How important is it to be able to see your fly in the water? I think it comes down to the situation and each individual's personal preferences. I try not to rely on being able to see my fly as it drifts through the current, but sometimes it is nice to be able to. Along with that, I’ve found that it can help quite a bit when teaching new anglers to fish with a tenkara rod. In trying to make more adaptable systems for my own fishing I had an idea for one modification that ended up leading to another idea about making more visible flies.
As I said at the beginning, I try not to rely on being able to see the fly. I don’t prioritize using highly visible flies, but that doesn’t mean that some of the flies I use aren’t relatively easy to spot. But for this experiment I did spend some time fishing with a modified futsu pattern inspired by Yoshikazu Fujioka. By adding a bit of poly yarn to the head of the fly, in a way that resembles a cripple emerger, you add a bit of buoyancy and visibility to the fly.
Taking it a step further, I tried out adding a bit of the Loon Outdoors Bio-Strike putty to change the color of the yarn tag on the fly. The idea is that this would allow me to stock several flies using just the plain white yarn, and adjust the color to fit the conditions.
Test 1
On the first outing, I tested the visibility in low light conditions. Casting into the tail out, then moving my casts more and more toward the head of the pool, I was able to see how well I could spot the fly in calmer water, water with more surface disruption, and white water with plenty of movement. The white was easy to spot in the calmer water, somewhat trackable in the choppier water, and as I had suspected - I wasn’t able to spot it in the white water.
I added a bit of the yellow-colored putty to that same fly and went through the same spots again. The yellow seemed to have a bit more vibrance in one sense, but I think the addition of the putty reduces the size of the tag a bit due to the fibers clumping together. The visibility in the different spots of the pool remained consistent with that of the plain white tag.
I then switched to a fly that I had already added some of the pink-colored putty to in anticipation of this test. In the evening light, the pink was the least visible of the three. I also tried adding a little more putty to see if it changed it at all, but the visibility didn’t seem to change much.
Test 2
I went out late in the morning to try fishing the same creek (but a different pool) with more daylight. Most of the observations from the first outing held true in the second with a few new observations.
I started with the fly that already had the pink putty in the wing. While it was the least visible on the surface, I did notice that it was easier to spot it when drifted downstream. It also contrasted well against the rocks and boulders that line the creek bed.
Switching to the fly with the plain white yarn, I made the same observations as the first outing. It disappeared quickly in the foam line and more disrupted spots along the surface. The fly floats well, but seemed to sink faster than the other flies with the putty added on. Not by much, but it was a little easier to put it under the surface.
Instead of adding putty to the wing, I just switched to the fly I already had the yellow putty on. Again, it held a bit more vibrance and was a little easier to spot than the plain white yarn but also disappeared quickly in the current. I did notice that, as I got it to sink, it wasn’t as easy to spot. I assume this is due to the yellow color among a mix of green tint in the water and light brown sediment among the rocks.
Through these two outings, it seemed there was a clear pattern in the observations. The yellow seemed to be the most visible on the surface, the white was the least intrusive, and the pink putty made the fly a little less visible. Below the surface, the visibility of each seemed to be in the reverse order with the pink putty being the most visible, and the yellow being the least. I do realize that these observations may be more specific to the creek that I tested this idea on, and could vary depending on the different waters others may like to fish.
For me, I don’t see as much of a benefit from this idea as I was hoping to find. While I do think it may be a little better at close range, to me it doesn’t seem the added material really makes a huge difference in the visibility of the fly.
That’s not to say others won’t find it to be useful. But, this isn’t something that I personally plan to utilize much in the future.
Before I wrap it up, there are few things that I would like to point out about this idea and the testing…
The idea was meant to see if there was a way to buy one color yarn and have a more modular approach to changing its visibility. These flies may be better spotted when using poly yarn in different colors. Maybe it would be better with a different pattern such as a parachute adams. It may be something I revisit in the future, but not this season.
Lastly, these tests were performed with a focus on visibility. I didn’t keep track of strikes or fish landed during these observations, so I couldn’t say whether or not this added material affects the likeliness of a fish taking or avoiding the fly.