Bushwhacker, I opened the thread expecting to see something you'd invented out of boredom... but you've been at it for years, haven't you?
Neat work, mate!
Have you ever caught a fish on the daddy-longlegs, Bushwhacker?
I had a day on a remote highland river last Autumn. These rivers can be dour, so my usual tactic is to fish nymphs in deeper bends or pools. After 3 or 4 hours there was nothing doing but I did see a turn or two at the tail of a pool up ahead so, too shallow to fish a nymph properly, I stopped and made a brew and sat slightly downstream watching for 20 minutes. Two fish of decent size were rising occasionally in the V.
Trying to see what was of interest to them, I realised the only flies on the water were the odd cranefly. I looked in my box and found one, a virgin of untold age, unused and unloved in the corner. Tying on the daddy-longlegs, I took one cast, my line stopped dead in the water, straightened, and my rod bent into a sea trout of about 3 pounds. All hell broke loose with the wakes of fish charging all over the pool and 15 minutes later I was assassinating my quarry beside an apparently lifeless pool.
I never saw another movement all day and an hour later sitting high up on a rocky outcrop overlooking the peat stained water of the next pool upstream, you'd have thought the river devoid of fish.
The strange thing is, that if I hadn't carried that daddy-longlegs around as dead weight, I'd never have known I was on a river stuffed with sea trout. When I got home I made 2 male and 2 female sizes for my box, but I no longer just carry them 'cos they're there.
Cheers mate and again, nice work!
