what fly to use?

[Piranha 76]

Hi guys,first I should make clear that i'm not a flyfisherman but that will be clear when you read my question:) I was at a lake in vic yesterday chasing redfin and there where large trout 4-8lb both brown and rainbows jumping clear 2ft out of the water taking dragon flies in mid air, it was an awsome specticle and i almost had one jump into my boat as i lifted my plastic for a cast:woohoo: They would chase my plastic and tail slap it but not commit to inhaling it.My question is what type of fly that I could buy at a tackle store would best mimic the dragon fly that could be cast using a light 7ft spin outfit? it would only need to travel 6ft or so to put me on the fish. Or would any fly work in that situation when their in a feeding frenzy?cheers

[1fish 0]

You could try the a Mrs Simpson or a Mudeye pattern or both very slow retrive behind a water bubble float. Mudeye patterns tend to work best on dark or in the dark.

[Piranha 76]

Thanks for that 1Fish;) I'll see if my local tacklestore sells those flys tomorrow:) cheers

[1fish 0]

Let us know how you get on.

[Rollas 2]

There is a soft plastic done by Berkley which has a set of two tails off the side. Cannot for the life of me remeber what they are called but one of those on an un weighted hook twitched across the surface just fast enough for the "wings" to flutter could work as well.

[urhookedfish 12]

There is a soft plastic done by Berkley which has a set of two tails off the side. Cannot for the life of me remeber what they are called but one of those on an un weighted hook twitched across the surface just fast enough for the "wings" to flutter could work as well.

Are you thinking of the berkley Hawgs Rollas?Heres a pic:

[Rollas 2]

Something like this, remeber you can always chop them up to make them shorter.

[Rollas 2]

You got me UHF!I was sitting there thinking of the plastic but just could not get the name.

[urhookedfish 12]

Its funny as I have heaps of Berkley hawgs and have fished these a few times with no luck, although I have never put in a big session with them and fished them hard.I should really put in a concentrated effort with these to see if they fool in of the Big Rainbows in the SAFWAA dams. I do believe that TonyB caught a monster Rainbow on one not that long ago.

[Piranha 76]

Thanks guys, I did try a very similar plastic on a resin head on that day and also tried small floating plastics which recieved plenty of attention in the way of tail slaps but no takes unfortunately.I'll head back to the lake in a couple of weeks and give some flys a crack if the trout are still actively feeding, but if the big reddies are firing the trout won't get a look in:) cheers

[urhookedfish 12]

:cheer: :cheer: My all-time favourite trout killing plastic is the squidgy fish in Gary glitter pattern, its a paddle tail and the trout eat them up like candy. Dont be afraid to use a 3/8ths jig head and bounce it off the bottom.This would slay the fish in the Pondage.:woohoo: :woohoo:

[Piranha 76]

Thats interesting UHF and thanks for sharing your fav lure, I've always done better using tassie davils and minnow style hardbodies for trout rather than plastics but having said that I will always go to those lures first as well. The resi I'm fishing is full of weed right across the bottom with no bare ground at all even in 25ft of water so most of the fish are only catachable with light weedless jigheads in the top metre or so of water and after having tried half a dozen different types of plastic with no luck i'm keen to try to 'match the hatch' as they say (with a dragonfly immitation) to see if that gets better results:) cheers

[urhookedfish 12]

A fantastic lure that will get you close to matching the hatch on the dragon flies is the Jenson Insect spinner.These are big fish takers. I mean the really big trout love these and these are a great lake lure. You can fish these on a fast retrieve to keep these just under the surface. The pattern in the middle is my pic for a dragonfly hatch.

[Piranha 76]

your listing almost every lure I tried last weekend UHF:laugh: I was using the jensen insect on the right to try and tempt those frustrating trout, your right they are a great trout/redie lure and have accounted for a lot of nice trout over the years. cheers

[Rollas 2]

Could you catch some of the dragonflys?Maybe a dab of super glue on the head onto the shaft of the hook and trim the wings so it cant fly?

[Piranha 76]

Thats a good suggestion Rollas but i'm not that quick with the butterfly net and am a bit of a lazy fisherman:lol:I did see a couple on the surface flapping around and started motoring over to grab them only to have a trout and on another occasion a decent reddie beat me there.

[urhookedfish 12]

your listing almost every lure I tried last weekend UHF:laugh: I was using the jensen insect on the right to try and tempt those frustrating trout' date=' your right they are a great trout/redie lure and have accounted for a lot of nice trout over the years. cheers[/quote']I fish a big dam here in SA that has monster trout that chase dragon flies. The only one I managed to hook was on a purple tassie devil cast to within 10 metres of where the trout had jumped.I didnt end up getting this monster to the bank but was punished by it as it wrapped me round some drowned timber and had me in my underwear whilst fellow strike hook member J Walkley laughed his arse off.would of been a 10lb trout though so I was going to do all I could.BUT YOUR RIGHT, they get so FUSSY and it is so hard to get them to take anything at all. And out of all my years trout fishing Have only hooked 3 trout during a dragon fly rise.the three lures that happened to do the trick, a jenson insect, a gold wonder wobbler with an orange feather tied to trebbles and a purple tassmanian devil.so you can get em, youve just got to be lucky.Sorry 4 as on the w/end the rainbows in safwaa dam were feeding on dragonflies and I tempted them with a cranka vibe (not even close to a dragonfly - cos its a fish) LOL...but the good news is that they can be tempted to take something else.

[Piranha 76]

Theres always a laugh to be had when a mate goes into freezing cold water to try desnag a fish that may or may not be still on the line:laugh: I wasn't laughing when I went into a cold muddy creek mid winter to desnag what I thought was a small cod caught on a submerged limb after a very short fight, I got about a metre underwater following the limb when the limb began to move:unsure: it turmed out to be a 60lb cod which I put my bare hand in it's mouth and it deathrolled:pinch:skun almost up to my elbow, got mild hypothermia and took a few hours for my balls to leave my throat and return home. I picked up some nymph flys today a couple of big ones that look like dragonflys and water spiders so next time i'll be prepared cheers

[urhookedfish 12]

hahaha...so true.I definately know that the trout I hooked was still on the line most of the time I was in my jocks because he was still kicking and pulling line off me as he continued to go round other trees the bugger. I would just get the line untangled from one dead tree when it would go round another. Must of been huge!What was the dam in Vic that you were fishing, id be keen to hear?

[Piranha 76]

PM sent mate;)

[Highfly 0]

In answer to your question damsel flies are dragon fly imitations. A living damsel fly has lead eyes and u may be able to cast it with spinning gear. GL

[rollcast 1]

Damsel fies and dragon flies are quite different.Damsels are much more delicate and slender in the adult form than dragon flies.At rest an adult dragon fly has its wings at 90 degrees to the body and is quite robust.Adult damsel flies have their wings folded back along the abdomen at rest.Both are in the cordulid family.Adult Damsels come in a number of bright colors many of the local varieties are blue or blue and red.Adult dragon flies are larger and usually duller in color but this varies with species. Adult Dragon flies can be seen on the wing dipping their abdomen in the water to lay their eggs which hatch into mudeyes.Trout track the adults from under the water before leaping to take them.Mudeyes are very aggressive carnivorous critters that feed on many things even occasionally taking fish fry.They are a popular trout bait in the Victorian Lakes such as Fyans where gut inspections reveal that they are sometimes the only targeted prey.The larval or "nymph" stage of a damsel fly is very slender with prominent eyes.It is also high on the trouts diet.Damsels lay their eggs by encapsulating an air bubble between their wings for breathing as they crawl down bankside reeds to lay the eggs underwater.They are small and too delicate for bait. Dragon fly larvae (mudeyes) propel themselves by ejecting water like jet propulsion and a muddler minnow style fly stripped in short one inch strips is an effective technique.Muddlers are tied from cropped deer hair to keep them just under the surface as deer hair is hollow and bouyant.There are many other successful patterns such as the cordulid or Craigs nighttime .Muddlers are a US pattern and craigs are from NZ.They are best fished at night a few days either side of the full moon as this is when mudeyes migrate to shore ,before climbing up bankside vegetation and drying.Then they drop the shuck and emerge as an adult.Damsel nymphs have swimming a style that wiggles like a miniature eel or snake and the best fly patterns are simple marabou style flies tied sparse (usually green or brown) for movement with melted monofilament representing the prominent eyes.They are useful for prospecting when trout are feeding below the surface and cannot be seen feeding.A slow figure eight retrieve is best.When trout are focussed on the adults and can be seen leaping it can be extremely frustrating as usually nothing works.Occasionally success can be achieved with a Dr Wark or the commercially tied damsell patterns that use braided mono tube(blue)as body material, cast up against bankside reeds.It is usually a case of good luck rather than good practice that brings dragonfly feeders unstuck.Cheers Rollcast

[tonyb 1,017]

http://www.tacklebox.com.au/forums/freshwater-fishing/277-dapping-trout.html

[Piranha 76]

Thanks for your replies Highfly, TonyB and Rollcast much appreciated;) Heading back to the dam on friday weather permitting so if the trout are feeding i'll give the flys a go:) cheers

[Piranha 76]

The reddies where a bit quiet yesterday so I found an area with some trout jumping scored a small rainbow on a jackall chubby and lost a 6lb brown after a 1 minute fight with lots of aerial:( that was on a jensen insect which had another 10 follows but no strikes, unfortunately there was no interest in my damsel fly imitations despite the fish eating them out of mid air. Always a next time:) cheers