All the responses so far have been very helpful. Thank you. I am usually bank fishing to about 7-12 feet water depth, and anything from a smooth bottom (rare) to a weed covered area with weeds 18"-24" high.
One problem I see besides the difficulty of casting the combination, is that as the line sinks, or you start retrieving, by the time the fly is near the bottom, it has been pulled a good ten feet toward the angler. Starting with a short cast, and losing 10' before the fly is near the bottom makes for poor coverage, I would think. Fishing the combo from a float tube or pontoon boat would be easy as you could lay out line as you traveled along the surface. My problems are compounded by the fly I am experimenting with, an original molded foam dragonfly nymph. This thing has a lot of foam in it, and tends to pull the end of the line off the bottom. Here's a link to see the fly... so far, the fish like it! http://www.info-fx.com/bugpics/dn_rl_web_500.jpg Wes On 3/19/09, Wes Wada <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi VFB, > > I have a question, especially directed to our European fly fishers, > who might fish booby patterns. > > Booby patterns are fly patterns that float on a short leader above a > fast sinking full-sink line. The object, as I understand it, is to > have the line sitting on the bottom of the stillwater, and with a > jerky retrieve, the fly dives toward the bottom. Stop, and the fly > floats upward to the extent of the leader length. Advice I have seen, > suggests to use a tippet length that will put the fly six inches above > the tops of the weeds. > > The problem is the combination of a fast sinking weight forward line, > a bulky, but lightweight fly, and a very short leader... is a > stinkeroo casting combo. > > I have been researching what to do here, and am considering the > following combinations: > > 1. Attach a length of Rio T14 (tungsten-impregnated level line) via > loop connectors, between the line and leader. T14 sinks at about 9 > inches per second, I think the figure was 14 grains weight per foot. > There is the same type of line available at lighter, slower sink > version, and also one that is heavier, faster sink. The question > would be, what length of T14 would be a good starting point for > experimentation? Please note that this strategy does not suggest any > alteration to your normal full sink fly line. > > 2. Get a full sinking line about two line weights over your rod weight > designation. Chop off about 20 feet of line off the front end. Attach > leader and fly. Add a length of T14, if necessary. This creates a > fast sinking shooting head that does a good job of "lobbing" the fly, > and quickly sinks to the bottom, maintaining the ideal leader length. > > 3. I am told the following solution has been used by competition fly > fishers. You use eight feet of leader, with the top fly about 2 feet > from the leader/line connection, and a point fly on the end of a > tapered 8 ft. leader. This creates a leader that casts more normally. > One booby fly is positioned slightly above the lake bottom, the other > is as much as eight feet off the bottom. When the combination is > jerked repeatedly, the top fly can dive a good three or four feet. > These booby flies have been designed to have the leader pass down the > center axis of the top fly. That way, the fly never spins the leader. > > Those are the possibilities I am seeing so far. Each has advantages > and disadvantages. > > What do you think might work best? Any other ideas? What is a > typical European booby line/leader setup? > > --- > > Finally did some serious booby fishing about a week ago, and had a > trout take the fly near the shoreline. Was very interesting to see > the fish's reaction to the fly. > > Thanks, > > > Wes Wada > Bend, Oregon > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the "VFB Mail" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/vfb-mail?hl=en VFB Mail is sponsored by Line's End Inc at http://www.linesend.com -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
