Re: [VFB] Flies for cloudy waters

[Henk Verhaar]

On 7 Nov 2006, at 22:13, Paul Marriner wrote: Hmmm, not to quarrel with my Dutch friend, but I believe the initial conditions of this experiment were "cloudy water." Under such conditions, surely "close in" IS the situation. Nonetheless, while I'm always loathe to quarrel with scientific investigation, the next time I see a pike come from 20 meters to attack a Dahlberg Diver, I'll advise it that it should really wait to see the fly before being so impetuous. :-) Well, it IS scientific research, so as usual it emulates only part of the reality. I think all experiments were done in clear water. And of course if the water is murky enough that a pike won't see the fly until it is within 1-2 feet, displacement may in fact be a major factor. Thing is, under such conditions the most important factor in eliciting a strike will be whether you can place you fly close to a fish in the first place... Anyhow, as said, since reading this article I will make sure all my flies are at least visually impressive ;-) As an aside, I started researching the scientific literature for information on pike strike behaviour while writing an accompanying piece to a number of flies I tied for inclusion in a book on pike flies (which incidentally is still in a nascent state). I wrote something along the lines that pike flies should be bulky, so as to have a large water displacement, to make sure pike will turn their attention to your fly. The book's editor asked me to substantiate this, and the only scientific info I could find clearly refuted this commonly held belief... Cheers Henk ==========================Heisenberg was right!======================== | Dr. Henk J.M. Verhaar           |                                   | | Environmental Fate and Ecotoxicology Specialist                     | | Fly Tier                        | web:    www.xs4all.nl/~flyrod     | | Stichts End 17                  | e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] | | NL-1244 PK Ankeveen             | phone:  +31 35 656 2128           | | the Netherlands                 | ICQ:    15727113                  |  ==========================Uncertainty happens!=========================