Hi Guys


It would seem we all have "mental blocks" regarding certain fly patterns from time to time, be it Buzzers ?? be it nymphs ?? or what ever

There are pattern's that we know every tom, dick and harry is bagging up on but we just cant seem to catch on

The other year it was buzzers for me i know they are deadly i just couldnt catch on them im glad to say this has passed and i can now catch on buzzers ! As did my Diawl bach block

My current "Mental block" are Black Zonkers i know they are a deadly pattern i saw Paul young and a bloke on the TV pull fish after fish from a Loch on the TV yet i still havent caught a single fish on the Black Zonker !!

Ive even caught on Zuddlers !!

Im wondering why we seem to get the mental block ?? is it a confidence thing ?? or is it more to do with our comfort zone's ?? i.e the style of fishing we are happy with ?? for me its a slow fig 8 ?? most the time ............

Ive bagged up at a fishery and given my mate the same fly from my box ......only for me to keep catching and them to struggle ?? They must be doing some thing different even if very subtle ?? or is it just luck ???

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Englander

"Barbless since 2008"

Vision GT Four catapult 9' 6#
Vision GT Four SW 9' 9#
Vision 3 Zone 9' 5#
Vision Cult 9' 3#
Shakespeare Trion 9' 5/6#
Cortland Endurance 9' 6#
Shakespeare Expedition float tube
Vosseler DC3 reel
Okuma Helios 8/9 reel
Greys G series 3/4 reel
Snowbee Geo 3/4 reel

We've all got them and it's a confidence thing. A friend of mine years ago when we were practicing at Rutland for a B & H Final told me he couldn't catch fish on a Peter Ross no matter how he tried. Just to see what would happen I tied one on and promptly caught two fish on it. It didn't work on the day though and I don't even possess a PR nowadays. However, a slim size 12 or 14 can be very effective during an evening buzzer hatch so I might just......

The mental thing with me is not a fly pattern but a method. I can't get them consistently on a roly poly retreive. I try it and after half an hour of nothing, give up and go back to a more normal - for me - FTA and immediately catch.

All I can say more on this is Heaven help me if I ever lose faith with hare's fur as a tying material. If that happens I'll have to give up fishing and take up marbles or something!

Have em' all the time not necessarily just fly patterns!

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[COLOR="Blue"]"A fish seen is a fish nearly caught"[/COLOR]

To be honest I don't think its a fly or pattern, its several things that alter how a fly fishes.
1, line, floater, sinker etc all act differently
2' leader/tippets same as above
3, waiting time before retrieve
4, speed of retrieve
and so on, with all these variables there are going to be time when your style just don't match the fly.
I'm still struggling with crunchers but getting there.
Good Luck
Mike

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I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,9 bean rows will I have there and a hive for the honey bee.

i struggled with buzzers at first as well.was doin an ultra slow retrieve as i was advised too do.NOTHING IN 4 OUTINGS.then fished them static with just an occasional slow pull,or let them swing round in the breeze.and bang first fish on.havent looked back since.
STATICS THE CHOICE FOR ME
yc

Hi Englander, I,ve still got the diawl bach block just dont had any confidence in them at all, but some anglers rave on about them, not me , cheers ck

I read in one of Bob Church's books that the Peter Ross was his bogey fly. I haven't got the book any more but I'm sure it said that he'd never had a brown or a rainbow on one, although he had caught sea trout on it.

I was determined to bust my buzzer block the other week, but got nothing, no bites, nibbles, ****** all, not a sausage. Then I got a big bird's nest at my reel and I pulled my black buzzer to a few feet from the bank whilst I untangled the line. Then the tip arced round and nice bow was soon on the bank :-)
Being good at tangles, I reckon I can hone this method further

My mental block or as I prefer to call it "jinx fly," is the Pheasant Tail Nymph.

I just don't seem to be able to catch anything on one either in still or running water. I've tried them from s10 down to s18, weighted, unweighted, with and without bead heads of various types. I've tied them with different thoraxes, colour and materials but still failed to catch.

Strangely if I use a slight variation such as a cruncher I do catch, is it down to the hackle on the cruncher making the fly look more mobile? I just don't know.

Several years ago I was fishing a river in the highlands initially for salmon but due to the very low water I decided to go for trout so as not to waste the day ticket altogether. I put a GRHE on the point and a PTN on the dropper and started to catch fish immediately on the point fly, mostly small but the occasional larger specimen. I thought heres my chance to break my duck on the PTN so I swapped the flies around and fished with the PTN on the point and the GRHE on the dropper.

You can guess the result I caught trout on the dropper and the point fly the PTN was ignored. I keep trying the PTN on my cast in various positions but as yet its a big zero.

I will break the jinx one day, perhaps the 2010 season?

I had a similar jinx with the PTN... till I saw a trout roar straight past the damsel on the point and the hare's ear on the middle dropper to get at the PTN on the top dropper. Not looked back since!