Friday Fly Day - Simon Chu's Uglies
This is about flies that get the job done! Whilst Simon Chu as been fishing these for a few years now, 'simons uglies' hit the shelves commercially only a couple of seasons ago. A bling fly that gets noticed with its flashy materials, provides movement with rubber legs, and most importantly, gets deep via quality, double tungstan beads and slim profile. Two tungstan beads - how simple is that?
Many people underestimate the importance of depth when nymphing, and sure, whilst fish will often lift for a suitable pattern, if your fly is right down there, in his face, then theres less chance of the trout munching a closer, easier to reach morsal. As previously mentioned, sometimes standard tungsten flies just dont cut it for depth. The movement and flash of the ugly also assists in catching the trouts eye, making your fly stand out from the crowd whilst retaining a fish catching profile.
Fished in green & red in milky / discolored water or low light conditions, or black & purple whenever, don't think simons uglies are just early season flies: these produce throughout the season from Waikato to the upper Mataura and many places inbetween. Anywhere you need to get down to hook up, a size 10 or 12 ugly, fished solo or trailing a wee nymph or egg will get the job done. Actually, these are killer in the Taupo region fished with a soft egg, you don't really need much else to catch a fish down there but hey, that would be boring.
Casting these so called 'rod breakers' isnt that difficult: they're not hard to cast. What you need is to eliminate the kick of the backcast straightening and bouncing under weight. Enter the elliptical cast...
To do this, basically you perform your backcast on the horizontal plane, and the forward cast on the vertical - that is, a side cast backcast, with an overhead presentation. You can angle the backcast upwards if required to give you a little extra leeway with the ground.
If you cast smooth enough, and imagine you are drawing an oval shape with the rod tip, you maintain tension throughout the line during the cast. Imagine you are pulling thne line through the elliptical oval with the rod tip. Its basically a side arm backcast, an upwards drift, then an overhead cast to deliver.
Try it. It will make presenting heavier flies a whole lot easier. (works on the salt too)
Chris