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There's this mystery lake which has a healthy population of midges and trout.

The trout cruise the surface and chow down at evening time.

 

I've only heard of using a "greased line" to fish a midge pattern but am clueless

as to how to actually do it. Anyone care to explain this technique?

 

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Just assuming ... a grease line would be one treated to float very high.

Back in the early days of fishing with my Dad ... he treated his fly line with Crisco. It was a "natural" material that floated the line well for a trip. Maybe that's what they're talking about.

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My understanding is the practice orginated as an early form of waterproofing. Like many things in fly fishing some techniques have evolved.

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I have never heard of the "broadside drift" referring to a greased line technique. Everything I've heard and done has been simply to apply floatant to the leader and tippet up to within an inch or two of the fly to make it ride higher and close to or in the surface film. Very effective.

 

Joe

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Nothing too mysterious about greasing your line. Just put a small amount of floatant on your index finger and thumb then slide your flyline and leader through them. Ta da! It works in lieu of cleaning your flyline. A dirty line will sink faster than a clean one. By applying floatant, it will make your line more impervious to sinking and therefore dragging your fly under with it.

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If the hatch is consistent on this water I would wager for every surface insect eaten there are 3-5 subsurface taken.

Here in the UK we would target these with a glass line. Basically a very very slow intermediate like the cortland blue or one of the newer slime lines. You want a sink rate of 0.5ips. 2ips is too quick.

You use a single fly if you have plenty of fish in front of you or two or three flies if you want to search the water a little more. A full floater tends to drift too quickly in any wind and presents a bigger surface 'mark' than a sub surface line.

Google buzzer fishing for an idea.

If fish are very high in the water you can use a buoyant fly on the point of your leader to keep everything higher.

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It's not what you are looking for but, the technique Gene is talking about, for Salmon/Steelhead fishing, is just a way of swinging a fly with a floating line. Silk lines had to be greased in order to float. With modern lines it's no longer necessary, but the name stuck.

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Greased line was an old term for a floating line by salmon anglers in the days of silk line.

 

Greased leader is just a way of maintaining a fly at a desired depth. Just grease your leader with a gel or oil type floatant to within a few inches of the fly. Start deep and work closer to the surface to save having to degrease. It's easier to put it on than take it off.

 

An interesting variation that can be used on still waters during a flat calm is to fish a single lightly weighted fly on a greased leader. Cast out and leave it alone. As the fly sinks you will be able to see the point where the leader passes through the surface. It will track straight towards you. If it varies at all strike.

 

Cheers,

C.

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One greases the leader/tippet (except for the last 6" of tippet, or so) with paste floatant.

This suspends the fly sub-surface.

 

http://fishfliesandwater.com/gear-rigging/greased-leader-tactic/

 

 

 

 

The greased leader tactic goes back to G. E. M. Skues, the father of modern nymph fishing. I think he first wrote about this method in his 1939 book, Nymph Fishing for Chalk Stream Trout.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Edward_MacKenzie_Skues

I first read about it on pg 75 in Nymphing, published in 1979 by Gary Borger. Jason, who's blog you referenced, is Gary's son.

https://books.google.com/books?id=V8KYqVlOpjkC&pg=PA75&lpg=PA75&dq=GAry+Borger+greased+leader&source=bl&ots=a3xQb9rY_F&sig=Rol4iJOIohIfnHsAi2TwUme8JPA&hl=en&sa=X&ei=y_xyVcWiPIawyQSG44KQAg&ved=0CFEQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=GAry%20Borger%20greased%20leader&f=false

In Fishing the Film, Gary adds that Skues wrote that the strike was noted by, “sudden acceleration of pace of sinking of the fine end of the cast [thats the leader - GB]"

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