Flies for turbid water

[builnacraig]

This thread will be off no interest to those that fish the Spey, Dee, Creed or the like where the water always runs clear, however I am seeking contributions from those that fish the SW England rivers, Tweed etc where fishing in dirty water is not unusual. I was discussing this the other day with an angler on our beat and he was saying that most of his fish are caught when the water is dirty.

I was fishing the Ayr yesterday when the water was carrying a bit of suspended sediment from a rise the night before. When the sun was away it didn't look too bad but when it shone the sediment in the water seems to reflect a lot of light and it looked like well stewed tea.

This is verging on rapala water but when fly fishing I tend to use a big orange templedog tube. The reason for this thread is to ask if anyone has any other patterns that they find successful in these conditions. I am not talking about really dirty water but conditions when visibility is around 1'+ and the grass can be seen under the water at the edge of the swollen river.

The photo below shows the sort of conditions we get a lot.


Builnacraig

[charlieH]

I think that yellow is traditionally reckoned to be a good colour for turbid water, but personally I don't have much confidence when there is a lot of mud in suspension. For me, salmon rivers are like beer - it doesn't matter how dark they are so long as they're not cloudy.

[hornet]

When the North Esk is a dark peaty colour i will use an orange / yellow combination of flee in either a small 1/2" tube or size 11 salar. Orange / Yellow Temple dog tubes with a gold body have done well for me in the past.

When the river starts to run clear i change to a Ness C or an Orange Flamethrower.

I have never bothered to fish the river when it resembles coco as i feel that all the river crap will be in solution and probably annoying the fish turning them off.

I could be wrong as it could be the best time to fish

If you have a couple of rods then try experimenting by setting them up with different lines and flees to see what works best.

Cheers

Hornet

[Speyducer]

In addition to the above excellent observations for these conditions, I would add that BLACK in addition to the above colours should not be ignored as an important attractor.

I would fish black/yellow equally proportioned wing with either a silver or gold body, and as an alternative Black/yellow & orange for the wing.

Orange/gold also very good, as above.

The last time I cast a fly in such conditions was during last summer's floods in June, where I had a booked 1/2 day casting instruction for my wife & myself with Glyn Freeman on the Eden. On arrival, the river was 2'+ high, and deep milky tea coloured, but not carrying masses of sediment. After settling my wife into the casting instruction, I confined myself to a bit of casting practice and put on a 1 1/2" plastic tube - black/yellow with black/silver body, and simply went out for such casting practice.

In the 1 1/2 hours or so of that practice, I had 3 pulls from salmon/summer grilse (none hung on!) as the fly came around into the slack deep on my side.

If my father had fished that water, and he's not much inclined to fly fish, he would have used a black/gold Toby - and probably had fish!

Mike

[G Ritchie]

When the Deveron has that turbid colour I would fish either a PBP in yellow or yellow/orange (Hornet) or a templedog in a similar colour combination. I have had a good deal of success on this one

salmo.proboards74.com/index.cgi?board=flytyingstepbystep&action=display&thread=1026

A similar one which I know is popular when the water is dark on the Findhorn is this one

salmo.proboards74.com/index.cgi?board=flytyingstepbystep&action=display&thread=1049

I find it best to fish these down deep at the level the fish are lying in the pool. When I say deep, this is a relative term, the fish will generally be lying in a calmer pocket of water off the main flow. This can be in very shallow water on the inside of a bend which can be dry land at normal water levels. Here an intermediate line or short sinking tip may be all that is required. On some pools the fish may be in a deeper pocket of water against the bank, which may be undercut. Here a sunk line may be the best option. Fish the fly right into the dangle, the fish will often take just as you begin to handline right on the dangle.

[fredo]

Creed?
haha, cant see if its clear as its too low.
Anyway,when we turned up one morning on Fairnilee the river was quite high and very coloured. I left it to Wattie to pick the fly from my boxes. He chose a 2 inch long fluo orange thing with more orange/ yellow on the wing. The result was the only fish of the beat that day.
I think Wattie has more experience than most so I think his advice cant be far wrong.

Just stick with one of your orange rapalas, you know you want to..............

[severnfisher]

If you've got suspended sediment as we often get on a falling water on the Severn then Graham's advice and fly choice is particularly apt. However, if you see active fish then as a plan B don't rule out a big fly fished fast in the subsurface layers. Why this works I don't know, but it does.

My guess is that when you've got a fair bit of suspended sediment the most comfortable water layers are deep and sheltered and also just subsurface .

[builnacraig]

Thanks for all the comments, I will persist with the big orange tubes, although Speyducer's black suggestion is good.

Builnacraig

[dragonfly64]

Bully, I fish wee peaty spate rivers that colour even when you don't expect them to. Orange, Red and yellow coloured flies are favoured by lots of the fishers who fish these rivers, but some of my chums and me use flies tied with white in them. The patterns are the same, say an orange or red shrimp type but a white hackle is added for the times when the water is coloured. These flies can be quite successful, mostly when other anglers have given up trying to fish saying "The waters too dirty, I'm awa hame" Shuggy