Rivers – fly positioning on droppers
Proceeding through an orderly process as described in this post is a good way of making your fly selection for any trout river.
#fishonfly
Tidal flats shrimp – orange and brown
This orange and brown size #2 hook version of my tidal flats shrimp is my first choice of fly when targeting feeding trigger fish. It stands out in the storm of mud and other debris that trigger fish stir up as they forage around for food.
W.I.P. barramundi variant of my sand stripper that I am testing
This 2/0 9cm fly is a barra variant of my mud prawn that I am testing.
Squirmy worm
Over time they have endured and their reputation of, on the day, being an exceptional fish taking fly has grown and grown. They have also become very well accepted in competition circles and consequently I have fallen into line and have added them to my fly box.
Todd’s Vampire (variant)
Based in Maple Ridge, B.C. Todd Oishi designed his “leach” (Vampires are also a blood sucker hence the name) fly with a tail of black rabbit fur or black marabou and with Vampire Vippy as the body. I have not been able to find any Vampire Vippy and tie my Vampires with UV straggle fritz.
Foam cicada – Chatto’s ‘black prince’
This fly sits well into the surface film like the natural and has a very realistic profile when viewed from below. I have made it smaller than the natural on purpose as flies tied as big as the natural are frustratingly cumbersome to cast on #8 weight outfits that are my preference of the target species mentioned above. The fly lands with a good audible fish attracting ‘plop’ and with its outstretched wings that are only about half as long as the natural still wiggle with the slightest movement in a very enticing way.
Topwater sand stripper
This fly is modelled on the most successful estuary and inshore fly that I have ever fished with my prawn fly. For me in those shallow water salt water environments where you need a fly that you can fish deep in and around snags and other structure, can be fished at a range of depths depending on fly line and retrieve and swims hook point up to reduce hooking up on that very structure that holds fish my prawn fly out-fishes every other fly I have tried.
Chatto’s foam mouse
This little mouse lands right way up most of the time, swims well and has a reasonable mouse profile. The eyes and the ears are really only for the angler and hopefully add a little confidence that the fly is a least a little representational.
Species – Javelin fish (AKA barred and silver grunter)
Grunter are members of the javelin fish family and are often by-catches when fly, bait, lure and soft plastic fishers, are targeting barramundi and mangrove jack in Central Queensland waters. They are apparently a great eating fish but my preference remains to treat them as a sport fish and catch them and release them to fight another day.
Chatto’s marabou bugger
My first fish on fly fell to the magic of a Woolly Bugger and many have gone the same way since then. Tied predominately as a prospecting fly for barra in Awoonga this fly also gets a swim in estuary and coastal waters when I am looking for grunter and fingermark.