In my last columns, I briefly mentioned flies, not the ones who are pests at a picnic, but the ones artificially tied to represent fish food.
This analysis will focus on the tied flies used locally to catch trout, kokanee, and char. To begin with, flies are used to imitate various insects, both aquatic (living in the water) and terrestrial (living on land such as ants, bees, grasshoppers, and even worms). I broadly use the term insects in an aquatic environment to include other organisms such as leeches and shrimp as well as the usual ones that emerge throughout the open water season, starting with chironomids, mayflies, damsel flies, dragon flies, and caddis flies (sedges).
There are still numerous individuals in the Pacific Northwest who travel long distances each spring and early summer to try and time the different emergences. At these times the fish feed with what seems reckless abandon as the masses of insects in either the pupal or nymphal form emerge as adults to mate and start their life cycles over again. But enough about insects, I want to discuss the flies that are tied to imitate them.
Before I do, I must state that there are two categories of flies, ones that imitate a natural food source such as insects, minnows, or say leeches, and those that attract fish, called, no surprise here, attractors. These attractor patterns don’t necessarily represent anything specific but do entice the trout into taking them.
Flies are tied in many different sizes, shapes and colours to represent the organism being imitated. Different bodies of water contain organisms that vary in colour sometimes exclusive to that specific lake or river. Factors that affect those colour variations are mainly the type of underwater structure they inhabit such as weeds, mud, or gravel.
These are often directly related to the clarity of the water. As an example, a shrimp living in dark green weeds will be of a darker shade of green, while another shrimp living in lighter green weeds or bottom will be a paler green. This is all about camouflage to help hide it from predators such as fish or other larger underwater insects like dragonflies or beetles. I know my fly boxes are filled with many different colours of flies I have tied to try and match the shade of the critters I find by pumping fish or looking in the weeds and under rocks along the shoreline before I start fishing. In clearer lakes, it may be obvious by looking into the water and observing the colour of the weeds and bottom.
For those just starting out in fly fishing, a good source of information would be the local sporting goods outlets. They should not only be able to provide information on what colours may be best but also the sizes and what insects may be emerging at that time and waterbody location. We, in the 100 Mile House area will find the timing of emergences later as the ice comes off here sometimes a few weeks after many of the Kamloops area lakes are ice-free.
While my preference is casting flies from an anchored boat, I know a lot of fishers opt for trolling a fly. I think for these individuals, using flies that represent a fish’s favourite food source such as dragonflies and leeches in different colours and shades, will provide them with the best opportunity for catching fish. Trolling also offers the angler the opportunity to cover more water and depths to present their offering to more fish.
I plan to discuss fly fishing strategies in another column.
