Dapping on Loch Lomond (Page 3).

Methods.

Conventional Wisdom: Lift and Lay method.
Let me say right away there is nothing new under the sun that someone else hasn't already done, but this was the start and my progression into dapping for sea trout. The first dapping fly which caught me a sea trout on Lomond was a black shaving brush of a thing in a good going easterly wave, just letting it sit there riding the wave on Inch Murrin. I was on the oars in the middle of the boat with a friend either side of me fishing the fly. I was just trying it for something to do, keeping it on the water and out of the way of the real fishing going on either side of me, waiting until it was my turn to fish the fly again. Suddenly a silver sea trout came out of nowhere, I struck and it was on, we all looked at each other as if to say how did that happen.

My first sea trout taken on the dap, 2 lbs 7 oz

Although I took some more fish dapping this way I missed a lot and fishing the fly from the fly rod was at least as successful and probably more so. I had fished the fly regularly up to that point using a long fly rod working the bob fly in the traditional style, if sea trout were taking the bob fly being drawn back through the waves why should I be using the then accepted wisdom of leaving the fly to sit on the surface, occasionally lifting and laying it to a different spot. I had also extensively fished a tidal river elsewhere in Scotland for sea trout and knew sea trout were great chasers of a spinning lure, even worked very fast. This accepted wisdom on dapping didn't make a lot of sense to me so I started to move the dapping fly about.

The "Arc" method.
With a steady wind you will soon learn to control the floss to create an arc by manipulating the rod from side to side, lowering and raising continually to keep the fly moving on the surface at all times. In a steady soft wind this skill will soon be learnt.

The Arc method of Dapping: A nice sweeping arc is attractive for sea trout

As stated you can vary the amount of nylon leader used depending on the wind strength.


A Shorter leader can be effective at different strengths of wind

When the wind is stronger and or gustier in nature the man who can react to every whim of the wind and keep his fly moving on the water in the same direction until the arc is complete will be capable of fishing correctly and giving himself the best chance of rising a sea trout in most wind conditions.
The rate at which the fly traverses the arc can of course be varied but I would start with a normal walking pace. This seems to stimulate the sea trout and takes became more frequent. This method also had the advantage of the sea trout coming onto the fly instead of the fly just being sucked under as fish must have been almost vertical at times below the stationary fly. There was little or no sign of a rise just the fly disappearing; hook-ups when this happened were few and far between. Hook-ups using the arc method were much better as you could see the sea trout come onto the fly. The longer the arc you can make, the more water you are covering as the boat drifts along. It also makes sense to me, the longer the arc, the more time a sea trout lying in deep water has. If this fish is stimulated to attack the fly it sees struggling in the surface film of the wave it also knows that this moving fly could take off and disappear, this can make the take when it comes usually very positive.

If there are two anglers dapping in the boat we adopt the sub sport of synchronised dapping, with both anglers moving the fly through the arc simultaneously in the same direction, If you can imagine the outer arc made by two windscreen wiper blades this will give you the idea, this avoids rods clashing in the middle of the boat.

Team work is vital with two anglers dapping: Matt Stewart & Angus MacRitchie.

It is sometimes not always possible to get a good arc in front of the boat if the wind is too strong. Sometimes you will lift and place the fly to the extent your floss will allow and work it back across the waves at an angle towards the boat by moving the rod from in front of your body until it is at right angles to you before resetting your fly downwind to repeat the process. One drawback can be when the fly has gone to one end of the arc and stops momentarily before returning in the opposite direction, this can be the time a fish following or catching up with the fly comes on to it. Needless to say your rod will be at its highest and furthermost away point to your right or left, this makes striking really difficult and a lot of fish are missed at this time.

On the next page, we'll take a look at my choice of dapping flies.

Continue to Page 4...