Cranefly bonanza!

I'm sure this year has produced more cranefly than I can ever remember! I would suggest the rather wet weather has had party to the masses of these insects... They scare my daughter Sophia to death buzzing around the house during the evening but she is unaware they are totally harmless.



I'm not going to go off telling you 'the flyfisherman' how to tie cranefly patterns nor how to fish them like the monthly magazines do at this time of year. All we see is the same old stories but with a different face behind the words! I can remember anglers collecting them from around the old Whitwell lodge at Rutland water.. here they would hook them onto their leader and Dap with them using a blow-line. I have tried this myself but only with imitations and limited success.

One thing for sure is Trout seem to take ages to get on them - but when they do its fireworks!

The Dapping method has picked up a fare few of the bigger fish. ... fish that have grown-on and not stupid.. they need to be carefully approached, therefore Dapping leaves no tell-tail leader of the surface or subsurface as may be the case.

The blowline (20ft length of doubled over floss) keeps the leader off the water... its sometimes practicle to have a partner pull a team of wet flies to draw any unsuspecting trout to the surface around the dapped fly.... then Bingo!!

A long rod is needed.. There are or (have been) telescopic rods available for this but are cumersome and heavy... I have used a roachpole to good effect and trust me.. trout of a moderate size stretch the elastic!! A rod which would serve a purpose would be one of the Bolo 'coarse fishing rod' jobbies.... Now theres a thought!

Tackle... Large rod or pole around 18-20ft
Coarse fishing reel 8lbs - 12lbs (if using rod)
Blow line.. around 20ft in length doubled up to around 10 strands.. loop each end close... tie one end to reel line.
Leader.. 8lbs
Hook size 12-10 wet fly.. if using actual live daddy.. hook at least 2 on each time!

Keep blow line dry... do not allow to get it wet!! Keep leader off the surface..

Also... we need a little breeze of sorts eh?