Bernd Ziesche | Wednesday, 23 January 2019
This indeed is my SL front page number 300. I didn't see that coming when several years back Paul asked me, if I could think about supporting SL with a weekly fly fishing report.
It's exactly that what I did, writing about my fly fishing activities and fly fishing activities only.
Thanks a lot, Paul for such a challenge. All these front pages truly helped me to rethink a lot of key factors I was facing during all these fishing weeks.
No need to tell our personal battle in the number of fishing days per year (which yet I won year by year) was a fair catalyst even in the worst weather days to always be out fishing! ;)
My biggest thanks to all those of you taking the time to follow my weekly front pages and for all the fine feedback!
Since I still enjoy writing about fly fishing a lot, I am really looking forward to the next 300 front pages!
Here you may easily find a lot of my front pages all listed (linked) on one page.
Last week I was digging my way further into the details of winter fly fishing for Zander (pike perch).
The most important key to succeed is in having an almost straight connection rod tip to fly, which is nearly impossible to get - especially when none fast retrieving in deeper water (3-5meters). I now use a medium fast sinking line. My fly sinks some faster as does the line. When the fly hits the bottom I wait a little longer and then the line end will be close to the ground when I start retrieving. This way line and leader will be pretty straight between the tip and the fly.
Comparing with the number of Zander my friend Hansi caught on drop shot (offering a total straight line between his lure and his rod tip) I truly did improve in my number of catches. He is leading 13 to 9 now (in January). Before having fine tuned my line system it was more like a 10 to 1 for Hansi. Also I have been testing a lot of very different flies. Yet flies in the length of 10 - 12cm in white or braun colour (more clear water) and pink (muddy water) worked best. Rabbit stripes offered some of my best flies a perfect action. Twin hooks worked best for me to support the upside down version of rabbit zonker flies. My flies were weighted between 1,5 and 3,5 gramm. Since I am using a 5 wt. fly line 2,5 gramm is a maximum weight, which I still can seriously cast. Any extra weight and it truly gets UGLY!
About the stripping - sinkrate of the fly line + sinking rate of the fly must match a medium retrieving speed while having the fly jumping on the bottom. Any slower retrieve leaves too much room to spit the fly undiscovered/unfelt.
My goal is to become an expert in catching Zander with the fly rod. It's a beautiful fish - anything, but not easy to be caught on fly.
I hope you too have a current favorite species of fish you're chasing and trying to get further into all details, trying to find the best catching strategies.
Great week to all of you!
All my best
