Furrowing the Fly
The beauty above was 17lb and caught furrowing the fly earlier this year.
Sometimes in fishing, things happen to you that only your mother would believe while telling the story. It's not until mobile phones came along that we had proof of dates and times. One such thing happened to me last year, 16th June to be precise. Having met up with one of my friends who is a fine angler, I had previously showed him a technique of furrowing the fly. Casting 90 Degrees letting the belly of the line do the work. If the water is slow give a little hand line pulling 6" of line at a time, slowly.
I knew there were five good pools on this stretch of water as I had arrived the night before and walked the river. In first pool, I saw 3 fish about one cast away from each other. Anyway we met up the next morning and I gave him first choice and he picked the 1st pool. I told him he'd made a good choice as I had seen 3 fish the night before and I hadn't fished them. So we parted and I fished the last pool, furrowing the fly.
I got a bar of silver, 13lb and released.
We met for lunch and I showed my friend the photo. He had just got one to follow using his method casting 45 degrees and mending the line up river. A bit like myself, he just loves fishing and was happy to be there. At 13.15, we parted and he went to 3rd pool. I said I'd start at first pool bearing in mind my friend hadn't fished it for two hours.
I caught and released a 12lb fish at 13.43 (above)
Then caught a 13lb fish at 14.06 (above)
Then another 13lb fish at 14.32 (above).
When we met that evening, my friends jaw dropped when I showed him the photos and times. I'm not sure that he would have believed me if I hadn't got the photos with dates and times on my phone. But the day was not yet over.
Now people say you don't have to be a good caster to catch fish, I agree!! But in my book, it greatly increases your catch rate and technique.
Small tube fly perfect for the job.
Setup. I use a floating line with an 8ft leader 15lb Maxima Greene with cone head 1" tube fly or Floating line with a 5ft intermediate poly leader, 6ft leader 15lb Maxima Greene with 1" tube fly.
P.s. My friend had two fine fish the following week, 9lb & 13lb furrowing the fly. Lesson learned, it pays to try different techniques!
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