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Fly Fishing for Dolly Varden, the “Bluegill of Alaska”

May 21, 2019 By JD Leave a Comment

If you grew up anywhere in the Lower 48, there’s a high probability that your very first fish on a fly was a bluegill.

Their abundance and willingness to take the fly (even a poorly presented one) have made bluegill a favorite of beginning fly – and conventional – anglers for eons.

Of course, there are no bluegill in Alaska – but you do have Dolly Varden which are the perfect beginner fly fishing species.

Dollies in Alaska aren’t lavished with the reverence that the state’s rainbows receive. In fact, they are often considered a nuisance…gasp…even a “trash fish.” But let’s give these guys some credit here! Dollies are sporty little guys and exhibit some of the same attributes that make bluegill such popular fare down south. Most notably:

Where you find one, you usually find a bunch of ‘em — and they love to bite. Plus, they can grow to several pounds! What’s so wrong with that?

So, if you are yearning to give fluff chucking a try, these “bluegill of the North” are a great place to start. Their aggressiveness makes picking a fly pattern easy and you can get away with a dry (floating) line in just about any situation.

Gearing Up

Okay let’s get you outfitted first. I like a 9-foot, 5-weight rod for dolly fishing, but you can go up to a No. 7 or 8 if you are fishing big water with larger fish.

Now, here’s the beauty of it: you don’t need a $700 rod and a reel that cost more than your first car to catch dollies. Something you found for $20 at a flea market is fine when you are just starting out.

Sure, fancy new materials make modern rods much lighter and give them crisper actions…but first things first! Go catch a few fish first and then, if you really get into the sport, consider upgrading your equipment.

As far as line goes, get a floating, weight-forward line that matches the weight of your rod. In other words, a 5-weight line is designed for a 5-weight rod. You can sometimes go up one weight of line to make a rod cast better, but let’s just keep things simple here and stick to the manufacturer’s suggestion ratings.

Next, you’ll need a leader attached to the end of your fly line. The easiest way to go is to purchase a knotless tapered leader. Nine foot is about right and you’ll notice fly leaders will have a tippet rating that has a number followed by X. It’s a bit confusing in the beginning because fly leaders are identified by their diameter in thousands of an inch, not breaking strength.

Remember that a smaller number means heavier line: 0X is 15-pound test while 8X is about 1.5-pound line. For general dolly fishing, something like a 4X (6-pound) or 3X (8-pound) will be fine.

Dolly Tips & Techniques

The easiest way to start hooking dolly varden on the long rod is to tie on a No. 2-8 purple Egg Sucking Leech and head for the water. This fly will catch dollies like crazy…rainbows, grayling, silvers, chums and kings will hit it too so be prepared!

Dollies migrate to stream mouths and lake outlets in the spring to pick off out-migrating salmon fry and that’s where you should try first. Cast slightly down and across the current, give the line an upstream mend (lift) and then start stripping the fly in with you non-rod hand.

Let the bug drift in an arc downstream until it’s immediately downstream of your position and then re-cast.

Strikes “on the swing” like this can be fierce so there won’t be much doubt as to what’s going on when a dolly smacks your offering.

Dolly varden are notorious for eating flies right out of the surface film, but if you feel like maybe you’re not quite getting down enough, try adding a splitshot to your leader 12 to 18 inches above the fly.

As summer salmon start pairing off and dropping eggs, it’s time to start fishing yarn bugs or beads under indicators (otherwise known as bobbers). When dollies get onto the eggs, you can really catch a bunch of them!

The basic rig goes like this: The indicator is set to about twice the water depth and then one or two pegged beads at the business end of the tippet.

The idea here is to try as best you can to match the size and color of the eggs the salmon are releasing. Dollies (and particularly rainbows) can get pretty dialed into a particular look of an egg and ignore anything that doesn’t fit the color and profile they are looking for.

The indicator rig is a bit more of a pain to cast, but it gets easier with time. Toss straight out or slightly upstream and then mend the line upriver by lifting it with the rod tip, to keep any bows out of it.

If you get one section of line that’s getting pushed by the current faster then the rest, it creates excess drag, pulling the entire rig downstream at an unnatural pace.

It takes some practice to get the whole “dead drift” thing down, but that’s the beauty of dollies…you bead could well off the bottom, swinging through the run at Mach 2 and you’re still going to get bit.

Later in the fall, when the salmon die off, flesh flies will be the ticket. Dollies fatten up for the upcoming winter by chowing down on chunks of dead salmon meat so your flies should be whiteish-tan in color to match the washed out meat.

You can fish flesh flies just as you would beads or on the swing.

Filed Under: Fly Fishing Tagged With: alaska, alaska fishing, alaska rainbow trout fly fishing, bluegill, char, dolly varden, egg beads, flesh flies, fly fishing, flyfishing, woolly bugger

Stripers on the Fly: The Basics

January 16, 2014 By JD 7 Comments

Fly fishing for striped bassStriped bass are awesome fly rod fish — they respond really well to colorful wads of feathers and glue, they fight hard and often run in large schools. What’s not to love?

If you’ve never tried it, here’s a look at the basics to get you started:

Tackle

Fly fishing and spending big bucks are often synonymous, but one of the great aspects of fishing for stripers with the long rod is you don’t need any particularly fancy gear. A No. 8 or 9 rod is ideal. It needs to have enough backbone to punch a weighted line and big fly into the wind. You’ll also want a reel with a smooth drag — just in case you hook Moby.

JD and striperAs far as lines go, my all-time favorite is Teeny’s Professional Series’ Dan Marini Striper Line, which features a heavy 32-foot head. I’ll run the 525-grain and then cut it back to make it lighter if necessary. It’s the least prone to coiling line I’ve found and also cuts the wind like a champ…all great attributes when fishing stripers – especially on the California Delta where I spend a lot of time.

Rather than run a tapered leader and tippet, I run straight 25-pound fluorocarbon (mono when fishing poppers) and the length depends on what I’m doing but usually 4 to 7 feet of leader is fine.

Flies

In the mornings and evenings, I like to toss poppers and chuggers in the shallows for some heart-stopping surface action. When a big bass decides to take your fly off the top of the water, it’s an explosion of adrenalin that’s highly addictive! Plop…plop…plop…KER-SPLOOSH!!

During the brighter period of the day, the fish don’t respond so well to surface offerings but no worries…they’ll munch a well-presented baitfish imitation all day long, provided that the boat traffic isn’t too extreme. Weighted 2/0 Clouser Minnows are the top getters but a whole host of barbell-eye streamers will work.
Clouser Minnow
As far as colors go, think shiny, silvery baitfish with green or dark backs. However, the old adage about striper patters that goes: “If it does not contain chartreuse, it is of no use…” is a very good rule of thumb to live by. My favorite patterns feature a chartreuse back, white belly and some silver flash in the body.

Technique

I target shallow flats, points, tule banks, pilings, channel edges and rock walls. The fish like different strip patterns every day, so experiment until the fish tell you what they want. I generally start out by letting the fly sink for a second or two (depending on the water depth) and then do a strip-strip…pause…strip-strip-strip…pause type of retrieve. Again, mix it up until you figure out the hot cadence on a given day. Also, keep in mind that the fish may change throughout the day so if you’re formally hot retrieve rate falls flat, try another pattern.

Often fish will bite on the pause, so pay close attention to what you’re doing, as those grabs can be quite subtle. Other times, however, stripers will clobber a fly so hard that it’s all you can do to keep the rod from going in the drink.

Training Wheels

If you are feeling a little insecure or overwhelmed as a beginner, try this: Take some conventional gear with you and toss poppers, swimbaits and cranks until you locate a concentration of fish and then switch over to the fluff chucking gear. Tossing a big fly and a heavy line and then stripping it back all day can wear you out. Rather than give up before you get to experience the rush of a striper on the fly, try this “bait and switch” technique. It can help you get the hang of things early in your career.

Well, I don’t want to overwhelm ya with too much info on the first go-round. Start with these simple tips and get out there and have some fun!
Fly Caught Striper

Filed Under: Fly Fishing, Stripers, Techniques Tagged With: california delta, clouser minnow, fly fishing, Jim teeny, striped bass, stripers

The Top 5 All-Time Best Fly Pattern Names

February 18, 2010 By JD 1 Comment

Okay, so the Woolly Bugger didn\’t make the cut, but it really is one of the better fly names!

When it comes to fly tying, I think some guys have more fun naming their creations than actually catching fish on them. Flip through a book of fly patterns and you’ll see what I mean.

Inspiration for fly names comes from many places. Some patterns seem to be a bit autobiographical (Mormon Girl, Purple Joe, The Professor) others may pay homage to a particular body of water (Skykomish Sunrise, Madison Madman)or even various physiological features of the fairer sex (Cleavage, Buns of Steel). Some names are violent (Kilchis Killer, Siuslaw Slayer, Hatchet) and on it goes.

While there are hundreds of worthy entries out there, here’s our Top 5 List of the Greatest Fly Names Ever…Click here to read more…

Filed Under: Fly Fishing Tagged With: fly fishing, fly tying

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