ROD AND GUN Suggested Use Of Weighted Flies

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30590, 5 November 1964, Page 8

ROD AND GUN Suggested Use Of Weighted Flies

[Specially written for "The Press" by J. SIERS]

It is often difficult to get down to the bottom where big fish lie because there is no weight in the fly. Even a fast-sinking fly line will not do the trick. The matter came before the Freshwater Fisheries Advisory Council when it was suggested that regulations be amended to allow weighted flies.

Weighted flies have been opposed because these can be used for snagging fish. For anyone who has seen a master poacher at this type of work, the regulation has been a reasonable one; but when it is considered that a fisherman has to be almost as skilled as the best fly fishermen to be really efficient at this sort of thing, the regulation can be regarded as fairly negative. ' If a fisherman has gone to the trouble to buy a rod, line, waders and other gear specifically for the purpose of using leaded flies to snag a fish, he almost deserves it. Admittedly, snagging can be a problem with salmon, but not a real one with trout.

At the meeting of the council, Mr J. A. Millar, representing the South Island acclimatisation societies, suggested that there was no need for a weighted fly to be any larger than size 10. A leaded nymph should be suitable to reach big fish on the bottom and still it would not have sufficient lead for snagging.

It could have been pointed out that for someone really determined to jag a trout, a large size 2 fly tied on a heavy hook would require little if any extra weight. Mr Millar’s suggestion was a good one because, as he pointed out, the big fish the angler is trying to reach at those times he wants a weighted fly are usually nymph-feeding and nymphs do not as a rule grow much larger than a size 10 dressing. The council was given a demonstration on the use of a weighted fly, and it was pointed out that all acclimatisation societies had been asked to comment how they would feel about this question. but only one society had replied. It was moved by Mr Millar that the regulations relating to artificial flies be re-worded to authorise the incorporation in the dressing of lead or other weight, provided the hook size is not larger than the hook known as the “model perfect” size 10, old number. The resolution was held over and the council agreed to refer it back to societies for comment.

Some of the discussion suggested that several members on the council have had a close association with the merits of a weighted fly on fish snagging. Perhaps in their boyhood they had witnessed a master poacher, or perhaps. . . .?