06-21-2011, 01:11 AM
I was using an intermediate sinking line. I wish I could tell you the class and sink rate but I've had it for so long I don't know anymore. It's on the slower side of a sink rate. I use it to fish in water that's about 15 feet deep or less.
I tie on about 8 or 9 feet of straight monofilament tippet material. I was using 3x on Saturday. When using straight monofilament and not a tapered leader the fly needs a bit of weight. I don't use weighted flies but instead put a split shot on the line right in front of the fly. The split shot on the head gives it a nice swimming action. I guess it's sort of cheating because I guess it's almost like fishing a jig with a light weight head, but the swimming action is so much better than just a weighted fly. With a slow sink and a little bit of weight on the head, the fly can be fished pretty slow. A few short strips gives it nice action and then there can be longer pauses in between strips when the fish often seem to hit. You can put more weight on the head and fish the fly a little faster and sometimes the fish like that better. But I find that they usually like the slower retrieve with pauses. I've never seen leeches move too fast in the water and so I seem to do better fishing the leeches pretty slow. It works when the damsels are swimming too.
I usually fish sizes 10 and 12 in 2x, but I'm sure 3x would be fine. I seem to like to fish smaller sizes than most, so the larger and longer sizes work I'm sure. The leeches I tie are made entirely of marabou. I tie in the marabou tail and then spin a bunch of marabou on for the body. I then pick at the marabou with the finishing tool to give it more body. It looks close to a mohair leech but with all the marabou the fly has a lot more movement in the water. It's a simple, lazy, but effective tie. I do the same with brown marabou and tie them a little thicker and I think it helps imitate the crayfish. On the black ones I use red thread and tie in a nice red head. For some reason the red head seems to make a difference some time.
There are certainly others who fish Strawberry more effectively than I do but I have success on this set-up so maybe it will work for others.
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I tie on about 8 or 9 feet of straight monofilament tippet material. I was using 3x on Saturday. When using straight monofilament and not a tapered leader the fly needs a bit of weight. I don't use weighted flies but instead put a split shot on the line right in front of the fly. The split shot on the head gives it a nice swimming action. I guess it's sort of cheating because I guess it's almost like fishing a jig with a light weight head, but the swimming action is so much better than just a weighted fly. With a slow sink and a little bit of weight on the head, the fly can be fished pretty slow. A few short strips gives it nice action and then there can be longer pauses in between strips when the fish often seem to hit. You can put more weight on the head and fish the fly a little faster and sometimes the fish like that better. But I find that they usually like the slower retrieve with pauses. I've never seen leeches move too fast in the water and so I seem to do better fishing the leeches pretty slow. It works when the damsels are swimming too.
I usually fish sizes 10 and 12 in 2x, but I'm sure 3x would be fine. I seem to like to fish smaller sizes than most, so the larger and longer sizes work I'm sure. The leeches I tie are made entirely of marabou. I tie in the marabou tail and then spin a bunch of marabou on for the body. I then pick at the marabou with the finishing tool to give it more body. It looks close to a mohair leech but with all the marabou the fly has a lot more movement in the water. It's a simple, lazy, but effective tie. I do the same with brown marabou and tie them a little thicker and I think it helps imitate the crayfish. On the black ones I use red thread and tie in a nice red head. For some reason the red head seems to make a difference some time.
There are certainly others who fish Strawberry more effectively than I do but I have success on this set-up so maybe it will work for others.
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