That's my gut feeling about the matter too: get the presentation right and have confidence, which fly is waay less important. Great to see it confirmed in such a spectacular way. The Japanese Tenkara anglers by the way have 3 basic fly patterns (kebari) which aren't trying to imitate a specific insect but rather are shaped to behave differently in the water: 'Jun' (soft hackles backwards) for dead drifting, 'Sakasa' (soft hackles forward) for fly animation/manipulation and 'Futsu' (stiff hackles at right angle) for anchoring the fly in pockets. Thanks for this great video! Confidence is one of the most important factors in fishing and you just gave mine a nice boost!
Awesome video Ollie, great demonstration! Here's my $0.05 which I must admit is based largely on personal experience and gut instinct, after all it's pretty difficult to be scientific or certain about these things......1. Presentation matters much more than anything else 2. Bead colours do appear to make a bit of a difference at times. 3. The more functional aspects of a fly are more important than visual aspects (eg sink rate for nymphs, overall size and profile, how high or low a dry or emerger sits in the film). 4. The faster the water the less the fly pattern matters, but conversely in slower water, I think the fly pattern matters a bit more. 5. Colour does seem to me to make a difference sometimes, for example I have had days where a pink bead brown pheasant tail doesn't fish well but a pink bead light coloured hares ear or tassie devil is killing it. Also with dries, if the fish has enough time to look at it I believe they sometimes will come up to it if the size and profile is right, but then reject a fly at the last second if it's the wrong colour - this was suggested by Jason Randall in one of his books on trout vision I believe. 6. Trout at least in Australia are usually not overly selective or locked in on a particular hatch, rather they are opportunistic and will eat what looks like food. But I do think that there can be some value in matching a hatch, certain flies seem to produce better than others in some situations, I notice this particularly in lakes. Most of the time trout are curious, that's why attractor patterns often work so well, but there are times where attractors don't work and much more subtle naturals are the way to go. 7. This ties in with #1, how the fly behaves is more important than how it looks (ie. is it dead drifting? swimming across current? rising or sinking in the water column? are the legs/collar pulsing in the current?). As I said there's a lot of assumptions and suppositions that I'm making here, I'd be very interested to hear if any of that aligns with your experience? Great video mate, keep them coming! Cheers, Peachy. :)
I think you are right on the money! My feeling is that it depends how well the fish are feeding and wether or not they are taking food items selectively or opportunistically. If the fish are feeding opportunistically and are very active they should take anything if its presented correctively, as was the case here. If they are feeding selectively having the right fly is important (size, colour, profile, action etc) to get an eat, whereas if they are inactive having some sort of fly that triggers a bite out of curiosity or aggression could be important (junk flies, streamers, bright flashy nymphs etc). In terms of dry flies I think the first thing is the presentation, then how it sits in the water and its size and then the colour. How fast the water is flowing likely also makes a big difference on the selectivity of the fish simply due to how much time they have to inspect the fly before its past them in the current. Lakes are different again depending on if the fish are reacting to and chasing a fly like a streamer out of curiosity and aggression (is it flashy, how does it move, colour etc) or feeding selectively such as on damsels or mayflies. I haven't had many experiences where different nymph patterns (not counting changing bead colour or junk flies) change success rates drastically for me in NZ, but overseas sometimes the fish are more clever due to increased angling pressure/or are used to eating small insects and may want only very small flies for example. Bead colour seems to be important and having confidence in a fly helps too - I usually pick some sort of impressionistic fly to start with that I like and try others from there. That being said I have found dry fly patterns and some fly patterns for lakes to be important here to sometimes depending on the situation.
Thank you for this interesting video. My take away as a novice trout fly fisher is that its all about, Presentation >>>Presentation>>>Presentation, now its up to me to Practice>> Practice and more Practice. Thanks again for your insightfull and resource fulled videos.
My guess is that the fish thought the pink bead was an egg, but hard to judge by only a couple of fish. I’d love to see someone fish a whole session with single “nymph” - pink bead, silver bead and split shot & bare hook. Fascinating vid, great stuff 👍
A bit depressing for a fly tyer but would you have caught even more with a well-dressed fly? Great looking water and a very worthwhile presentation. Regards.
The tungsten bead looks great.. it works well. I wonder with the smallest components as a tiny silver willow leaf blade,split ring & Spro makes the smallest power swivel. If that could be attached to this unique bead hook without messing up the finesse fly fishing presentation. After all fish cannot resist tiny baits..Who knows whatever colored tiny willow leaf blade.I learned this in a different direction of fishing in river ways & ponds. The tiny flash gets attention. I’m not a know it all,& not one style of fishing is the same everywhere.. Just a thought…
I try to tie good looking flies just to compensate my lack of presentation skills lol Also, I think that good looking flies only increases your confidence. Same happens with lure fishing. Marlin baits did a similar experiment that instead of making a fish lure, it just made a block of wood and still worked really well.
Great video. I can't help but wonder if other factors such as bead size and depth of the fly affected the takes. Nonetheless, I will be adding some light pink beads to my next fly tying purchase.
Nice bro, presentation always most important. Size and silhouette count for something I'm sure. Beyond that I think segmentation and movement are the only details that really add anything.
Great video Ollie…please don’t tell my wife about bead only flies otherwise all my feathers, dubbings, wires, tinsels etc etc will be appearing on eBay after she’s cleared my tying den 😂 some helpful comments from your viewers / subscribers too based on their experiences…look forward to your future videos…thanks for sharing
Imo patterns do matter. On the one hand, we're all told they don't, but on the other hand, why do we have so many? And why does everyone have stories of no fish, then change to a different pattern and start catching fish, and also why are we told to match the hatch if it doesn't matter and why do eggs work well in Nov, and Dec. But not at all in June or July? (Depending on the river, right?) I do believe that the fish are most often talking the shiny bead to feel it, or just out of curiosity...because like you said, they are curious creatures and are using their mouths to see what it is.
Good video. Your thoughts on targetting brown's with the same strategy? Are they also non selective like these rainbows? Also is pink beads working well as you are close to spawning season?
I think it would work, but I only tried with the beads for about 15 minutes and then finished video and went back to normal flies. I actually tried a small egg fly and it didn't work so I guess they took the pink bead because it was sparkly and caught their attention, plus it drifted like an insect would
This is very interesting. But to have meaningful results, you need some kind of controlled experiment (for example, keep switching between a normal nymph and one with just a bead).
An English fishing guide who makes UA-cam videos .He did the same experiment a few years back & caught just as many fish.I do like using metallic pink beads.
Mostly presentation is more important. But, sometimes trout is very picky about fly size. Particularly, when they eat some small hatching emergers, they ignore bigger flies wich doesn't match the average size of preferred food item
If you have ever opened the crop of a trout you will have seen enough bits of wood, stones and plant material scraps to know that NO it does not have to look like anything real at all. Tie up some flies that look like nothing real in this world and see what you catch, personally done it several times.
That's my gut feeling about the matter too: get the presentation right and have confidence, which fly is waay less important. Great to see it confirmed in such a spectacular way. The Japanese Tenkara anglers by the way have 3 basic fly patterns (kebari) which aren't trying to imitate a specific insect but rather are shaped to behave differently in the water: 'Jun' (soft hackles backwards) for dead drifting, 'Sakasa' (soft hackles forward) for fly animation/manipulation and 'Futsu' (stiff hackles at right angle) for anchoring the fly in pockets.
Thanks for this great video! Confidence is one of the most important factors in fishing and you just gave mine a nice boost!
Thanks mate! I'll have to check out those Tenkara style flies they sound pretty cool
Awesome video Ollie, great demonstration! Here's my $0.05 which I must admit is based largely on personal experience and gut instinct, after all it's pretty difficult to be scientific or certain about these things......1. Presentation matters much more than anything else 2. Bead colours do appear to make a bit of a difference at times. 3. The more functional aspects of a fly are more important than visual aspects (eg sink rate for nymphs, overall size and profile, how high or low a dry or emerger sits in the film). 4. The faster the water the less the fly pattern matters, but conversely in slower water, I think the fly pattern matters a bit more. 5. Colour does seem to me to make a difference sometimes, for example I have had days where a pink bead brown pheasant tail doesn't fish well but a pink bead light coloured hares ear or tassie devil is killing it. Also with dries, if the fish has enough time to look at it I believe they sometimes will come up to it if the size and profile is right, but then reject a fly at the last second if it's the wrong colour - this was suggested by Jason Randall in one of his books on trout vision I believe. 6. Trout at least in Australia are usually not overly selective or locked in on a particular hatch, rather they are opportunistic and will eat what looks like food. But I do think that there can be some value in matching a hatch, certain flies seem to produce better than others in some situations, I notice this particularly in lakes. Most of the time trout are curious, that's why attractor patterns often work so well, but there are times where attractors don't work and much more subtle naturals are the way to go. 7. This ties in with #1, how the fly behaves is more important than how it looks (ie. is it dead drifting? swimming across current? rising or sinking in the water column? are the legs/collar pulsing in the current?). As I said there's a lot of assumptions and suppositions that I'm making here, I'd be very interested to hear if any of that aligns with your experience? Great video mate, keep them coming! Cheers, Peachy. :)
I think you are right on the money! My feeling is that it depends how well the fish are feeding and wether or not they are taking food items selectively or opportunistically. If the fish are feeding opportunistically and are very active they should take anything if its presented correctively, as was the case here. If they are feeding selectively having the right fly is important (size, colour, profile, action etc) to get an eat, whereas if they are inactive having some sort of fly that triggers a bite out of curiosity or aggression could be important (junk flies, streamers, bright flashy nymphs etc).
In terms of dry flies I think the first thing is the presentation, then how it sits in the water and its size and then the colour. How fast the water is flowing likely also makes a big difference on the selectivity of the fish simply due to how much time they have to inspect the fly before its past them in the current.
Lakes are different again depending on if the fish are reacting to and chasing a fly like a streamer out of curiosity and aggression (is it flashy, how does it move, colour etc) or feeding selectively such as on damsels or mayflies.
I haven't had many experiences where different nymph patterns (not counting changing bead colour or junk flies) change success rates drastically for me in NZ, but overseas sometimes the fish are more clever due to increased angling pressure/or are used to eating small insects and may want only very small flies for example. Bead colour seems to be important and having confidence in a fly helps too - I usually pick some sort of impressionistic fly to start with that I like and try others from there. That being said I have found dry fly patterns and some fly patterns for lakes to be important here to sometimes depending on the situation.
@@olliebassettflyfishing Awesome answer mate, thank you. Yes that sounds pretty similar to the way I think about it too. :)
very cool video Ollie, greetings from Ireland!
Great stuff! Lots to think about. I think sometimes yes sometimes no. Depends on where you are fishing and the feeding patterns of the fish.
Hahaha, cool Ollie.
I tried that last year on the winter run fish in taupo and caught them on a silver bead.
They are quick and easy to tie, or glue!
Nice! I had a similar experience on the Tong one time haha
This is gold for my fly tying. Just enough dressing to make it a legal fly. Save time and dollars 😂 and save the nice flies for the fussy ones 😂
😅
Thank you for this interesting video. My take away as a novice trout fly fisher is that its all about, Presentation >>>Presentation>>>Presentation, now its up to me to Practice>> Practice and more Practice. Thanks again for your insightfull and resource fulled videos.
Thanks mate!
My guess is that the fish thought the pink bead was an egg, but hard to judge by only a couple of fish. I’d love to see someone fish a whole session with single “nymph” - pink bead, silver bead and split shot & bare hook. Fascinating vid, great stuff 👍
Cheers mate might have to give it a try again someday
A bit depressing for a fly tyer but would you have caught even more with a well-dressed fly? Great looking water and a very worthwhile presentation. Regards.
I think a nice fly with the same bead would have been more effective, but it’s interesting how well the bead worked on its own
The tungsten bead looks great.. it works well. I wonder with the smallest components as a tiny silver willow leaf blade,split ring & Spro makes the smallest power swivel. If that could be attached to this unique bead hook without messing up the finesse fly fishing presentation. After all fish cannot resist tiny baits..Who knows whatever colored tiny willow leaf blade.I learned this in a different direction of fishing in river ways & ponds. The tiny flash gets attention. I’m not a know it all,& not one style of fishing is the same everywhere.. Just a thought…
I try to tie good looking flies just to compensate my lack of presentation skills lol
Also, I think that good looking flies only increases your confidence.
Same happens with lure fishing. Marlin baits did a similar experiment that instead of making a fish lure, it just made a block of wood and still worked really well.
My mate told me he caught a king fish on a softbait hook once too!
Great video. I can't help but wonder if other factors such as bead size and depth of the fly affected the takes. Nonetheless, I will be adding some light pink beads to my next fly tying purchase.
Nice bro, presentation always most important. Size and silhouette count for something I'm sure. Beyond that I think segmentation and movement are the only details that really add anything.
Yeah totally, especially in slower water
Great video Ollie…please don’t tell my wife about bead only flies otherwise all my feathers, dubbings, wires, tinsels etc etc will be appearing on eBay after she’s cleared my tying den 😂 some helpful comments from your viewers / subscribers too based on their experiences…look forward to your future videos…thanks for sharing
Haha thanks mate!
Imo patterns do matter. On the one hand, we're all told they don't, but on the other hand, why do we have so many? And why does everyone have stories of no fish, then change to a different pattern and start catching fish, and also why are we told to match the hatch if it doesn't matter and why do eggs work well in Nov, and Dec. But not at all in June or July? (Depending on the river, right?) I do believe that the fish are most often talking the shiny bead to feel it, or just out of curiosity...because like you said, they are curious creatures and are using their mouths to see what it is.
I think you’re right, sometime it matters a lot, and other times when the fish are feeding well but not very selectively it isn’t as influential.
Good video. Your thoughts on targetting brown's with the same strategy? Are they also non selective like these rainbows? Also is pink beads working well as you are close to spawning season?
I think it would work, but I only tried with the beads for about 15 minutes and then finished video and went back to normal flies. I actually tried a small egg fly and it didn't work so I guess they took the pink bead because it was sparkly and caught their attention, plus it drifted like an insect would
This is very interesting. But to have meaningful results, you need some kind of controlled experiment (for example, keep switching between a normal nymph and one with just a bead).
An English fishing guide who makes UA-cam videos .He did the same experiment a few years back & caught just as many fish.I do like using metallic pink beads.
Interesting it worked there too
Surely it helps when the waters calmer and fish have more time to inspect the fly
I think in slower water having the right fly is more important for sure
Presentation doesnt matter… I call bullshit
Especially on these nz stockers
Mostly presentation is more important. But, sometimes trout is very picky about fly size. Particularly, when they eat some small hatching emergers, they ignore bigger flies wich doesn't match the average size of preferred food item
For sure!
Funny! Great video...
I reckon Ollie could catch a fish without a hook.
😅
Yeah in fast water fish only have a split second to with eat it or not, agree fly's are not as important as presentation!
For sure!
Cant get a more slim profile, that fly will hit the zone fast and stay there.
Thats for sure!
If you have ever opened the crop of a trout you will have seen enough bits of wood, stones and plant material scraps to know that NO it does not have to look like anything real at all. Tie up some flies that look like nothing real in this world and see what you catch, personally done it several times.
First😉