As fly fishers we talk a lot about 'matching the hatch' as we try offer fly patterns to our quarry similar to the food items the fish happen to be feeding on. But what if our target fish are coarse species that have become accustomed to the various particle baits (maggots, hemp, pellets etc) that get thrown at them at commercial fisheries and club venues across the land?
I thought it would be fun to fashion some Calliphora larva flies (that's 'maggot' to you and I ) to match the hatch and target some of the fish swimming in these waters.
holy trinity
Discovering a lovely little low-key commercial fishery on my doorstep offering a nicely balanced coarse lake, I hatched a plan to tackle the water with my fly rod. Knowing that the only large carp the lake contains are of the 'grass' variety the venue is ignored by the bivvy and buzzer brigade but holds an interesting variety of other species including crucian carp, perch, ide, roach, tench and chub. Wouldn't it be fun to turn up and see how many of these could be captured with fly tackle during my visit? For me the holy trinity for my fly rod would be to land an ide, crucian and the seemingly 'impossible' tench all in one session.
tactical thinking - working the margins
At the end of the average session at your local commercial
fishery it's not unusual for left- over bait to be thrown into the
water margins, particularly perishable baits like maggots. Fish, especially bottom feeders like tench and carp soon get wise and cruise the margins hoovering up these free offerings after the anglers have gone home. My thinking was to arrive early and hunt the margins looking for tell tale feeding bubbles and cast to these areas. If I found feeding fish I would 'hold' them in location by spraying in a few handfuls of real maggots around my fly.
my approach for deep feeders
My rig for the crucian and tench was very simple. The size 14 Calliphora would go on the end of a level 6ft length of 6lb fluoro as point fly. A floating foam beetle would serve as an early indicator of subtle takes and also allow the leader to hang nearer to the vertical. This would improve bite detection as a sagging line takes longer to transmit any movement to the fly line. To avoid tangles the beetle was not tied as a dropper but instead attached direct to the leader with a blood knot, the super-long tag end then having the point fly tied on. The length from point to sight fly was 5ft and then a further 1ft to the 3 weight floating fly line. This reflected the water depth at this location.
A dust shot was pinched on to the tippet 3 inches behind the point fly to help it get down quickly through the small silver fish and to aid presentation: the line could be tweaked occasionally to make the maggot fly waft about near the lake bed to get noticed by feeding tench and crucians.
mission impossible
I arrived early and found myself alone at the lake. I circled the water and found an attractive spot that had clearly been fished frequently judging by the polished ground of the bank side. A small weed free channel ran parallel to the bank 10ft out or so and tench feeding bubbles were fizzing away like champagne in the early sunshine. A few handfuls of live maggots were thrown along the channel to hold the fish and get them feeding with confidence. Then my fly was cast. Takes when they came were very subtle and easily missed, registering as a slight skating of the foam beetle across the surface film, as the tench sucked in then blew out the fly. Eventually though a fish stuck and a lovely little 'impossible' tench came to hand, followed quickly by another with a third shedding the hook on the way to the net.
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'Crazy' because all bait fishermen know that trying to hit bites from these finnicky feeders can drive a man insane. But buoyed up with confidence from my early success with tench, I reasoned that the factors making this swim attractive to tench would also prove so for this most beautiful of carp species. So I continued to loose feed live maggots in the hope that the crucian would put in an appearance. My confidence grew as I witnessed some tiny bubbles that could just be betraying the presence of this dainty feeder. I cast to them as softly as I could and held my breath. Sensitivity in bite detection is essential to catching crucian carp and here I felt my fly rig really scored and sure enough, after holding my breath until I felt dizzy, the line slid away a few inches and paused then slid away some more. (I had learned with the tench that a strip set was better than trying to lift into the fish and if the take was missed the fly could be left in the hope of a second chance.) So after a brisk strip set I found myself connected to a stunning, scale-perfect bar of crucian gold.
the ides have it
By this time some gatecrashers had arrived, attracted by the bait I had been spraying out. A number of ide had moved in, making aggressive slashing rushes at the maggots as they hit the surface. I removed the shot from my tippet and changed the point fly to a double maggot version (much slower sinking as the rubber grubs are slightly buoyant). Before casting I threw in some more handfuls of bait and the surface really began to boil as the fish competed for these free offerings. I discovered that the key to success was to deliver the cast as soon as possible after the bait had hit the water. Where the crucian were tentative and subtle the ide were aggressive to the point of recklessness, but could also eject the fly in a split second.They also seemed very tackle savvy if the cast was less than perfect. Connecting with takes took lightening reflexes and not being fully in possession of these I converted perhaps only 25% of takes at first. But as I got my eye in then some lovely ide came to hand and what a superb sporting fish this is, hard fighting, challenging and good looking.
I'll be back
For a hair-brain scheme dreamed up at my kitchen table the bait-fly fusion succeeded far better than I could have hoped for, with all three of my target species caught along with some nice roach and perch too. It has proved a versatile and fun method capable of taking bottom feeders and top water fish. I will be taking the approach to a known big tench water soon (perhaps with a sweetcorn imitation?) and I will definitely be holding a rematch with those ide..
tight lines!
DWB
photography by Ellabella West Beale
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