line setup

[zimeric]

guys what your best line type to take bream on a regular basis (ie the one you use the most)

ive experimented with shooting tips and lead lines but the one i get most of my fish on would have to be floating, the weight of the leader and the flie seems to be enough to get it down, i still struggle to kep the flie in the zone with it though.

[jimi]

Hey Zimeric, floating lines are great in snags and shallow water upstream stuff. In those situations, you don't need the fly to go too deep. It will just dredge up the bottom crap anyway. If you use lightly weighted charlies, clousers and bms's you should be ok.

To get it down a bit deeper try a sink tip line like the sci-angler clear wet tip. These are very versatile and the floating section makes it easy to pickup and recast.

I guess it depends where you are fishing. At places like the narrows, an intermediate line and heavily weighted clouser might be the go.

If they fly won't stay down, maybe you need to slow your strip, or is it the current that is causing problems?

James.

[zimeric]

thing is i like using small profile flies and theyre quite light but offer a lot of water resistance - rabbit fur etc.
ive found the weighted flies are good for getting down but i just have a personal preference for the lighter ones - i make most of them myself and dont stick to patterns much

i catch a lot of fish with the finger curl retreive but after seeing fisherman_josh working a soft plastic i think i might actually be missing out on fish that are hitting more aggresivly (instinct strikes)

he is a wizard with that technique of his ( big jerk stop retreive)

[jimi]

Yeah rabbit fur makes great flies - so much movement in the water. I guess an intermediate or sink tip line would be your best bet to keep them down.

As much as they'd hate to admit it, I reckon most flyfisherman can learn a lot from fishing softies (and visa versa). They are such similar techniques in a lot of ways.

If you did want to fish your flies like Josh's softies, then you may need to look at a heavier weighted fly like a clouser, or if you want to stick with rabbit fur, check out the USD merri minnow. Even with an intermediate line, the fly isn't going to stay down (after a big jerk) if it's not weighted, or at least it will take a long time to sink back.

[will10]

G'day Zimeric i've been using the clear wet tip also now for a while and found it great to get down to them without waiting for ages.As you i like fishing rabbit fur flies for their action/profile i also fished them slow until i fished one day with Muz Wilson using his usd merri minnow and in the first 20 min he out fished me and my mate 4 to 0 .The go is to fish them as fast as you can, i've even tried double handed striping but that may have been a bit to quick.As for the bream hitting the flies harder , i just about DohDohDohDoh my pants with some of the strikes encounted now,and they seem to be bigger fish to but that's proberly just cause i'm doing more fly fishing now.
Will