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BC Outdoors 
BC Outdoors Past Issues 2008 Issues January/February 2008 Head: Back to the Past — Using Floating Lines and Long Leaders
BC Outdoors Past Issues 2008 Issues January/February 2008 Head: Back to the Past — Using Floating Lines and Long Leaders | Head: Back to the Past — Using Floating Lines and Long Leaders |
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For two hours I had been covering water, stripping and pausing a favourite leech pattern on my clear intermediate line. A favoured tactic to locate active fish, once caught, the careful use of a throat pump can help you figure out what the special of the day might be. My arm was getting tired and my concentration was fading. Along the gunnels of my boat lay my other rod rigged with a dry line, 18-foot leader and a black and red Ice Cream Cone. Drawn by the attraction of a change of pace I reeled in and swapped rods. With the wind at my back I laid a quartering cast toward deeper water, allowing the wind-induced current to sweep the fly up the drop off toward the shallows. After waiting 30 seconds I began the slowest of hand-twist retrieves. About halfway through the retrieve, a heavy, almost weedy sensation transmitted through the thumb and forefinger of my rod hand as I crept the line back. A voice in my head told me to lift the rod, so I did; for a second or two the rod throbbed and then sprang to life. I continued this approach for the balance of the day with fantastic results. In order to be consistent, still water fly-fishers need to be able to suggest a variety of prey items using different techniques. From a personal perspective, few still-water presentations match the satisfaction of catching trout using a dry line and long leader. In today’s strike-indicator-dominated world many lake fly-fishers miss out on a method that is as rewarding as it is successful. Considered by some as the traditional presentation method for imitating chironomid pupa and larva, the floating-line-long-leader approach works for a variety of other invertebrates. Sedge pupa, mayfly nymphs, scuds, damsel nymphs, leeches and water boatmen are ideal candidates for this method as well. Perhaps the first consideration is when to use a floating line and long leader. When compared with strike indicators, the naked technique — as many call it — is ideally suited when probing water in excess of 3.66 metres deep. Drop-offs and other areas of uneven or sloped gradient are additional naked considerations. At times trout seem to play with flies suspended under an indicator, causing the indicator to dip. No matter the strike speed, many fish are missed. Swapping over to a more direct contact between the fly and angler often turns these dips into fish at hand. When targeting trout in clear waters the degree of separation between fly and fly line afforded by a long leader can be the only method assured of reasonable success. The plop of an indicator simply spooks trout. Leaders in excess of 25 feet are favoured by a select group of fly-fishers under these exacting conditions. To read the full story, pick up the January/February issue of BC Outdoors Sport Fishing at your local newsstand. To get more great articles like this one in the future, subscribe now! |
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