I was introduced to loch style fly fishing when I became involved in competition fly fishing through Fly Fish Australia and i now regard it as one of my preferred fly fishing techniques and certainly a way of targeting fish that I was not previously aware could be caught.
This fly is one of a series of 4 woolly bugger flies that I tie specifically for river fishing and if I only had one woolly bugger in my river fishing fly box this would be the one.
Cormorant flies have plenty of movement generated through the wispy marabou wing that extends the full length of the fly and has, as a hot spot, a very visible chartreuse tag.
This is the set up I use for my #8 weight fly rods when boat or bank fishing for the likes of Bass, Sarratoga, Yellowbelly, Silver Perch, Mangrove Jacks, Redfin, smaller Barra and smaller Cod.
It’s no surprise therefor that I have a cousin to my trout bag , perhaps with a little influence from the yeti fly, in my bass fly box. Unlike the trout bag fly I seldom fish this fly as a single fly but find that if fished fished on a dropper about 1.2 meters above one of my preferred point flies it works like a dream.
There was a lot of interest in this competition and a strong filed of competitors including 2 from Tasmania and 3 from Victoria as well as a number of Eucumbene specialists. The reason for the record number of registrations was no doubt the fact that the two sectors being fished were two of the 4 sectors to be fished in the 2012 National Fly Fishing Championships in November.
One of the first wet flies tied was the coachman and that consisted of just a black body and a a set of white hackle slip wings. Over time flies have evolved and one path the coachman took was the substitution of a “royal” body for the simple black body. Many versions have been tied since and this one works for me.
The cormorant fly is a popular loch fly and particularly in rainbow trout waters. The original tie has a peacock herl body with silver rib whereas this competition version has been jazzed up a bit by substituting clear holographic tinsel for the herl body.
The old adage ” when the weather is good for fishing it’s bad for fishermen” definitely was conjured up to represent the way things happen down here in the Snowy Mountains. If your coming down for a fish don’t forget to bring plenty of layers of clothing and of course if your fishing from a boat make sure that everybody wear and knows how to use their PFD. The fishing however can be fantastic at this time of the year … my last 3 outing produced 37 very good fish.
It was the summer of 2000 that I first became involved on English style Loch Style fly fishing and slowly I accumulated an arsenal of techniques and flies. I really enjoy tying flies and so as I have seen various patterns I have tied them and tried them. Most have been discarded and just a few have won a place in my Loch Style fly box – this is one of them.
