waterloosunset 0 Report post Posted May 6, 2010 If, like me, you thought foam beetles etc were too crude to work on Irish wild brown trout, think again! Last week, the river held many rising fish and upwings, hawthorn flies and sedges were all visible. They wouldn't look at Klinkhammer Specials or f- flies. I saw fish rising tight to the bank and it occured to me that they may have been taking terrestrials. I had some hawthorn patterns but they didn't have enough foam to float indefinitely. Fortunately, my beetle pattern (a kicking beetle which I got from an article in Trout & Salmon by Paul Proctor) with it's orange thorax, peacock herl underbody and rubber legs, had a good body of two strips of foam and would float indefinitely. It floated but only a tiny fraction was visible on the surface, so I could not see it at all once cast. Fortunately, not too many fish were rising so if a fish broke the surface anywhere near I thought my fly might be, I made a quick strike. This fly attracted attention from about 15 fish on a day when many more conventional flies were ignored. Moral of the story, don't be afraid to use foam. I'll post photos of the fly soon. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
