Hi All.

I am a total newbie to fly fishing. I have only been out three times (once on a river and twice on still). Anyway I've had no look so far but feel I'm getting close to that first fish.

I was out today on a small stocked lake near where I live. My fly selection is still quite small so I was using a mixture of buzzers, hoppers and black knat style dries. The one thing I saw a lot of today though were hover flies and wasps getting blown on to the water by the quite high winds and some huge splashy rises from Rainbows taking these off the surface.

I faced into the wind which with my novice casting was a nightmare but I felt that I just did not have the right fly for the job.

Can anyone recommend a good fly pattern for imitating these terrestrials. I have seen a CDC Bee out there but no hoverfly/wasp which is surprising. (please bear in mind I haven't yet started tying my own. Baby steps!)

Also any other tips to help me get that first fish would be greatly appreciated!

There is a Hairwing McGinty Bee which is a good terrestrial imitation but hoppers or daddies treated with floatant and a cdc pattern should get them on the surface or just belwo. If you do decide to start tying your own you'll get great advice on here and I assure you daddies and hooper patterns are fairly easy to tie. There also is a wasp fly, but though I've tied them and used them I've never had one fish rise to one.

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The scenery in the Grand Coulee area of eastern Washington was worth the air fare on its own!

Hoppers, daddies and sedges mate. I wouldn't bother with wasps patterns. If you don't know the actual flies being taken go for a generalized pattern such as a hopper, but try to match the colour if you see what i mean. If you see daddies or sedges put on a more imagine pattern such as a g&h sedges.

The other thing to think about is leader, make sure the fish can't see it. You might of git the right fly all along but the fish are spooking off it. Make sure your leader is sunk.

That first fish will be one you will remember.

Hi Rob
First mistake newbies make is assume the fly is the key to why they are not catching. The likes of hoppers (in a range of sizes and colours) can represent all ranges of midge types, through to drone/hover flies (Amber) and daddies (large hares ear or brown).

Fish (esp stockies) will take everything from the occasional wasp to fag buts so don't worry about covering every species going. One fly that is a virtual banker this time of year is a large detached (deer hair or foam) bodied daddy.

To fish use quite a strong leader as smash take are common (8pm flouro). Degrease your leader and chuck out the fly. Take in line just enough to keep contact with your fly. You can give it the occasional twitch but otherwise I prefer it static. Fish will often drown a daddy before returning to nail it so don't strike. Wait until the tip of the line starts to go and the just smoothly raise the rod (don't "strike" as such, just raise and tighten).

Hope that helps

Spot on advice, my best session ever was with the Daddy, on top. Total killers this time of year.

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Eddie
"We look to Scotland for all our ideas of civilisation."
Voltaire

Thanks for the tips guys. Actually had some daddies in my fly box! Will try them out this weekend. The good news is I popped my cherry on the river Wharfe yesterday with 2 small Grayling taken on a bead head nymph. Big grins all evening!!

Hello,
Would you fish this with a tapered or level leader and how much of the leader would you degrease?
Thank you,Colin.