Bright is Better!

Josh and I fished the Tongariro on Tuesday and did pretty well. Water was a bit dirty due to rain the night before but it was awesome to see some good sized freshies up in the river. We fished solely switch gear with bright and shiny flies that seem to be the go at the moment and will become more effective as winter rolls on.

I thought I would give a quick run down on a fly I tied up that worked on a nice fat rainbow from the Bridge Pool right after some guy had just dredged the hell out of it with nymphs (he was pissed).

This fly is yet to be named. Some possibilities have included the Tongy Rocket, Troll Slayer (referring to the fish that was caught under the bridge) or what my Dad said when I showed it to him, "What the f*** is that?"

Despite its quirky looks, it appears to be functional pattern for winter run fish in coloured water. The contrast of the pink marabou neck around the wrapped olive zonker strip body stands out well and pulses like crazy in the water. This fly could be fished very slow as a result as it has built in action (the reason woolly buggers kick arse). The stinger hook is effective as it helps stop fish nipping at the tail of a fly and not hooking up and the dumbell eye helps with sinking and keeps the hook upright and not scraping on the bottom.

The sweet thing about tying flies like this is that you can really mess around with a whole lot of different stuff. The hardest part is having the confidence to actually bust it out and fish it over your tried and true patterns. As you can see below, sometimes it pays off.

The result of an experiment gone right. Turangi Chrome!

The biggest fish of the day, taken on a black egg sucking leech from Manic Tackle Project.

So next time you go to tie on an olive woolly bugger (or a hare and copper for that matter), stop and think about the situation you are faced with. If there is a bit of colour in the water then colour up your fly. Even it's running clear a bit of brightness can be enough to induce a strike. Don't be afraid to be a bit different and try something new!