Most info out there, on Wet Flies appear to concentrate on Broonies,
I was wondering what's your favourite fly for Bows, do you find they prefer more flashy types eg The Dunkeld, Butcher ect, and what size do you find successful
8s, 10s or 12s.

To be perfectly honest Laurie, I rarely, if ever base my fly choice on the predominant species. Conditions, and the capriciousness of both species are enough to be getting on with, without listenining to old wives tales about what a Rainbow or Brown will or will not take.
Same goes for sizes.

__________________
Too much Saturn, not enough Moon.

Buzzers 2012


Fly Clips & Stands

when i do fish for rainbows (2 or 3 times a year) its all wets i fish with. Soldier palmers do well for me as does the dunkeld and an alexanrda mostly in size 10s and 12s. Kate Mclaren and various bumble patterns also do well for me. Its far better casting a team of 3 wets and pulling them back rather than fishing with a baby chicken.

A little story about a day when i was out with my mate and he had been pulling a yelow dancer and a blob through all day and had caught one and dropped 2 i think. I had been doing pretty much the same and not caught anything so i re-thought my tactics and stuck a 10ft leader on with 3 droppers at intervals of about 30 inches. Top dropper was a kate mclaren middle dropper was an alexandra and the point was a soldier palmer. Within 10minutes i had caught 2 fish and at the end of the day i had caught 6. People think they dont work anymore but they do and they work extremley well.

I know what your saying, iam finding wets for bows are becoming more popular,
i have caught my share on dull patterns, as well as flies with a bit more flash,
Maybe i'm wrong, but compared to broonies, i thought bows maybe did prefer a flee, with a little bit of flash.

I hear what your saying....i am guilty of catching bows on wets and its my favourite way, been out fishing family and friends for years now.

I can't say I've ever noticed that to be the case Laurie. Like I say, I think conditions/depth/mood are far more important and should have far more impact on your catch than basing you fly choice on any theories about minor predelictions the two species may or may not have.
Trout are trout. Wild or stocked, Browns or 'Bows. By and large they're all greedy, opportunistic, inquisitive, obliging and daft. ALL varieties can also be moody, tempremental, non-commital, smart and downright infuriating.

__________________
Too much Saturn, not enough Moon.

Buzzers 2012


Fly Clips & Stands

I think we can be a bit quick to generalise at times but I definitely do have certain patterns with either species in mind,no question.......
There are bound to be lots of different factors to consider such as light conditions,feeding habits,water clarity etc. It could also just as easilly be a figment of my imagination,albeit concluded over a long period of time and fishing experiences.

A good example at least on the places I fish, would be the Gorgeous George that I posted up recently.My local brownies (wildies no stocking)seem collectively unimpressed by the GG.Another place I fish which is stocked with both rainbows and browns on top of a head of wild browns.Both species of stocked fish seem to love it but the wildies again, are unimpressed.
How can this be when the GG is such a prolific taker of wild fish on the likes of Melvin.....
Fishing is full of these contradictions,helps us keep our feet on the ground ,I guess.

I don't know why, but i seem to get more pleasure, on fishing a pair of wet flies,and taking a strong fighting Rainbow, on a 5# line, than chucking out your usual lurebashers.

If fishing during a buzzer hatch i will use Black Pennells as my wetfly of choice and generally do ok on these

hi joe,
what i find is that fish that have been more recently stocked are more willing to oblige whichever tactic + fly combo i enjoy using most (also good for gaining confidence when trying a new tactic ). fish which have more fully acclimatised to a water and gotten used to pink squirrels doing the back stroke over head may respond much better to more naturalised tactics than you would think.

but fish being the enigmatic type dont read books or have the internet so experiment as much as possible when your out and switch tactics and flies when your catching not when your struggling this way if your experiments fail you know its not because the fish are dour and unwilling to take and if they succeed you gain something new to use when the fishing does get harder.

tight lines ..