By varying the materials used, the colours and size I have accounted for trout, bream, flathead, mangrove jack and even barramundi on wiggle minnows. The recipe I have set out below is just one version of this very adaptable fly and I would encourage you to individualize the fly to your own requirements.
This is a inexpensive fly to tie that works well on bream as a specific targeted species or as a second fly fished about a meter above a say a mud prawn or estuary fly.
The Clouser in my view is the quintessential salt water fly. It can be tied in sizes to suit Bream or Billfish and with the correct dressing and size is equally at home in saltwater, trout and bass fisheries.
The same tie is used for both of the above flies. The only difference is that the bread fly is dubbed a little heavier and then trimmed to shape. These flies should be weighted enough to sink but not so weighted that it becomes unnatural in their action. It is often often useful to suspend these flies under a floating bread fly or other buoyant fly so that you can detect any bites.
Well if you put a burley trail of bread out have a look at a bits of bread floating around they really doesn’t have any one single form – there just bits of bread. They do however have function in that they float in the water rather than on the water and they are off white rather than pure white. This fly matches the form of a piece of bread floating and has the added advantage of being highly visible so it can be used as an indicator if for example you want to fish a second weighted fly below.
One of the best search flies in slow moving or still deeper water using a sinking line. If fishing from a fixed position cast it out, let the line sink to the desired depth, and then retrieve the line using a constant stripping motion, a pumping retrieve or a combination of both. The stripping speed should be varied.
This is a very effective fly for fast water because it sinks fast and the placement of the lead shot gives the fly a propensity to ride point up reducing the propensity of snagging. It can be used on its own just to bounce along the bottom or to sink a second fly such as a an egg fly or unweighted nymph.
This PET shell nipper is significantly different to my PET shell prawn as that is unweighted and is designed to fish hook bite down whereas this nipper has a weight under its tail and is designed to be fished on the sandy bottom with the hook bite up.
Prawns and shrimp are crustaceans, of the family Isopod, and are endemic to our Australian estuary waters. They are toward the top of the food chain for a lot of coastal species of fish including bream, flathead and whiting.
Both floating and wet beetles (including drowned terrestrials beetles and aquatic beetles) should be fished in the current with as little line drag as possible or with a very short twitching action. A nondescript well tied beetle pattern if presented in the right way when fish have beetles on their menu, more often than not, will be accepted by fish. Consequently no fly box would be complete without a selection of beetle patterns.
