11 June – Normal time of 7:30 at Raiders Club Weston. Speaker is our resident entomologist Jaime.
Why Insect Biology Matters in Fly Fishing When we go fly fishing, our main goal is to fool the fish into thinking our fly is a tasty snack. In this talk, I’ll share some simple facts about the insect world – their forms, behaviour – and how that helps us understand why fish go after our fly patterns. In doing this, we can explore some ways to get creative with our flies to make them even more appealing. I’ll also share a bit about the biology where these patterns come from in nature.
Bio: Jaime has worked as researcher on insect ecology for more than 15 years in South and Central America and USA. He is now at CSIRO working in the Australian National Insect Collection (ANIC) in a technical position. He started fly fishing before leaving USA to come to Australia in 2016.
Next Activities
28 May – Fly tying via Zoom 7:30 – the Sex Dungeon led by Claude. Notes in news blog and email to follow.
It should be a very informative meeting this month with Jaime giving us the inside word on local insects.
The Tumut trip has come and gone with a number of folk having success, new skills acquired and Stefan (in his swansong as organiser) bringing his culinary skills. We now go into a bit of a winter hibernation in respect to club events, but feel free to propose something to the committee – I have memories of Damian’s ‘Back to Buckenderra’ trips in the depths of winter.
Lachy is showing his worth as delegate to the NSW Council of Freshwater Anglers with a report on the quarterly meeting. We should not ignore the opportunity to recruit their assistance when we have fishing related issues in our region.
Greg S has come good with some more of his interesting snippets from the web and I’ve had quite a few myself – notably Mark, Guy and Norm reporting on one successful day recently.
There was quite a quick response to the post about Peachy’s YouTube piece on dry fly selection.
I wonder if our readers are aware of CAA’s Tips blog. Originally this held a yarn by Jason Q about his fly fishing journey, to inspire others to get into the sport. The blog evolved to include a diverse range of topics from the laws of angler access to tips on handling fish and how best to take a photo. I encourage you to browse.
I just added two new ones, on straightening your leader and one on different strike techniques. I’ll promote them in the forthcoming newsletter for those that read it but don’t follow our blog.
A while ago I had a series of tips from members in the newsletter … I should assemble them and add to the blog – a closed season project? 😀
I seem to recall seeing this trick before of soaking your leader to get rid of memory, but this one came up on my feed recently. Takes a bit of time getting to the point but the results are well demonstrated.
Claude led the May tie for Kelly Galloup’s Sex Dungeon fly. There are a number of YouTube videos showing the tie, including by Galloup, but warning you they are very long.
The sex dungeon is the pinnacle of what many articulated flies strive to be. Meaty enough to drive fish crazy, yet simple enough to exhibit a natural, unencumbered swim, the sex dungeon capitalizes on its versatility, and ability to elicit reactionary, as well as predatory strikes from stubborn underwater monsters.
Something great about large streamers such as the sex dungeon is the fact that it’s in no way limited to a single colour. While fishing white and tan versions of the fly can be a great way to bring in fish on a sunny day, darker patterns such as black, purple, and brown are also highly effective. In deeper water, feel free to get creative and throw some bright green or yellow patterns in order to spark the curiosity of hunkered down fish. For small creeks and rivers, feel free to tie on an olive, or earthy toned sex dungeon in order to imitate sculpin, crayfish, or even larger baitfish. For tiers, this can be a tricky project, however, once you get the hang of it, it becomes one of the most fun flies one can tie.
An articulated, double hooked, dumbbell eyed, marabou, flash, silicone legged, schlappen and spun deer hair creation that not only moves like crazy when trout can see it in clear water but it also “pushes” water (thanks to that deer hair head/collar) so that in dirty water the trout can also “feel’ it. This fly casts a very sculpin-like profile and is most commonly fished on a sinking tip line and fished around river structure and pulled off the banks/drop offs when looking for a meat eating trout.
It would be a fly that could be swung or stripped like a bugger – good for trout and natives – probably saltwater if you used stainless hooks. I’ve seen some great videos of large trout being caught in NZ and Nathan believes they would be great during spawn run.
Ingredients:
Rear Hook: Daiichi 2460 #2 Tail: Natural colour Flash in Tail: Silver Flashabou Body: Pearl Ice Dub or UV Minnow Belly Hackle: Natural Schlappen Rib: UTC Ultra Wire (Brassie Silver) Legs: White/Pearl Flake Barred Crazy Legs Optional Wing: Natural Marabou Connection: AFW Surflon Micro Ultra Wire-19 Strand w/ 1 red bead
Front Hook: Daiichi 2460 #1/0 Skirt: Natural Marabou and Silver Flashabou Body: Pearl Ice Dub or UV Minnow Belly Hackle: Schlappen Rib: UTC Ultra Wire (Brassie Silver) Legs: White/Pearl Flake Barred Crazy Legs Optional Wing: Marabou Eyes: Large Double Pupil Lead Eyes (Red/White/Black) Head/Collar: Deer Belly Hair
Claude and Gary will present “4th time to NZ and still learning lessons…that can be applied to any fishing adventure”. There will be photos of the trip including a couple of ‘Grip and Grins’, descriptions of locations and most importantly a discussion of lessons – some new and some that we keep need reminding of . Join us at the Raiders. Please let Claude know if you plan on dinner beforehand to ensure we have booked a large enough table.
