Fatal Attraction

Dave Jolie Jul 24th 2016

Attractor fly fishing flies are aptly named. These are not hatch imitations to delicately present your offering multiple times to a target spot until you get a strike.

Attractor flies are designed to get an attraction strike and cover water.

Riddle me this, what in the world is a Trude supposed to imitate? A Chernobyl Ant? A Royal Coachman? Some stimi’s and attractors can somewhat mimic a natural like a stonefly, but for the most part, they are not designed to resemble anything too closely.

Most attractor flies are designed to cover a lot of water and get an aggressive reaction strike using a variety of attractive colors, contrasts and shapes. If you hit the same section of water, pounding it over and over, the fish are going to get a good look at it.

What's the fish thinking? “That tarantula looks pretty cool, but nothing like I’ve ever eaten though. I betcha it's that RiverBum guy trying to give me another lip piercing.” Trust me, I know, we have beers together and they tell me all their secrets!

Look for Aggressive Feeding Fish

You want to fish the fly in swifter water. You want the fly to be just within eyesight of the fish and just appear out of nowhere. Then you want to move on. Work the water closest to farthest away. Section the streamer in wide chunks, then move on.

What you are looking for is aggressive feeding fish.

Cover Lots of Water

This is why many guides use a two rig set up on trips. The boat covers a lot of water. They many times have a stimi and a natural rigged up.

If you’re on a walk and wade, you’ll want to think similarly. Cover a lot of water, look for the most aggressive fish. This is not delicate technical fishing on a slow moving spring creek. This is run and gun.