So these cone head buggers in size 6 are deadly flies. They are pretty easy to cast on a floating line so long as your leader is not too long. The sink rate is pretty good and allows you to cover the depths reasonably well. You can also fish them fast just under the surface which I did most of the time.
We set out at the lake armed with some new fly patterns to test. The first lot were some new cone head woolly bugger patterns then some other short shank epoxy eyed jigging smelt that needed to be proven.
Dan was supposed to arrive at 0530 for the sparrows start. He did not show up until about 0800. Luckily, I had plenty of work to do as always. Writing articles and making videos are two things I am behind on, especially the videos.
We wandered up to Matahina and made our way into the lake. The algal bloom had started with a distinct change in water clarity between the river and lake. There was nothing happening on the lake. It was calm with pretty clear skies but it was like all the trout had just left. Aside from the odd tiddler, there was no surface activity at all. There were no takes either. I suspected we needed to get below the algal layer so the trout could see our offering. Instead we headed back up to find the clear river water.
So I reckoned these new cone head buggers would be perfect when you want a little extra sink. That is what I did when we found where river meets lake. There is a distinct change in water clarity and usually a lot of floating debris caught between the downstream current and the upstream breeze. I I cast my cone head olive bugger across the line, let it sink a bit then retrieved slowly. Bang! a nice big rainbow for the smoker. Up to this point Dan had struggled to catch anything.
Dan was back on deck. He had on the cone head krystal black bugger he failed with earlier. I changed it to the cone head olive bugger. It was not long until he was into a good brown.
Then I put on the cone head krystal black bugger Dan could not catch anything with. I wound up landing at least three fish with it. Check out that stonker of a brown!
I really wanted to put on my sinking line and fish some of the new short shank epoxy eyed jigging smelt patterns we have. We just did not get around to it. We traded Dan's rod back and forth after a fish or a penalty and used the three cone head woolly bugger patterns over and over. Dan picked up a few fish but it really was not his day. I think he had too many bourbons the night before.
We made our way back up the river and picked up some more fish. I even tried the cone head buggers to some foam line risers. That did not work so well. It was a hot day by the time we got out. The ice cold beer tasted nice when we got home.
So these cone head buggers in size 6 are deadly flies. They are pretty easy to cast on a floating line so long as your leader is not too long. The sink rate is pretty good and allows you to cover the depths reasonably well. You can also fish them fast just under the surface which I did most of the time.
