Hiding the hook

[Plodger]

I've had a few fish come up to my fly and turn away at the last second and was thinking they could be seeing the flash of the hook and it puts them off.

Has anyone tried putting black varnish on the bend and point to hide it?

Stuart

[fortbhoy]

it's probably not the hook thats put the fish off more likely to be it's seen your leader or it didn't like the way your fly was presented.
partridge sld''s are black but i dont think it will make much of a difference

[black knight]

Originally Posted by fortbhoy

it's probably not the hook thats put the fish off more likely to be it's seen your leader or it didn't like the way your fly was presented.
partridge sld''s are black but i dont think it will make much of a difference

I agree the problem is most likely to do with presentation or the size of the fly.

BK

[flytyingguy]

Fulling mill do them in black but its probs to do with size...

[Scratch]

If you can see the fish....

[Plodger]

Thanks, I'll tie some smaller sizes and have to give SKB a bell about some new leader material.

Stuart

[spidersplus]

Plodger,

What brand and thickness/ break strain are you using for tippet?

Kind regards

[Plodger]

Truefly mono 6lb then 4lb. Don't know the thickness. To be honest it's not my first choice but my local fishery stocks it so giving it a try. I used flourocarbon briefly but the knots were unpredictable wetted and not.

[spidersplus]

You could try "scaling down" to 3 lb tippet and in a lower diameter.

Stroft ABR nylon for example is thinner that Wychwood nylon - the 3.1 lb breaking strain is only 0.10mm in diameter compared to 0.125mm - so less chance of the tippet distrubing the fish.

As the other guys have suggested, probably the main reason the fish are turning away is the size of the fly though.

Worth experimenting with smaller patterns and finer tippet.

Kind regards

[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