Dapping on Loch Lomond (Page 2).

Boats.
Dapping on Lomond is done from an open boat of usually fifteen to eighteen feet that will keep you safe if a big wind gets up while you are out. One of the good points about Lomond is the number of Islands one can take shelter behind on the odd occasion the wind rises unexpectedly, until it eventually blows itself out. While it is advantageous to have your own boat, or cadge a day out with a friend or acquaintance who has a boat moored on the loch, it is also possible to launch your own boat at the public slipway at Balloch or at Balmaha boat yard for a fee. It is also possible to hire boats and engines from Balmaha boat yard.

Rods.
As mentioned in the Introduction I use a fifteen foot soft actioned carbon salmon fly rod with a relatively slim line profile against the wind which I find is lighter to hold all day and still responds well with a good bend when playing an average sea trout. An alternative is the telescopic fibreglass rods which are sold as dapping rods, these can feel like they weigh a ton at the end of the day, especially those of seventeen feet, they have a much higher profile against the wind, being much thicker. I have used telescopic rods in the past and you do build up your arm strength as the season progresses. There is no denying however that where space in a boat is at a premium they are very handy if dapping is only part of your armoury and you also have fly and trolling rods to accommodate.

Reels.
Reels can be any decent fly reel but must be capable of holding a lot of backing, we are not talking of only fishing for Blacknebs (finnock) that we might rise at one part of a drift but the next rise might be a much larger fish, the largest seatrout I have taken dapping on the loch is sixteen and a half pounds and the largest salmon was fourteen pounds so make sure you have plenty of backing, remember you are generally using only a smallish light wire single hook and although you should be firm when playing your quarry if a large fish wants to run, let it, you don't want the light wire single hook to pull out or straighten by holding the fish too hard.

Floss.
This is our means of harnessing the wind to deliver the fly to our unsuspecting quarry. Well known brands of dapping floss can be a variety of colours from pale cream through grey to green, this has made me wonder over the years if any of these colours have an adverse affect on the fish, as the floss wafts in the wind above the fish approaching our dapped fly. The honest answer is I don't know, it is like selecting a colour for your fly line, some people wish to have a colour that stands out indicating where their fly is in poor light conditions. Given a choice of colour when purchasing I would go for floss that was most likely to blend into an overcast sky, however most tackle shops tend only to stock one brand and colour and a reel of floss can last for years. I have used all colours over the years and have had my share of rises but I would still look for a floss that blended against the sky, given the choice.

I generally use about six to eight metres of floss knotted every two feet with a half hitch knot. When tying the floss to the backing line I first create a loop in the backing, then tie a knot at the floss end with a couple of half hitches, before threading the floss through the backing line loop and loosely tying a blood knot. As I gradually tighten this knot I try to ensure the knot in the floss sits just outside the blood knot to act as a stopper to avoid possible slippage and the knot coming apart. At the business end of the floss I attach a twelve inch length of fifteen pound nylon to the floss, again using a blood knot in the floss backed up with another stop knot. I thread the heavy nylon through the loop before finally tightening the floss blood knot, then tie a further blood knot in the nylon to attach the nylon to the floss. The fifteen pound nylon is finished of with a loop.

Leader.
I would not normally go below eight pound nylon and could use anything up to twelve pounds nylon, remember the nylon will not be in the water, only our point of contact with the sea trout, our fly will be on the water surface. As to length, on average I would make this about five or six feet for normal conditions of steady wind, say ten to fifteen miles an hour. If the wind is between fifteen and twenty miles an hour then the longer the leader is within reason, say about eight feet, this will help you to control the fly as your floss may be getting blown about by the wind, but the air resistance of the nylon is minimal compared to the floss and by lowering the rod at times to even parallel but above the water this will keep the fly on the water surface longer. If the wind is twenty to twenty five miles an hour I have seen myself reel in the floss entirely and tie on a long length of nylon leader, twelve to fifteen metres, re-attach the fly and try to control the fly better that way. I think any more than twenty five miles an hour and its time to come in for the day. At the other end of the wind spectrum with the wind between five and ten miles an hour if we shorten our leader to two to three feet, this gives the floss the maximum air resistance close to the fly and by our manipulation of the long rod lets us again work the fly better.

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