What is the washing line method?
The washing line method is a fly fishing technique designed to let you fish a dry fly or emerger pattern with a couple of nymphs and suspend them just below the water surface. The washing line method works great when buzzers are hatching – spring, summer or autumn.
What is a washing line in fly fishing?
A ‘Washing Line’ is a series of flies hanging off your leader as the name suggests, suspended at both ends and designed to be fished off any line of your choosing. However, a floating, intermediate or midge tip (short sink tip) style fly line is what most anglers use.
How does sinking fly line work?
Sinking fly line is usually between 80 and 90-feet with the entire line or front portion of the line sinking at a particular rate. These lines are used in rivers and lakes and will sink anywhere from a quarter or half inch per second to a couple inches per second.
When should you use a midge tip?
Midge tip lines are great when the trout are feeding just below the surface (which tends to be a lot of the time) as they give you greater control over the position of your flies using the line, so you don’t need to countdown for so long or use weighted flies.
Why use a midge tip fly line?
A midge tip takes the flies down a little and helps slow the swing of the fly line in the wind if fishing with a big bow. A short 5/6ft Intermediate poly leader will do the same job at a 6th of the price. You could also just fish a weighted fly on the point to drop the flies a bit deeper.
When should you use a sinking fly line?
The faster sinking lines are designed to fish fast water, deep pools and deep lakes. They are also used when trolled behind a small boat or float tube. Different manufacturers will label the sink rate differently (Type V instead of 1, 2, 3) but all will have the sink rate per second on the box.
What’s the washing line method for fly fishing?
The washing line method is a fly fishing technique designed to let you fish a dry fly or emerger pattern with a couple of nymphs and suspend them just below the water surface. Ordinarily, when fishing nymphs and buzzers, they’d drop down through the water column, but the washing line method lets you keep them just…
When is the best time to fish the washing line?
You’ll generally see the head or dorsal fin break the surface followed by the tail of the fish as it heads back down. It’s well worth a try from spring to summer and works on stillwaters of all sizes, especially the big reservoirs. We often fish the washing line method at Llyn Brenig.
When to use a midge tip fishing line?
Typically, this method is used when fishing a Floating, Midge Tip or Intermediate line when the fish are in the top 5ft of water. Although, it can be equally effective on faster sinking lines. It’s fairly obvious that the larger the booby eyes (or amount of buoyancy in other patterns) then the higher the point fly will hold in the water.
Which is the best technique for fly fishing?
Generally, fishing static will get you bites, but a twitch or figure eight also works well. Matt is a former fish biologist and magazine editor. He’s a fly fishing addict and fishes at least once a week on both stillwaters and rivers.