This is a system that I have developed and added to my fishing arsenal.
My system of fly jigging came about over the last few years as a way of catching trout in Lake Jindabyne and Lake Eucumbene when my fly fishing friends and myself were coming up blank but nearby “dark side” fishermen (trollers) were still getting fish. Its use has extended well beyond that. A recurring response I got when I spoke to those on the dark side was that the fish were down deep with 8 to 13 meters being a commonly quoted depth, and of course, that sort of depth was generally out of my fly fishing range. At this stage I have only tried it for trout but I look forward to trying it in Burrendong for Yellowbelly and Maroon for Bass in the near future … I do expect it to work on both those species and others. It is a bit labour intensive and requires a fair bit of concentration but I am sure that it can make the difference between catching fish and coming up blank in a range of situations.
When to use.
- It is a great option in various circumstances for fishing to trout that are hanging deep, either sulking, or relatively inactive and when you can get relatively slow drifts over those holding waters.
When I say deep I apply this technique to depths of between 20 (7 meters) and 40 feet which are depths that are not easily accessed by traditional fly fishing techniques. Part of the reason that I only use this system in waters over 20 feet is that beyond that I don’t think that in most trout waters that fish really register that there is a boat close slowly and quietly drifting by, or in any case are not spooked by it and at less than 20 feet traditional loch style systems are normally the best approach.
It is certainly most productive when you know where the fish are sitting and can either slowly drift over them, or slowly mooch over them with the benefit of an electric motor. If you fish a body of water often enough you often develop, from the collective experiences of your past outings, knowledge of when and where sulking or inactive fish will be sitting. Alternatively if you have the benefit of a sounder you will come across them hold up near a tree, favouring a gutter or old stream bead or hanging around other structure.
The first difference is that it is best fished relatively close to the boat. I like to make a short cast of say just 30 or so feet and then feed out extra line just at the speed that my team of flies are sinking. It’s a good practice to only have as much line off the reel as you are using so that if you make casts of the same distance each time and have identified where the bottom is by counting down you can fish the full system as described below very effectively and efficiently.
An additional plus is that with short casts that you can do with just a single haul you can generally lay your flies out nice and extended beyond the fly line and can fish the whole drift which is made up of the drop, the set, the jig and the lift and a series of hangs.
- This is also a good fall back technique when no fish or few fish are being caught and the drifts are very slow or static and you want to try something different.
- A third opportunity to fish this technique occurs when fish are schooled up in a thermocline or feeding on a cloud of daphnia. In both those situations fish will stay in the same area for a long time and this technique provides you with the tools to put a range of flies in front of them in a way that may induce a strike.
- If you know that there are fish around but that they are just not on the chew or are not responding to the normal techniques that your use this technique give you a different way to present your team of flies.
Fly jig technique
The process itself is a little difficult to grasp as it is at odds with many traditional loch style techniques.
This system is not for the feint hearted and because you are often bouncing at least your point fly along the bottom or at times fishing close to the vertical it carries with it a strong chance of frequent snags and the loss of flies and tippets etc. Fished correctly however this technique may just make all the difference to a session where a blank was the otherwise likely outcome.
The gear is the same as I use for my other forms of loch style fishing except that I do lean toward stiffer fly rods than I would normally use for loch style fly fishing. The reason for that is that most of the fish encountered tend to be a little bigger than the average so you don’t need that thing whippy shock absorbing tip that is popular on many modern fly rods and also the slightly stiffer tip allows you to jig the flies without as much rod action as would be needed with a softer tip fly rod and consequently you can keep your flies in the zone longer.
Because your fishing to get down relatively deep even for shallower retrieves starting at say 3 meters I recommend floating lines with a sink tip. As the target depth gets deeper I increase the sink rate of the line I am using and when I get to the extremes of depth of say 9 to 13 meters on a slow drift I favour a Forty Plus “Booby Basher” fly line. This line is equivalent to a type 8 fast sink line and with a thin running line get the flies down to the targeted depth as fast as possible and is an unusual but very useful line for jigging in waters of up to 13 meters deep or for fishing boobies in deep water.
The drop:
The process of feeding out extra line at the same speed as the flies is sinking is foreign to most forms of fly fishing but is well worth mastering as you will find that it serves two purposes. Fist it keeps the flies a little away from the boat so the boat is less likely to spook fish that are in the surface and intermediate zones. The second is that as you are keeping in touch with the flies throughout the whole drop you are in a good position to react positively to any takes during the drop. I count my flies down and work hard to identify when my fast sink line hits bottom.
The set:
Once you feel that the line has hit the bottom retrieve enough line to ensure that the tip of the line is well up above your flies. I like to do this in a couple of stages just in case a fish has followed my flies down. If you can visualise this your point fly will be deepest and will anchor your team of flies, without actually being stuck to the bottom, and your leader will be at a steep angle toward you or even vertical. Your middle dropper fly will be up to 4 feet away from and above the point fly depending on how vertical you are fishing and you bob fly will be up to a further 4 feet away and above that. I always have at least one heavily weighted flies in my team. If there is only one heavily weighted fly it’s on the point and if two they are on the point and on the middle dropper with the heaviest on the point. You can fish 3 weighted flies in the team, in which case its best to set your team up with the fastest sinking fly on the point, the second fastest sinking fly in the middle and the slowest sinking fly on the bob. The speed that a fly sinks at is of course a combination of the weight incorporated in a fly and the dressing of a fly with a bushy fly or a fly tied of buoyant materials sinking slower than a fly with the same amount of weight but being slimline and tied of non buoyant materials. Unless I need the weight to get down to where I want to fish my preference is to include just the one heavily weighted anchor fly on the point in the team and then in true loch style form a attractor fly in the middle and a further bait fly on the bob.
The process itself can best be described in 4 different stages:
The jig:
This is a significant part of the process and does require some more visualisation. It’s not unlike salt water lure fishing and it involves fast lifts and drops of the fly. As I mentioned above this is more possible with a rod with a slightly stiffer tip than with a line with a fly rod with a very soft tip. I like the lifts to be just a single upward twitch of the rod tip followed by a slow strip to keep in touch with the team of flies. On a single slow drift or when becalmed you will be surprised how long you can keep your flies in the zone moving up and down enticingly. As you get into deeper water you will see that ideally, because of the weight of the fly line and your weighted fly or flies, as you retrieve line the flies will be working toward you all the way to the boat and eventually directly below your rod tip but with the point fly on or close to the base line of the water your targeting which may be the bottom of the lake but may also be the bottom of a thermocline, just above a weed bed or other structure. Hits can be at any time but my experience is that it’s often on the pause between the fall of the point fly and the next lift. Obviously the faster the drift the more the flies will move off the bottom.
The lift and the hangs:
When you can no longer hold the bottom as you retrieve I like to take some extra strips on the fly line lifting the flies toward the surface a distance of say 4 to 6 feet and then let them hang for a few seconds. Some days you need to hang the flies for quite a long time so it worth trialling a few different hang time until you work out what works best. Repeat that process all the way to the surface and then with a final lift and just one single haul make your next cast.
The flies:
I always now carry just a few of my favourite woolly bugger type flies weighted for this system.