Bluemoon Angling Thread

tried to upload a pic, :(if you are after barbel as well as carp go across the foot bridge there's a peg with an island right in front ,cast over to the reeds on the right and ive seen loads come out of there

Is that lake artificially oxygenated because if not barbel won't survive easily in a man made commercial water. Chub can adapt to living in Stillwater far more easily than barbel can. Get yourself on a river and fish for them in their natural environment PF.
 
Is that lake artificially oxygenated because if not barbel won't survive easily in a man made commercial water. Chub can adapt to living in Stillwater far more easily than barbel can. Get yourself on a river and fish for them in their natural environment PF.
i believe it is artificially oxygenated ,and i would love to fish a river ,and will one day
 
Is that lake artificially oxygenated because if not barbel won't survive easily in a man made commercial water. Chub can adapt to living in Stillwater far more easily than barbel can. Get yourself on a river and fish for them in their natural environment PF.

It's ridiculous that fishery owners shove barbel into their muddy, overstocked ponds. They don't spawn, it's not a natural environment for them, and they turn into pale shadows of what they should be. It must be the novelty value for beginners I suppose.

Catching a white, flabby barbel in a soulless artificial pond bears no relation to catching a muscular bronze one in solitude at dusk on a beautiful, natural English river.
 
As the fish weren't exactly throwing themselves on the hook, i thought i would try something different, a bung arrangement. A bung is a sight indicator which sits above a single or team of flies and has the duel purpose of suspending the flies static in the water and also (like a float) indicating a take when the bung disappears. Here is a competition standard bung:

View attachment 2535

Some fly fisherman have a bit of an attitude towards fishing a bung; 'its not true fly fishing' they say. Not me, I think its a perfectly valid method when the trout prefer their food completely static in the water (which they sometimes do). Anyway, on went the bung with a millenium bug suspended about three feet under it.

As a newcomer to fly fishing I found this really interesting. Quite often I watch my mate strike and hook a fish and I never saw a bite. Then, he'll ask me why I didn't strike and I never even saw or felt a bloody bite.
 
As a newcomer to fly fishing I found this really interesting. Quite often I watch my mate strike and hook a fish and I never saw a bite. Then, he'll ask me why I didn't strike and I never even saw or felt a bloody bite.
You seldom feel a take when fishing a bung 99% of the time it’s visual. The bung either dips under the water or pauses if it is drifting in the wind. If it does anything different strike. The other 1% is the trout has taken the bung! It really is the equivalent of float fishing. Other methods have their own associated types of take but I think your interest was in fishing the bung?
 
You seldom feel a take when fishing a bung 99% of the time it’s visual. The bung either dips under the water or pauses if it is drifting in the wind. If it does anything different strike. The other 1% is the trout has taken the bung! It really is the equivalent of float fishing. Other methods have their own associated types of take but I think your interest was in fishing the bung?

Yes, because I can never see the the fly being taken and I've usually got a load of slack out (I'm working on it) so a float-like arrangement would be more to my liking. I'll get better of course and don't suppose it would suit river fishing but I like the idea.
 
Yes, because I can never see the the fly being taken and I've usually got a load of slack out (I'm working on it) so a float-like arrangement would be more to my liking. I'll get better of course and don't suppose it would suit river fishing but I like the idea.
Interesting. So I started fly fishing around 20 years ago after long break. I had only course fished before all on river and normally float fishing. In my first season fly fishing I used the bung 90% of the time as it seemed a really good transition from course. Guess what? I regularly outfished my club mates using it, not that I was particularly good, but because it is a lethal method. The indicator started on the rivers of the good old USA so yes of course you can use it on rivers. It will work. Try it next time. You can get many types of indicator. Try ‘fish pimp’ first and see how you get on.
So when you say you never see the fly being taken, are you fishing wet, or dry? I am assuming wet because the fly is under the water. The trick is to be in contact with the fly at all times. On a river it’s easy to do if you are fishing downstream as you can let the current help you keep the line tight between you and the fly. If upstream much more difficult but possible with retrieval of the fly line at the same rate as the current. I’m guessing as a beginner you aren’t Czech nymphing as that’s another story altogether. If you are on still water how are you retrieving the fly? That is key to being able to feel takes.
if you are missing lots of takes when fishing dry fly, I’m assuming you are watching the fly carefully on the surface. You normally see the take which can be an explosion of water down to your fly disappearing with nary a ripple. The usual mistake made by all anglers is to strike too fast and snatch the fly away from the trout. If you think about what is happening, the trout is taking your fly from below and will be turning to get back to its cruising depth. If you wait a second or two to allow the fish to turn, you will nearly always get a firm hookup. Especially true of rainbows whereas wild brownies are lightening fast and will often hook themselves. If you decide to use a bung let us know how you get on :-)
 
Interesting. So I started fly fishing around 20 years ago after long break. I had only course fished before all on river and normally float fishing. In my first season fly fishing I used the bung 90% of the time as it seemed a really good transition from course. Guess what? I regularly outfished my club mates using it, not that I was particularly good, but because it is a lethal method. The indicator started on the rivers of the good old USA so yes of course you can use it on rivers. It will work. Try it next time. You can get many types of indicator. Try ‘fish pimp’ first and see how you get on.
So when you say you never see the fly being taken, are you fishing wet, or dry? I am assuming wet because the fly is under the water. The trick is to be in contact with the fly at all times. On a river it’s easy to do if you are fishing downstream as you can let the current help you keep the line tight between you and the fly. If upstream much more difficult but possible with retrieval of the fly line at the same rate as the current. I’m guessing as a beginner you aren’t Czech nymphing as that’s another story altogether. If you are on still water how are you retrieving the fly? That is key to being able to feel takes.
if you are missing lots of takes when fishing dry fly, I’m assuming you are watching the fly carefully on the surface. You normally see the take which can be an explosion of water down to your fly disappearing with nary a ripple. The usual mistake made by all anglers is to strike too fast and snatch the fly away from the trout. If you think about what is happening, the trout is taking your fly from below and will be turning to get back to its cruising depth. If you wait a second or two to allow the fish to turn, you will nearly always get a firm hookup. Especially true of rainbows whereas wild brownies are lightening fast and will often hook themselves. If you decide to use a bung let us know how you get on :-)

Cheers. Thanks for that advice. I will let you know. The next step is casting lessons which I hope to start soon.
 

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