Jan's Flies
Jan Spencer
I simply love this time of the year. It starts to warm up, days lengthen, daylight savings kicks in and insects and the trout start to waken.
Just as I write this I am thinking about my afternoon - a session in the Ninteen Lagoons area. This is half an hour or so from my home at Miena and an investigation is warranted.
My thoughts are on looking for tadpole feeding trout. People sometimes, mistakenly, call these "tailing trout', but to me they are not. "Tailing trout" hunt the bottom for nymphs, amphipods etc.
Tadpole feeders are sometimes slow and glide around, often almost imperceptible, whilst at other times there is charging and a lot of commotion and fish will even bank themselves chasing the tatsy little tadpoles.
I love fishing to the slow movers with a dry such as a Red Tag or Greenwells Glory, and this is primarily in shallow water of say 100 to 200 mm. I reckon I get a pretty good strike rate using a dry.
That said though, a wet tadpole may well be better, and almost certainly is on the more aggressive fish.
Fished static in the path of a moving fish, or with some short erratic movement it can be so very exciting. If the fish does ignore your offering you can just pickup and offer it again.
As long as you have crept quietly into position where there are some fish and you are not charging about the fish will be so focussed on feeding you can often get quite a few casts at them.
The fly below, Noel's Tad, was one Noel Jetson taught me to tie nearly 25 years ago. It is just as good today as then. An interesting part of the fly is the addition of the red seals fur. It really does add some depth and almost translucense to the fly.
Places to look for tadpole feeders include the Ninteen Lagoons, Western Lakes, Little Pine, Penstock Lagoon and similar waters.
Noel's Tad
Hook: Kamasan B200 size 10.
Thread: Black.
Tail: Black hen or soft cock fibres. I sometimes use marabou.
Body: Seals fur - red and black mixed in equal quantities.
Hackle: Black hen.
Tie thread down hook and then tie in a small bunch or fibres about the same length of the hook for the tail.
Dub a nicely rounded body of the mixed seals fur.
Wind on two turns of hen hackle. This adds a little movement and does help eliminate some snagging when fished slowly.
Whip finish and varnish a nice little head.
