Fishing Dry Fly on a Chalk Stream
My mainstay dun-imitating dry fly patterns are the Paradun and my
Footprint Dun. They're both prototypical patterns, so you can match
any of the Olives or Spurwings, simply by changing material colours
and hook sizes. Both these patterns beat the old slip winged flies
hands down. For a start, the Paradun is simple to tie, there's no
messing about with fragile starling slips. Also, it floats like a
cork, lands correctly on every cast, and is very robust.
The Footprint Dun is a little more tricky to tie, the microfibbets
are often a bit problematic. But it is a great pattern for wily fish,
those that come up to the fly and then turn away at the last second.
Such fish are usually fooled by this fly.
I am sure the fish see the little footprints in the film as the initial
trigger, then when the single wing comes over their window, they are
convinced it is a real dun and take. You should tie a selection of
these in one or two sizes and colour-ways, to match the hatch on your
stream.
Mayfly Time on a Chalk Stream
Our largest Upwings in the UK are represented by only three species
- Ephemera danica, Ephemera vulgata and Ephemera lineata. The distribution
of Ephemera vulgata can be very localised and Ephemera lineata is
quite rare in the UK.
The Greendrake or Ephemera danica is by far our most common species.
It is the fly that hatches in hundreds of thousands, millions even,
from the Chalk Streams of Southern England every year from late May
to early June, in what is known as 'The Duffers Fortnight'.
However, on many rivers, there are times when the hatch just trickles
off, and then trout can be almost as cautious as when taking small
Olives. This is when Essential Skills come into play. Your artificial
will have to be a good imitative pattern, and it will have to be presented
accurately and delicately if you wish to be consistently successful.
The middle reaches of the Wiltshire Avon, the river fished in this
DVD, is a chalk stream that has a trickle hatch. The Greendrake starts
to emerge about the middle of May, but trickles on with peaks and
troughs until August, with odd duns still coming off as late as September!
In trickle hatch situations, the artificial has to present a much
more convincing target. My Mohican Mayfly fits the bill, not only
does it look like a floating Greendrake to the fly fisher, it also
offers the trout an excellent silhouette as it floats into its 'window'.
It is robust, it lands correctly virtually every cast and floats like
a cork. It is also great fun to tie.
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