Living Drift Fly Company

Dissect Trout Surface Feeding Behavior And Choose Flies They Can't Resist
Article by Kirk Deeter
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Watching trout rise from a vantage point on the riverbank will tell you where to cast. But by taking an even closer look and noting how those trout are rising, you can also glean exactly what type of fly to throw at them—especially when there are many different bugs flying in the air. Here’s what to look for.

1 - The Sip
What you see: A very subtle dimple in the water, and only the nose of the trout appears.
What that means: The fish are either sipping midges or eating spent mayfly spinners.
What to fish: A Rusty Spinner—but no bigger than a size 18.

2 - The Slurp
What you see: More pronounced “beaks,” eating on the surface.
What that means: The fish are dialed in on a hatch—likely mayfly duns.
What to fish: A size 18 Parachute Adams. When the fish are really chopping, try a cripple variation.

3 - The Splash
What you see: A sudden, explosive pop with some splash.
What that means: Trout are on moving targets, like skittering caddisflies.
What to fish: Tie on a caddis pattern, such as a size 16 Lawson’s Caddis, and don’t be afraid to give it a twitch.

4 - The Boil
What you see: Disturbed water but no faces—only a dorsal fin and maybe a tail.
What that means: They’re eating emergers before they reach the surface.
What to fish: A size 20 Flashback Barr Emerger just beneath the film.

Interesting article - worth remembering.

Tying a Large Parachute Black Ant (DryFly) with Davie McPhail.

Late summer on the Gairezi - Ant time.

Tying a Large Parachute Black Ant (DryFly) with Davie McPhail. Tying a Large Parachute Black Ant (DryFly) with Davie McPhail.

Beauty and the slack

Good footage of when too much slack prevents a good hook set.

Beauty and the slack On how not to strike

Around the steel no tortur'd worm shall twine, No blood of living insect stain my line;
Let me, less cruel, cast feather'd hook, With pliant rod athwart the pebbled brook,
Silent along the mazy margin stray, And with fur-wrought fly delude the prey........ Happy 2014 dudes!

Hello All. The Living Drift Flyfishing clinic is on! Brookfield nursery near Chisipite this weekend. Sat 14th - 12 - 5pm beginners. Sunday 15th - 7am - 5pm advanced/intermediate. Topics to be covered will include A brief history of Flyfishing, nymphing, dry fly and wet line. Flytying in those categories, entomology slideshow - matching the hatch, river craft - hunting fish, 4 wt shootout, Knots and leader dynamics, float tube fishing, the fly vest and river wear, river etiquette and catch and release, other species inc Tiger, Bass, Yellows, Bream and Barbel. Seychelles and Cuba trips.

Thinking of holding a flyfishing/flytying clinic in Harare early in the Christmas holidays. Depending on feedback we'll structure this to suit either school kids or adults. If there is the interest we can do separate days for each. The clinic would start at 8am and finish 5pm. The agenda would include flycasting under expert supervision, flytying again with professional tyers which would include all basic techniques with each guest using a vise to tie the sample patterns, knots and presentation of nymphing, dryfly and wet line flies including techniques to improve catch returns for each. We will have experts available to discuss each method. We would talk holding positions on presentation to Trout in a river ie: Gairezi. We would discuss SA venues. Lastly we would cover species fishing methods for Trout, Yellows, Barbel, Salt and Tiger again including terminal connections. There will be a head charge to cover lunch, tying materials and professional advice which will depend on numbers. Feedback please.

Welcome on board Glynnie - taking care of orders in town and managing Harare logistics as momentum begins to build - hopefully the start of something good.

Finally got all our registrations and export licences done - what a mission. Have sent the first order to Crowsnest Flyshop in Canada. Mostly small dries but a good cross section - we await feedback.

'...our father was a Presbyterian minister and fly fisherman who tied his own flies and taught others. He told us about Christ's disciples being fisherman, and we were to assume, as my brother and I did, that all first-class fisherman on the Sea of Galilee were fly fisherman and that John, the favorite, was a dry-fly fisherman...'

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Some of the patterns the team are tying at the moment.

A few patterns for testing on the river mid-November.

Got clearance from Herman Botes to tie his Papa Roach and MC Coetzer to tie his hopper etc commercially. While flies may not carry copyrights it feels right to get a tiers blessing to use his pattern. Thanks Tom Sutcliffe for the introductions.

Reading 'On Fishing' by Brian Clarke. Great writing and an excellent dedication at the front that well captures the mechanics of losing one's self on a river! Thanks Shaun and Sharon.

Company teetering in the balance right now...To be or not to be? Tying for orders that we haven't officially received yet. Need to finish planting and get this running on an even keel. Got the company Reg docs on Monday, bank account Fri..... hopefully something IN the bank account soon.

Read on line today that Al Troth passed away early this August. Never too late to lift a glass to the man who invented the Elk Hair Caddis - Excellence in simplicity.

Had to change profile pic today - never realized it is a copyright pic and is for sale for $55. Lots to learn in starting a new business. Buy shelf company, clear new name, do logo....Oh - and plant to***co in the meantime.

Meet the engine room at 'living drift'

Delivered first consignment of Tiger flies to Master Angler and Off the Hook in Harare today. Copper Clousers, Red and Black Clousers, Assorted Brush flies.....we wait and see. Zim is a relatively new fly market. Will see how they're received...

The start of our Tiger Flies. Would appreciate suggestions of flies that worked well for any of you that you would not leave home withpout to go to the river.

Dropped off our first delivery of flies at Master Angler in Borrowdale yesterday. Thanks Clive Harris. Serious wake-up call from the latitude of a 14 month crop in to***co to have to show profit every month vs. Costs of materials, salaries etc.

Zaks - Tom Sutcliffe's pattern tied by Fred Steynberg. Excellent ties very accurately imitating dark mayfly nymphs common on all our rivers. Will post our version soon.

Have started a fly tying company in Harare - Living drift Fly Company. Early days but will start by servicing local demand and see where we go from there. We will concentrate on Trout, Tiger and some Mozambique patterns for now. Have 4 tiers employed with a total of 60 years experience between them. Will keep posting our preferred patterns and results.

Mountain Catlet - Big fish food on the Gairezi - Matuka's, sculpins and The Glorious twelfth.

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Bleached Elk Hair makes for good visibility fishing into the glare of the setting sun on a West to East flowing river. Nice buoyant all round pattern. Some cdc makes for a more buggy pattern to start but not as durable.

Bleached Elk Hair makes for good visibility fishing into the glare of the setting sun on a West to East flowing river. Nice buoyant all round pattern. Some cdc makes for a more buggy pattern to start but not as durable.

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