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WHAT TYPES OF FLIES ARE BEST FOR TROUT?

There are three main types of artificial flies in freshwater trout fishing, Dry flies, Nymphs and Wet flies (aka streamers) that anglers use to represent most of what trout eat.

• Dry flies: Designed to stay ‘dry’ and float on the water's surface, either representing an insect that has ‘hatched’ out of the water, like a Mayfly-Dun or a Caddis, or representing an insect that has fallen onto the water (terrestrial insects) like a Grasshopper. These flies are generally fished drifted along naturally in the current.
• Nymphs: Represent the aquatic juvenile phase of a water-born flying insect, like a Mayfly-Nymph, Caddis-Grub, or Stonefly-Nymph, and are fished throughout the water column from just under the surface film to the bottom, sinking with the aid of built-in or external weight. Nymphs are generally drifted naturally with the current, as well as being given some small movement underwater from time to time.
• Wet flies (or Streamers): Fished below the water's surface, these flies often imitate larger invertebrates like crayfish (yabbies), mud-eye, and damselfly, as well as larger vertebrates like frogs, baitfish, and even other small trout. They are generally fished quite aggressively through the current to imitate the darting fleeing nature of these prey items.

HOW TO CHOOSE A FLY

The three main things to consider when looking at selecting any fly are Profile, Movement, and Colour, in that order.

• The profile of the fly is one of the first things that a fish sees from a distance and will let them know if they are looking at viable prey; you want to match the size and shape of the food item you are imitating.
• Movement is the next thing that triggers a fish into eating your fly, whether it is slight movement that is ‘built into’ the fly like a soft hackle feather or how the fly reacts when moved through the water, such as the long tail made of marabou on a woolly-bugger.
• Finally, colour is a consideration, but not as important as most people would assume. Fish see colour differently from people and although it can be useful to have a fly in a range of colours, you can generally stick with bright, dark, or natural colours.

A note on ‘Ultra-Violet Hot-Spots’: one important consideration is does your fly have ultra-violet materials built into it? This is often an excellent extra trigger that results in getting fish to eat the flies as many fish species hunt in the Ultraviolet spectrum.

ATTRACTOR-PATTERNS VS IMITATIVE-PATTERNS.

Attractor patterns are designed to suggest life and movement without trying to match exactly one type of food or prey item. Imitative patterns are tied to try and look as much like the real thing as possible. They are both important styles to keep in mind when selecting effective flies for any situation. In general, the longer a fish will get to look at your flies, i.e. fishing very slowly on a lake or sand flat in clear water, the more imitative a fly should be. The less time a fish will see you fly, i.e. fishing a fast-flowing river or stripping a fly quickly through the water column the more of a general attractor a fly can be, the best flies generally have a mix of both!

Here at Tom’s we also stock all the necessary flies for targeting Australian Native Freshwater and Saltwater species. We have flies for Murray-Cod, Australian-Bass, Golden Perch, Flathead, Australian Salmon, Bream, Golden trevally, GT’s, Tuskies, Permit, and pretty-well any other species you’d care to throw a fly at, even carp... (unfortunately) - Native Freshwater and Saltwater patterns often fall into Surface (Floating) or Subsurface (Sinking) categories, most of which are fished actively to imitate the movement of the prey they represent. A typical surface fly would be a popper, which can imitate a frog or mouse ‘blooping’ across the surface, or even a wounded baitfish attempting to escape from a rocky ledge. Subsurface flies can range from patterns that represent baitfish all the way through to crayfish, crabs, shrimp and even drifting seaweed.

NEED HELP CHOOSING FLIES? CONTACT US TODAY

Simply get in touch with our friendly sales team – they’re always up for a chat. You can contact us by calling our Tumut store on (02) 6947 4062 or by email.