Mop flies and how to fish them.

Probably one of if not the most controversial fly (Lure) to hit the Stillwater scene in years the mop fly is a fly I sell 100s and that’s because it works.

Fishing the mop fly is easy and can be fished on all fly lines from the floating line to a fast sinking line from a very slow retrieve to a fast retrieve will work great but I think the best ways to fish the mop fly are as follows.

Method 1 Floating Line

1. Use a floating line with a leader of about 4-5ft or longer this is up to you use the length you feel most comfortable casting.
2. Fish more than one fly if you like but make your dropper a more drab fly like a cormorant or similar this will mean that each fly acts as an attractor so if they don’t want the drab fly they will take the bling fly and vice versa.
3. After you’ve cast your flies, out give the line a pull to straighten it out and ensure you’ll feel any takes, and then countdown down for 5, 10, 15, 20, or 25 seconds to allow your flies to sink through the depths and if you get interest repeat that count.
4. Fish static but be careful as fishing mop flies static can lead to deep hooking of trout so keep your line taught so you can see or feel the most gentile of takes.

Method 2 The bung

Fishing the bung with the mop can be deadly so don’t bypass it thinking it doesn’t work as it 100% does.

1. Set up with a leader of about 5-6ft with the fly set up at just a foot or so under the bung in summer deeper in winter.
2. Cast out sometime the fish can be very close in so start short and lengthen after a few casts until you get some interest.
3. Fishing static under the bung is fantastic fun but please be aware that you can land up deep hooking fish using the static method so to limit this you must watch your bung for the slightest movement and use a small as a bung as you can.
4. Another great way to fish them under the bung is by tweaking the fly every 10 or 20 seconds this also cuts out the chance of deep hooking as you are more in contact with your fly so you feel most takes even the most gentile.
5. The last one is the slow or very slow figure of eight retrieve this is very effective and you almost eliminate the deep hooking problem as your in contact all the time with the fly.