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Fly Fishing With Robert Jarvis
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A two hour drive South-West of Brisbane will see you launching your boat at Lake Maroon. This small but very scenic lake is well stocked with Yellow Bellys and Australian Bass. The Bass in this lake have been known to take surface flies and so a fishing trip was organized in an attempt to pop a few up. My first task was to tie up some flies that never fail in all our lakes and rivers. The best fly pattern that I have ever used on the surface of the water is a Gurgler. This fly sits low in the water but pops really well. It imitates lizards, cicadas, frogs, beetles and anything else that finds its way on the water surface. For all the sub-surface presentations I use a Dog Knobbler ( better known as a Woolly Bugger ). This pattern portrays bait fish, yabbies, prawns, mud eyes and just about every thing that swims. It is a good idea to tie all your flies with weed guards as the lake is over grown with Fox Tail weed.
The Gurgler is deployed with the use of a floating line during low light conditions, before sun-up and after sun-down. For best results locate a patch of deep water adjacent to a weed bed and cast the fly on top of the weed. Pop the Gurgler off the weed above the deep water. The Woolly Bugger is sent down to Davey Jones's Locker with the use of a speed 4 sinking line. To find the position of a school of Bass a depth sounder can be used, if you have one and know how to use it. Another way is to locate a weed bed that drops away to deep water like a reef drop off. Cast the fly parallel to the drop off, wait twenty to thirty seconds depending on the depth of water and start your retrieve. We had no luck raising a Bass to a surface fly in April but we did land ten Bass and one Yellow Belly on Woolly Buggers for only three hours of fishing. All the fish fought quite well for their size and a few had to be extracted from the weed.
Thanks go to Hugh McDowell for his research into the history of original fly patterns ( Dog Knobblers ) and his friendship.
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