What to use?

[Guest]

Hi Pomerob,

My favourites are the following:

Subsurface - no.6 or larger Woolly Bugger with heavy brass bead. Totally black or black with contrasting tail like chartreuse. Also try the Eel Worm - similar to a Wooly Bugger, but with dumbell eyes, longer body hackle and and two or three long (up to 3")grizzly hackles for the tail. Fish right on the bottom with short hops. Both these patterns are fairly heavy and since casting is always slightly compromised from a tube - watch out for the fly on the forward cast. It will easily damage a graphite rod or your head :oops:

Polistickles or Kent's Baby Rainbow are good fry imitations and almost always successful in the shallows.

However, nothing beats Old Bucketmouth hitting a surface fly. A Dahlberg Diver (up to 5" made from deer hair) is always good. A sharp retrieve will cause it to dive up to about 6" while pushing a lot of water. On the pause it returns to the surface with the rubber legs and marabou feathers fluttering enticingly. Hits are normally savage with the fly stationary.

Normal DDD's are also good for smaller fish.