Pulling the Minky: Chasing Winter Rainbows

Pulling lures or streamers can be an effective approach that an angler can take to catching winter rainbows. This blog post is some of my thoughts and tips to catching fish using this approach. The choice of flies here that you can choose from for this method is a very extensive list. It includes Minkies, Damsels, Leeches, Cat Whiskers, large wet fly’s, and a host of flies beaded or not with Marabou or Zonkers tails in every colour under the sun. 
However, for the purpose of this post we will focus on fry imitating Minkies. In the majority of ponds around the country small fry and minnow make up a fair proportion of the fishes diet. Correctly fished this method can be devastating, but there are some key points to note when choosing to pull fry patterns. One of the most important aspects to good a good fry pattern is it must have movement. Not just how you move the fly through the water with your retrieve but also it must wiggle or pulse because of long loose tails or fibers that make up the fly. 

For this reason the most popular materials used to dress these flies is rabbit zonker strips. The soft long hair fibers when wet will move and pulse through the water as you retrieve it, giving it the look of natural bait making its way along. This movement also acts as a trigger for the fish and may entice an attack when it is following the fly. The soft skin that holds the fibers together is also strong enough so that when the fish pluck at the end of the fly it will last for more than one attack. 

Once again, finding the fishes depth is crucial and the speed of retrieve will also be the difference between catching and perhaps not. So to begin start at a chosen point or depth and work from there till you find the right speed and movement. Mixing up your retrieve will not only get the speed right but it will also affect the movement of your fly.
Once you feel you have discovered the right depth and speed, fan out your casts to cover all the areas of the lake in from of you, starting by the bank to your left or right. This location is popular for roaming fish looking for this type of food and stripping along the margins can be very successful. Remember to remain low and out of sight sometimes the fish will follow the fly right in to you position and if you are standing up you will spoke them before they have the chance to attack. Another good feature to watch out for is shelves under the surface on the bed of the lake, where it drops off to deeper water. This location is again a good spot for roaming and feeding fish and a well presented minkey can have good results here also.

There is however a constant issue some anglers have with fishing minke's and that is, tail bites. This is when the fish follow the fly in and nip at the long fibers of the tail not resulting in a hook up when the angler strikes. To remedy this problem, we see the introduction of what is now known as the snake design, this is a long minkey pattern with initially two hooks in the tying. The two hooks are connected with either fine braid or strong monofilament, the tyer’s choice. The long zonker strip is then attached to both hooks and the hook nearest the head of the fly has its bend and point cut off. So now when stripping in the long minkey and the fish tail bites the second hook is right at the rear of the fly and this will result in more hook ups for the angler. Unfortunately in a lot of competitions this fly is not allowed, so when fishing long minkey's you must remember to keep retrieving when you are getting tail plucks and only lift into the fish when you feel the weight of the fish solidly on the line. Sometimes I can get 3 to 4 plucks on one cast before hooking the fish, but I never strike I keep retrieving at either the same pace or faster waiting till the fish chasing it has had enough and decides to attack.

When tying your fry patterns it is a good tip also to use bright cheeks or glob brite heads as this shifts the attack point of the fish to higher up the body of the fly and will result in more hook ups. We also have variations of the standard style of minkey that is worth a try. 
Bunny leaches are of the same concept but have a bright plastic floating bead threaded up on the zonker strip in the tail to give a different movement to the tail of the fly as it swims through the water. Also you can add in double tail side by side to creates even greater disturbances in the water. Again you can add bead heads, twin eyes and booby eyes to the head of the fly which in turn will give different effects to how the fly will fish.
Like any discipline in fly fishing you must find what you are confident in using and doing, once you have that your flies will always have a chance of a fish. But remember when you find yourself wading through boxes of colours, fritz’s, marabou, zonkers strips, nymphs, lures, booby’s and god know what in all of our fly boxes looking for the answer to catching a fish. Always choose what you have confidence in and you will never be too far off.  

I hope you enjoyed reading my blog and trying out some of these fly's and enjoy catching fish with it even more. If you have any questions please feel free to give me a shout on my contact details and if you are interested in Dohiku hooks, top quality tungsten beads, or Syndicate competition Fly Rods drop me a line or check them out on my website. Thanks for reading.

Bank Fishing The Blob

It is over the last decade or so that we have seen winter fly fishing becoming more prominent in Ireland. When I was growing up, the dreaded end of September meant the fly fishing gear was put away and I would spend the winter months tying flies that would have aspirations of emptying rivers come the following March. Thankfully the case these days is the river gear is packed away and we swap the light weight nymphing rods for our 6,7 and 8 weight bank rods. We have seen in recent years the emergence of plenty man-made fisheries that offer the angler great winter sport at reasonable costs. 

Also there is plenty of choice as the different fisheries present different fishing challenges, from natural environments that test our casting ability to well wintered fish that test our skill and nerves. The methods used generally in this field of fly fishing is ever evolving, there are new approaches and developments in materials regularly, each being hailed as the next best thing. Sometimes to be honest it is hard to keep up with it all.
As I have found over the last couple of winter seasons it sometimes is just as effective to stick to the basics and do the simple things right rather than get wrapped up in all the new developments, tackle and fly tying materials. So for the rest of this article I hope to give you some simple and still very effective methods and patterns to tempt the rainbows from their winter ponds. It is always important to check the fisheries rules when you arrive to see what is and is not allowed to be fished. While a few fisheries have rules regarding the fishing of Blobs in certain ways, it has to be said that they are the stable diet of the bank angler. Love them or hate them they are simple as simple gets to tie and fish correctly can be deadly.

There are a couple of ways you can fish the blob; firstly they can be presented through stripping or retrieving on sinking lines. Fished alone or as part of a team the trick here is to get the depths right and the retrieve, just the way the fish want it. So it is good practice once you cast out your flies to count down to a chosen depth, depending on the sink rate of your line and then begin stripping back the flies at various speeds until you get the depth rights and the speed. Another popular presentation method would be stagnant fishing the blob; this can be done either from the top down or the bottom up. Again the key here get your depth right. From the top down, can be achieved one way by using a floating line which will suspend the blob at the depth of your leader length, or the depth you allow it to sink to before beginning to figure of eight it back to you.

A contemporary practice of anglers is now to suspend the blob under what is called a bung, a this floating device can be made of plastic foam or a tied bung with buoyant materials used to support the fly often dipped in watershed to make it float endlessly. With this method you can now leave the blob or blobs at the required depth for longer until a fish takes it. Through bunging the fly will remain completely stagnant which is required sometimes by the fish before they will bite. The hi-visibility of the bung allows the angler to witness the takes quite easy on those dark wintery days. This presentation method can be used for several other patterns such as squrmies, buzzers, stalking bugs and the like. One key factor to fishing blobs under the bung I find important is to add a little flat lead to the under body of the fly and this allows it to reach its depth faster.

Fishing from the bottom up can be very effective during the colder days when fish are sitting deeper and feeding among the last of the summer vegetation on the lake bed. Here we would use fast sinking lines say a DI 3,5 or 7 sink rate depending on the depths of the lake you are fishing. We often add something to the blob for this method to be most productive; by putting some foam in the back of the fly we now have what is called a FAB (floating assed blob). This now allows us to sink the line to the lake bed and slowly retrieve the blob, which is suspended above the line path and the weeds or other snags that offer the fish food and protection. Again changing length of leaders from the fly line will allow your FAB to fish at different depths, and the most important aspect to catching fish in a stocked fishery is you must find the depth of the fish for any method to be effective.

There is a large variety of colours and textures to modern day blob materials, for the basic blob pattern use simple blob fritz, tie the core of the fritz on the hook above the bend and as you wind up the fritz in touching turns make sure and to pull back the fibres as you go so the finished fly has all the fibres leaning back away from the eye of the hook. I also find that using a nice bright thread for the head adds an extra hot spot for the fish to attack. You can also add in a second colour fritz to your fly, a tail of your choice or a pair of booby eyes, all giving you a variety of looks, shapes and colours that may attract feeding fish.
For me, the tackle generally I use is either 6,7 or 8 weight, ten foot rod by Syndicate, I find them great rods. The rod I choose at any time will depend on the wind, the line I wish to fish, the method I am fishing and even the size of tippet I need to use. Another aspect is how far out are the fish in the lake and how far do I need to cast. One piece of advice I give all bank anglers would be to get a lesson or two on casting, it will increase your catch rate, enjoyment of a day on the lake and save your arms from a lot of punishment, it is well worth it. Tippet wise, Grand max Soft Plus is a huge

favorite among bank anglers, expensive but as fluorocarbon goes it is good. Yet I have often seen the low cost monofilaments do the job also, my advice here is use what you are confident in using to begin with. A good pair of glasses to protect the eyes, warm clothes and a flask of tea and your all set. Oh a towel is a nice comfort, so when you have released a fish back into the water on cold days to dry your hands and save the cold setting into the bones.

I hope you enjoyed reading my blog and trying out some of these fly's and enjoy catching fish with it even more. If you have any questions please feel free to give me a shout on my contact details and if you are interested in Dohiku hooks, top quality tungsten beads, or Syndicate competition Fly Rods drop me a line or check them out on my website. Thanks for reading. 

Egg Yarn Streamers

With some Autumn river trips recently, my bank season for rainbows is a bit later starting than most.So over the last few days I have been stocking up on some old trustworthy patterns. Here is a neat little fly that has always produced fish for me and one worth having in the box for the season. 
I always try out different ways to work with materials and this was a good discovery. I find the body is highly UV reflective and has a lovely meaty look to it as it puffs a little when wet. The hot collar is also Egg yarn and is a great hot spot on any fly. 

Hook: Dohiku 302 size 12-10 
Bead: 2.5 - 3mm sliver bead 
Thread: Kevlar 50D thread 
Tail: Dave Downie white Marabou 
Body: Yellow egg yard (tie in a fraction of the yarn and spin it to form a floss like look, this gives it extra strength). 
Wing: Dave Downie white Marabou 
Collar: Hot red egg yarn (cut up small chunks of yarn and pull apart to make a dubbing)
I find this fly fished best on a fast or slow intermediate line and vary the retrieves till you find what the fish want. A very slow retrieve is often most effective on a long leader.
  

Another good fly that I use this hot collar on is one of my top nymphs on the river. Egg yarn is a very versatile material that can add to many of your fly's. As dose a lot of other materials so it is worth messing around with some and you never know what little things you might discover that make a huge difference to your flies. 
I hope you enjoy tying these fly's and enjoy catching fish with it even more. If you have any questions please feel free to give me a shout on my contact details and if you are interested in Dohiku hooks, top quality tungsten beads, or Syndicate competition Fly Rods drop me a line or check them out on my website. Thanks for reading. 

FISHING ON ADAIRE SPRINGS, MOONCOIN

I spent today on a nice sized lake Situated in Ardera, Mooncoin, Co. Kilkenny and covering over 2.5 acres, stocked with good Rainbow and Brown trout. Ardaire Springs was the venue for myself and two of my angling buddies to have our Xmas meet up. We were blessed with the weather and in the sunshine it was even warm enough for midges and daises to make an appearance, and so too did the trout. Dave Donvan, Hubert Smith and myself began fishing around 11 and it was not long before we began meeting fish, for me it was on a orange diawl bach and Dave meet his pulling some slim streamers. It was 20 euro for the day on the Lake and it has a nice tackle shop there if you forget something.  

After an hour or so we began to move clockwise around the lake and again we began to meet more good quality fish. I had switched over to buzzers and caught a nice fish on a gold buzzer with a bead head. Hubert fished a bung with some blood worms and a sunburst blob, this proved to be very successful for him as he picked up some nice fish. As you can see him here landing one of those fish. The fish in the lake are really good quality fish well matured and well able to fight. There is both Browns and Rainbows in the lake. There was plenty of fish showing around lunch time and after a short spell and fairly unproductive session on the dries I switched over to the bung also due to Hubert's catch rate on this set up. It was not long before it proved to be the right decision and I picked up a couple of fish on a Blood worm. Dave was still on the lures and also meeting some good fish on a slim white and olive streamer with a yellow bead head, the tail on this streamer is two and a half times the length of the body and moves quite well in the water.

We did find in the afternoon that the fish were taking very softly under the bung and hook ups was on a lesser percentage that misses, you would either not feel anything on the strike of the fish would come off quickly. There is some small fry in the lake as one popped out of a trouts mouth when I landed him and we fished some small fry patterens in the afternoon and again the fish were just plucking at the tails and not committing to the take. The bung and slow retrieving blood worms proved to be the most productive method for the day along with the slim streamer day. Most other anglers here on the day appeared to be on more or less the same methods slow retrieving floating lines with buzzer, nymphs or blood worms on the leaders. This a really nice and well kept fishery and ill visit it again in the future, it has really good conditioned fish and they can fight too; the banks are very clean with seating and I didn't come across much weed under the surface which is a petty hate of mine. The depths vary from 10 to 17 foot and has some nice small islands and bays. Well worth a visit and a nice bag of chips on the way home to finish off a good day catching up with some friends.

I hope you have enjoyed reading this post and if you have any comments or questions just drop me a line below, also if you would like to see whats coming next on this blog just sign in and follow us. Thanks for reading.

Rainbow fishing at Lough Ashling, Edenderry.

Its the  time of year when the wild trout season slows down and the dust for me is blown off the rainbow fly box. So on Saturday I decided to head out to Lough Ashling in Edenderry to see how it was fishing and get in some practice for the Leinster bank finals to be held there in two weeks, as usual on my arrival you are greeted by a good host, Joe who always has the kettle on. After a chat I tackled up and headed down the left shore and after just been informed by Joe that it was recently stocked I began with fry patterns and from the off was into several good sporting rainbows around the 3lb mark that liked to take to the air once hooked. I was stripping fast and on most occasions I would feel a pluck or two before the fish committed its self to the take. The streamers were small and sleek with good zonker tails that moved well to attract fish. 

Moving down the left hand shore the fish kept coming to several fry dressings black and sliver being the predominant colours but I also fished some orange and bright olives that also produced fish.  Another angler who was on the shore ahead of me was also having good result on the dry fly which he showed me was a small dark klink hammer.
All along the shelf around ten feet from the bank a lot of good rainbows patrolled the edge searching for some prey, so it was worth casting down along this margin and picking one or two of these off before casting out to the deeper water where there is an abundance of fish there willing to take once you can reach them. I did a complete lap of the lake through out the day and took several fish off each peg I stopped at, mostly on fry patterns as I said but I also caught some fish on a size 12 slim quill buzzer with light orange cheeks fished just under the surface. I did find that fishing a sinking line did hit weed quickly so fishing a slow intermediate line was far more productive. 

Located four miles. from Edenderry on the 402 to Tullamore around 4 miles you will see sign signs to follow, price range for full and half days are very reasonable with good facilities also on site.
Here is some dressings worth trying if you head to this lake. 

Hook: Size 10 Hends BL200
Thread: Black Twist tying thread
Tail & Body: Hends sliver metalic dubbing teased out for tail.
Zonker: Black Hends Muskrat strip.
Eyes: Hends Epoxy eyes.

Hook: size 12 Hends 404
Thread: Black twist tying thread
Body: Orange striped quill coated in UV resin
Cheeks: Light orange Turkey Biots.

Hook: Size 8 Hends BL200
Thread: Black Twist tying thread
Tail: Red Metallic Hends dubbing teased out.
Body: Hends Sliver Metallic dubbing.
Zonker: Natural Hends furry-band strip.
Head: Hends Red Metallic dubbing in front of a few turns of large grizzle hen all brushed back.

This fishery is well worth the trip and has a good stock of fighting fish, with great hospitality and facilities. A place I will be visiting again shortly.
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