chub on a fly

[Lid]

I stalk too, but manage to carry a mat with me as well. In fact it's quite useful to sit on!

[Nicepix]

I stalk too, but manage to carry a mat with me as well. In fact it's quite useful to sit on!

 

I've never tried fly-fishing sitting down. What's it like?

[Paul_D]

I've never tried fly-fishing sitting down. What's it like?

 

Can't believe that Finepix. I seem to get myself into stalking situations where I need to quite often....Must be me.

[Lid]

Or perhaps you may want to have a break! The point is that a mat is not exactly much to carry. Of course I forget mine sometimes, but in those cases I wouldn't try and photograph my catch without a suitable substitute, such as grass.

[Nicepix]

Can't believe that Finepix. I seem to get myself into stalking situations where I need to quite often....Must be me.

 

The places I fly-fish for chub are usually so overgrown I need to stand on my tip toes. The swim I got the chub in the first photo entailed sliding down a 7' mud banking and then kneeling on a narrow gravel and mud shelf. I cannot ever remember sitting down to fly-fish other than in a boat.

[Paul_D]

Nice one Clive...The sliding down the bank bit is great isn't it? My problem is that I sometimes don't think about how I'm going to get back up again....

[Nicepix]

Nice one Clive...The sliding down the bank bit is great isn't it? My problem is that I sometimes don't think about how I'm going to get back up again....

 

 

With felt soled wading boots it's nigh on impossible sometimes. I always have that nagging feeling that the handfull of grass I am relying on is going to give way.

[Lid]

Nicepix - getting back to the subject in hand, I do a lot of chub fishing both stalking and one swim stuff. However I have rarely fly fished for them. Is it like Mr Crabtree makes out - ie big fuzzy dry flies and striking only when the slow mouthed fish has turned back round?

 

How about dace, do you fly fish for them - I would imagine they need an ultra fast strike instead?

[Nicepix]

Nicepix - getting back to the subject in hand, I do a lot of chub fishing both stalking and one swim stuff. However I have rarely fly fished for them. Is it like Mr Crabtree makes out - ie big fuzzy dry flies and striking only when the slow mouthed fish has turned back round?

 

How about dace, do you fly fish for them - I would imagine they need an ultra fast strike instead?

 

All the chub over 1lb except one, that I have caught on the fly have been sight fished. That is either dry fly or where I could see them take the fly under water, fished upstream and dead drifted. I strike as soon as their lips close. After experimenting I have found that despite their propensity for wrap arounds you get when bait fishing they never move the leader when taking a fly. Not the big ones anyway. If you don't strike when they take the fly, they will eject it. They are also a lot more fussy about what flies they will take. Flies that have worked best for me include Woolly Buggers, San Juan Bloodworms and Epoxy Minnows. I've also had them on Clousers, MayFly Nymphs and Polish Woven Nymphs. For dries I tend to use Elk Hair Caddis as they are more robust.

 

Many a time I have changed flies half a dozen times before geting a take. Little chub are different. They will take the nymph with a bump even when fished down and across.

 

Dace are also different. You need to pre-empt the take and strike the nano second you see the take. Sometimes I strike when I see the fish rather than wait for the take. You need a lot of discipline in line control to ensure a good strike.

 

There is a small oxbow lake near where I live that is teeming with fry in the 3" - 5" class in summer. I can guarantee 10 to 12 fish an hour using small PTNs, or better still orange shrimps tied like a Sawyer's Killer Bug. I never know what I will get from one cast to another - dace, roach, perch or chub. All are caught whilst retrieving the fly in a figure of eight manner. Putting a dry on is a different matter. I then mainly get chub simply because the roach and dace takes are too fast to hit.

[Lid]

Fascinating stuff. I think I might get myself a fly outfit for next year. I have cast a fly about 28 years ago (strewth am I that old), but not sure I remember how to now. Can I self teach, or should I get a lesson?