Improve your fly casting and catch more fish

Peter Hayes

I love to cast. I am fascinated by it and I have been since I was a 13 YO boy. I'm not sure wether it is the feel of the loading and unloading rod or the mesmerising motion of the fly line as it weaves it way backwards and forwards.

Two fly river fishing - twice the fun


The Hedged Bet

Fishing two flies is often referred to as hedging your bets - typically the leader will consist of a buoyant dry fly such as Royal Wulff tied on the end of the tippet, and tied between 30 and 60 centimeters off its hook bend will be a nymph such as a Pheasant Tail nymph. If the fish are feeding off the of surface, then the fish may take the dry, however, if the fish is feeding below the surface, such as trout feeding on nymphs, the fish will probably take the nymph trailing below the Wulff, hence the reference to a hedged bet.

BALANCING THE EQUIPMENT

"Why do we buy the rod first and flies last?"
As a fly fishing instructor and trout guide I have had the benefit of teaching and guiding a considerable number of fly fishers. This exposes me to a significant range of fly fishing equipment, all manner of casting techniques and the ever-changing challenges of weather and water. We must get the best out of these circumstances and can only do so by focusing on the critical elements of fly fishing

8 Weight Saltwater Fly Rods

I was recently asked to do an eight weight Fly Rod review and a recent trip to Weipa provided the ideal testing ground. Eight weights are perhaps the most common salt water weight used in this country and certainly in my experience in the Kimberly, the Northern Territory and now in Weipa I would suggest it is the single most appropriate rod weight for the job. If you are going to buy just one rod for salt water work - make it an eight weight.

Fishing Multiple Dry Flies

There was a time when dry fly fishing simply involved tying a single dry fly onto a leader of appropriate diameter, casting either to a rising fish or likely spot with a static fly and waiting for  an opportunity in the form of a snout, either brown or rainbow, to poke out of the water to swallow the offering.

Round bottoms and long legs - Big Flies!

Daniel Hackett

Attractor Flies
If there were ever any facts that could be agreed on in fly fishing, it would be that "Chernobyl Ants" have nothing to do with ants, that there is no such thing as a "Stimulator" hatch and that the Cricket does not provide a consistent food source for the fish of Great Lake. Despite these facts, these comparatively large "attractor" flies with their fat bodies and long legs can result in excellent dry fly fishing in the absence of any surface food, or indeed during a heavy hatch.

The Break O Day's Magic Mayfly

The orange mayfly spinner danced up and down within a balmy and gentle breeze. Every so often it would pierce the water with its tail - releasing more eggs, then return back to its dance. As the seconds turned to minutes more of its kind joined the action until before me hundreds of spinners lined the silver coloured surface of the river.

Australian Salmon On Fly - Location Cremorne


Mark Simpson with a nice Australian salmon taken from the Cremorne Channel. This is an easily accessed southern Tasmanian water that can be very productive. Mark explains his methods.

The Potent Possum Flies

Andrew Pender looks at what is one of the most easily found fly tying materials - possum fur.
Brush tail possum fur certainly seems to have come into vogue as a fly material over the past few years. I had heard about the potential of possum fur plenty of times, but always dismissed it as just the same as any other fur. That was until a friend gave me some to try out.

Flathead Fly fishing tips and tactics

Before we start the following is just a guide to get you started. Don't use the concepts presented here as absolutes, mold them to suit your needs, skill level and equipment.

The key to a catching a flathead is understanding their habits. Most predators in this world hunt their food. They head out into their marked territory and find their prey, stalking their prey and then attacking at the opportune time. Alternatively a few predators wait for the game to come to them, one such predator is the Flathead.

Dry Flys With Attitude

If there has been one single revolution in Tasmanian fly fishing in the last three years, it would have to be the use of the English style reservoir dry flies. Popularly known as the pommy" dries, these bright little numbers have taken loch style fishing in the Tasmanian entral highlands by storm. There has been quite a bit written about them lately, and as he technique is developed even further, no doubt a few more thousand words will be pawned in fly fishing publications.

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