Zealand method is also worth a try. This uses a buoyant dry fly on the point as the indicator with a small nymph, usually a buzzer, tied directly to the hook of the dry fly using the hook barb to secure the knot. 
Although casting with indicators can be somewhat difficult there are three main benefits to fishing with indicators. It allows your fly or flies to fish at a known preset depth. This is particularly helpful when fishing over weed beds or to hang your flies just off the bottom. It allows the flies to drift with the wind producing a much more natural presentation. This is particularly effective on small stillwaters where fish have become wary of pulled flies.It allows a much quicker response to the take.  Many takes are missed because they don’t register in your hand but indicators signal even the most delicate takes. 
Setting up an indicator is very straightforward but there are several different types of indicator on the market, each with their own method of fixing.  Probably the easiest to use is the butterfly type. This is simply a piece of closed cell polystyrene shaped like a number 8, one side of which is self adhesive. Simply peel the butterfly from the backing and fold it over at the waist onto the line at the desired distance. Use two, if you are using heavy flies. The drawback with this type is that you cannot re - adjust the position. The second is simply a piece of highly buoyant yarn which is simply tied to the leader at the required distance. Again, adjusting the position can be awkward if not impossible. By far the most common indicator is the ball and peg type. Thread the ball onto the leader and trap the line in position by inserting the wooden peg. The big benefit with this type of system is that the indicator can be easily adjusted by removing the peg, re positioning the indicator and reinserting the peg. Some indicators have replaced the hole and peg with a slit running the length of the indicator and a piece of rubber tubing but the principle is still the same. The line is wrapped around the tubing which is then stretched to fit into the slit but on release the tubing contracts to fill the slit and anchor the line in position. Personally, I have not found this system to be 100% reliable as often the rubber works loose and the indicator flies off. A good supply of well priced indicators can be found at www.strikeindicator.co.uk or phone David Burke on 0778 526 8236.

Some people talk about blobs and egg flies as if they are the same fly but nothing could be further from the truth. Not only are they constructed differently and from hugely different materials, but they are also fished in very different ways.
Blobs.
These are usually unweighted patterns tied with fritz type materials for the body. Some patterns have small marabou tails in contrasting colours while others sport a wing of flashabou material. Colours are many and varied but sunburst orange and yellow are firm favourites on the competition scene.
They are generally fished on sinking lines and are usually positioned on the top dropper with either a lure or a nymph or both, fished beneath. Invariably blobs are fast pulling patterns although they do sometimes get taken off the surface while waiting for the other flies to sink.
Eggs
My preferred egg flies are tied as weighted patterns using tinhead hooks but gold, silver or tungsten beads or even split shot could be used on standard hooks as an alternative. Other than thread, egg yarn is the only other material used for the tying, the idea being to create a round fluffy ball in your required colour or colour combination.  Yellow, orange, white, or all three combined are worth trying but black and black and green also do well on occasions.
Eggs are fished very differently to blobs. For a start, they are almost entirely fished on a floating line, ideally under an indicator. The important thing to realise is that they fish best either stationary or on the drop so try to avoid retrieving them.
Blobs and eggs are successful patterns at any time of year but colours and retrieve speeds may need to be changed to suit the weather conditions. As a rule of thumb, if the fish will chase, then blobs are a good bet but if not, then try the eggs.
If you need any help in tying these flies speak to me at the next meeting to arrange a tying session for the next hands on evening.
Tight lines,
Les.

Hi Jim
From fishing blobs on the competition circuit it can be to easy fishing for those fresh "stockies" but they don’t work all the time. Those fish that have been in for a while 90%of them in my view will not take the blob but 10% will take more from aggression than anything else. One of the best ways to fish the blob is on your top dropper on a sinking line from a slow intermediate to a Di8.Your top dropper should be 5ft from your braided loop and 5 ft to your middle dropper then you should have about 6ft to your point 16 ft in total and I like to use fluorocarbon for this pulling method. The best colours I have found are Orange fritz body with a lime green marabou tail/tag. Black and green, pink and just plain black. So Jim if you want to me to tie you one up just let me know.
Regards
Mike

Mike,

The Orkney islands consists of about 9 main islands with the largest simply referred to as mainland Orkney by the locals. I have fished mainland Orkney twice, once in June and once in August but did not find a huge difference in terms of the fishing.
The main lochs are Harray, Stenness, Boardhouse and Swannay but my personal favourite was Loch Kirbister, a smaller, more intimate loch with safe wading which fished well from the bank, especially in the evening.
Before talking about flies, it is worth mentioning something about the weather and the geology of mainland Orkney since these factors can combine to dramatically influence the fishing. Orkney is very flat and the lochs are therefore generally rather shallow. There are virtually no trees either so shelter is almost non existent, and when the wind starts to blow, which is virtually all the time, the bottom sediment can sometimes get a bit churned up making fishing less productive. That said, the locals prefer to fish the bigger lochs like Harray and Stenness when there is a good blow which usually means white topped waves!! A word of warning here, Loch Harray can be a dangerous place in these conditions as there are many areas where rocks lie just below the surface.
Typically, the locals tend to use traditional wets and spider patterns in teams of three or four and nearly always have a big bushy fly on the bob but dry flies are also worth trying when conditions are favourable. Looking through my diaries the following flies worked well for me:-
Black Pennell, Zulu, Soldier Palmer, Invicta, Olive Bumble, Claret Bumble, dark winged Wickham’s Fancy, Butcher, Kate McLaren, Dunkeld, Cinnamon and Gold, Ke – He, Black Muddler, Sedgehog, Buff or Ginger Spider and a weighted PTN.
During the day, the locals tended to fish sizes 8s and 10s in a decent wave but I always found sizes 12 and 14 to be more effective irrespective of the wind conditions but for evening fishing, sparsely dressed 14s and 16s worked best for me. I hope this information will help you enjoy fishing in what I have always considered to be a truly magical place.
Tight lines,

Les.

Could you tell me how to set up and use a flyfishing strike indicator ~ Jim Galloway

I have just started flyfishing and i was wondering if you could tell me when is the best time of the year to use a blob or egg fly and any tips on how to use it ~ also from Jim.

Fly Doctor can you help me with any information on fishing the Lochs on the Orkneys in July.
And what flies to use and if possible put them on your web site so I could copy them (or you can tie some for me?) I would be grateful for this.
Regards Mike

Another response to Les~

Thanks for the very thought provoking comments Les and yes I generally agree that we should all be pulling together against the Anti's, for a war that is surely coming. I think it would be a sound idea if our Branch obtained membership of the ACA as a starting point at least and hopefully this can be discussed later.

 I too have had some success with the Egg Fly and it is most certainly a killer, not every time of course, but generally so given the right conditions. My worry is that if we all come to rely on the Egg as a 'certainty' and a sure-fire limit catcher, then it will become the 'norm' and all the usual exciting and rewarding imitative methods will become secondary, and if that happens then it will be the worse for our sport. In the meantime, however I thought your talk and presentation was excellent so thanks again.

I had a similar fish catching experience a year or two back when fishing as a guest on Entwistle Reservoir. I was wading and caught a nice Rainbow on my top dropper which I think was a Buzzer. Having unhooked the fish in the water I let it slip gently away when it immediately went for the point fly which was still lying just a few feet away and quite visible due to the shallow water. It was quite odd having to release the same fish again, and under such unusual circumstances, but it happened, and just another quirk of our wonderful hobby.

Cheers Dave Pollard. 

Here is some input following Les's comments below, thanks Mike for this.                

I fished Arnfield reservoir many years ago and was fishing the bank near the inlet where the iron walkway used to be. I was fishing  a floating line with a single black hawthorn on the point when a fish took it off the top, about 30yards away a boat angler was playing a fish as well. When I was bringing my fish in I realised that I was bringing the boat angler and his fish in at the same time it was then we realised that we were playing the same fish, so he gave it some slack line and then I landed the trout. I removed both our flies from the fish both flies were identical  and both flies were in the scissors on either side of the fish we laughed and said why does a fish do that? I believe that this trout was doing what it does naturally FEEDING and it just had eaten what it though was food but with 2 anglers on the end!!!! 
 
I believe that in the instances of mine and Les's fish are just doing what comes naturally to them. 

these links have some info on egg flies.

http://www.westfly.com/patterns/wet/eggfly.shtml

http://www.questoutdoors.net/skills/ftying/patterns/eggs/yarn_egg/

Pictures can be sent to the site in answers if you wish, please send in JPEG format, please send as attachments  to your e-mail. 

What do you think of fishing lures and buzzers on the same cast?

Fishing at foremark for the N/W guild I fished an orange blob on the top dropper as a attraction and a black buzzer on the middle and point and caught on them all, also why do people frown when people fish blobs and catch on them?

I would be interested in your answers to my questions.

Mike,

Is fishing a lure with a team of buzzers not akin to fishing an attractor pattern as part of a team of wets? Surely the principles are similar, namely, that while the lure or attractor will often take their share of fish, their two main roles are to attract fish to the other flies on the cast and also to help position the cast at the required depth. The apparent paradox for me concerns the speed of retrieve of these two diametrically opposed fly types. Lures tend to be fished quickly while buzzers often cannot be fished slowly enough and the fact that such a contradiction should be successful on the day merely adds to the conundrum that is fly fishing. I can accept that on occasions a sink and draw type of retrieve might be effective for both buzzer and lure alike and maybe this was one of those times but at the risk of being controversial, dare I suggest that perhaps it had more to do with the naivety of the fish caught rather than presentation. 

 I believe Mike’s second question goes right to the heart of our sport. In Halford and Skues’ day, the arguments were about whether dry flies should be fished upstream or down and the morality, or lack of it, when fishing nymphs.  To day it is blobs, competition fishing and the use of indicators that are the topics of disaffection. The crux of the matter is that individual anglers define the sport of fly fishing differently and when these definitions or ideals fail to coincide, conflict results.

In its purest sense, fly fishing is a method of trying to catch fish using a concoction of fur, feather and synthetic materials to produce an artificial fly which imitates a real fly. By definition therefore, anything that is not a representation of a fly should not be used. However, this definition is very restrictive and it is generally accepted that this definition can be extended to include imitations of any likely food item, be that fly, nymph, crustacean, or even other fish fry.  However, this broader definition still excludes fly fishing for salmon, for as we already know, salmon do not eat while in fresh water and in any event, how many real flies look like a green highlander or a Jock Scott? Our fly fishing definition therefore needs to be extended even further to also take into consideration the reasons why fish might take our offerings into their mouths. In truth, if we succeed in getting a fish to take our “fly” for whatever reason, be that hunger, curiosity, aggression or some other factor, have we not succeeded in the deception that is fly fishing? Fly fishing therefore is simply a method of offering the fish a variety of different imitations of potential food items, fished in a variety of different ways to stimulate any one or more of these responses. We will never know for certain why fish take our flies; all we can do is accept that our fly, and or the way it was presented, was enough of a stimulus for the fish to take it.

Within fly fishing, each and every one of us will decide what is and is not personally acceptable but these values, ideals, standards, ethics, morals, call them what you will, are personal and should not be imposed on others. To paraphrase an old saying, I may not agree with your fly or fishing methods, but if it is within fishery rules, then I’ll defend to the death your right to exercise that choice. Today, our sport is under threat and expressing disparaging remarks about our fellow anglers could be seen as divisive and providing ammunition for the antis. Would we not be better advised to accept that all legal methods of fishing are legitimate ways of enjoying the sport of fishing, be that game, course, or sea,  even though we personally might not favour a particular fly or fishing method and by so doing, help to promote a united front against the antis?

On a recent fishing trip to Westlow Mere, two incidents occurred that left me scratching my head in wonder.
No 1.
Fishing from one of the boats with a floating line, a black buzzer on the point and a diawl bach on the dropper, I had a solid take. While playing the fish, it became obvious that the fish had taken the diawl bach on the dropper and that the fly was firmly attached in the scissors. However, when I tried to unhook the fish, there in its throat was my point fly. Obviously the fish had taken both flies but I had only registered one take.  Fortunately, with barbless hooks and the aid of long nosed forceps (why are these very useful tools not an integral part of every angler’s gear?) I was able to return the fish without damage.
No 2.
The second incident happened about an hour later. I changed the buzzer on the point for an egg fly but kept the diawl bach on the dropper and on my next cast I had another solid take. Once again the fish had taken the diawl bach. On getting the fish to the side of the boat, I decided to unhook the fish in the water without using my net. I gently removed the hook with the aid of my forceps and the fish casually swam away. However, imagine my surprise as I watched the fish released no more that a few seconds ago, swim away and confidently take my egg fly which had been left dangling some 5 ft beneath the surface during the unhooking process. 

 To catch a fish on two flies at the same time is unusual enough but catching the same fish twice on different flies, within a few seconds is very odd indeed. However, for both incidents to occur in the same afternoon is a bit spooky even for someone with the nickname of “Golden B****cks” !! I would be interested to hear if other members have had any similar experiences or could offer possible explanations.