Hiding the hook

[wingman]

Originally Posted by richardw

Scratch has given you the clue here!

Are you hiding whilst you fish or are you standing up?

Flies work by presenting a stimulus to the fish that is similar to the stimulii made by the real food. Hook size and visibility is unlikely to put fish off if the stimulus is right. It is far more likely that the fish saw you at the last moment or that the retrieve or drift was unlike the real thing and so cancelled out the stimulus of the fly you were using.

An old trick for spider fishing is to dress a size 16 fly on a size 8 or 10 hook so it sinks a little quicker and fishes deeper without losing the slim profile that would occur if you wound wire under the dressing.

richard

Have you got a pic of a size 16 tied on a size 8 or 10 hook Richard? I'd be interested to see what the effect is like as I've never heard of that being done before.

[richardw]

Originally Posted by wingman

Have you got a pic of a size 16 tied on a size 8 or 10 hook Richard? I'd be interested to see what the effect is like as I've never heard of that being done before.

I haven't a 16 on an 8 or 10 but I did find a 14 on an 8 for you. It's a very old gold ribbed Orange Partridge with a bold head that used to be deadly on the Derbyshire Derewent in the opening weeks of the season in the 1970's. It's bashed up but you can see the principle okay.




richard

[flytire]

what does the trout see

About That Hook: What Do Trout See? | MidCurrent

[Plodger]

[QUOTE=richardw;1101353]Scratch has given you the clue here!

Are you hiding whilst you fish or are you standing up?

I spot a fish moving along close to the bank and move ahead of it and hover my fly an inch above the water. I'm well hidden behing vegetation etc and my rod is already out over the water so the fish won't see the rod moving out, and won't notice it lowering down an inch or two. When the fish gets within 2-3 feet of the fly I dabble it on the surface like a trapped insect. I'm on my hands and knees crawling most of the time, much to the amusment of other fishers but it works apart from a few fish which stop directly underneath then turn away quickly as though they can see something wrong.

Stuart