Fly and bobber techniques

[adambomb]

I have just begun to fish flys with my spinning rod, and I was curious how everybody fishes. I have heard that when fishing lakes a slow retrieve works well. Do you ever just let your fly sit? Any tricks on making the fly move more bug like? Also I know some guys troll with them from a tube or toon, how far out do you typically troll?

 

[troutdude]

Hey AB,

You've mastered the most important thing with flies (that I know of anyway)...a SLOW retrieve is paramount.

I often fish from a tube. I tie what I call a "torpedo" bobber onto my main line. This bobber is tapered down on one end. I then use about 4' of leader, and then tie on a leach or woolly bugger (mostly either olive green or black). I also pinch on ONE BB sized split shot onto the leader...just a little MORE than half way to the fly. That helps keep the line from wrapping around itself when casting.

I go slow. Sometimes I stop kicking for a bit. Sometimes I lightly twitch the rod tip or gently tug the line to imitate movement. But, I get a LOT of bites just trolling SLOWLY. It's a lot of fun when they hit a fly near the surface like that.

If the fish are deeper, I remove the bobber and put a split shot or two onto the main line and drop it down. I've done well that way too.

Good luck.

 

[bigsteel]

I like to dead drift a lot of flies mostly nymphs,,,but a slow retrieve is key unless your using streamers,,then u speed it up and slow it down.

 

[OnTheFly]

If the fish are feeding on the surface then I would suggest casting out to rising fish and let the dry fly sit. Make sure you pull the slack out of the leader and do that slow so the fly won't get pulled under. You can try very suttle retrieves but only to give the fly slight movement at short increments at a time like about 6 inches or so.

If there is no visible surface action going on then I would say do what troutdude suggested with the wooly bugger or leech patterns. Also realize that these flies imitate bugs that swim but they don't swim continuosly so pausing between slow retrieves works best.

 

[troutdude]

Thanks for adding to this thread guys. I've learned some new things today!

 

[Caveman]

My son and I backpack a bit each summer. Fly and bubble is our number one goto setup for the wilderness lakes. Size 14 Black Gnat, Mosquito, or Adams are killers for sure.