Quote Originally Posted by Joe Hyde View Post
Amigos,


This thread offers for me a first-time opporunity to become knowledgeable about the defiinition of the term "rolling on the fly".

I've always been curious about what the term means but never took the time to research its definition.

My initial guess was that "rolling" means the crappie swims to within mere inches of the angler's fly pattern -- but remaining below my fly -- before at the last second reversing course and diving for the depths. Always staying BELOW the angler's fly.

Reading this thread, it sounds to me like my guess was wrong? Truly, I never imagined the possibility that a crappie, or any fish, does something like swimming upward at high speed and leaping into the air just high enough that its body "rolls" across an insect floating on the surface. (The fish's motive being to submerge and thereby incapicate the insect).

Do fish really, actually roll over the top of intended prey items or are you guys just pulling a Kansas farm boy's leg? Maybe this has happened to me while I've been fishing and I wasn't knowledgeable enough to make an informed gripe in any of my stories.

Anybody on the BB know of a video link where I can see, photographed in slow motion, a fish "rolling" on a fly? That would be really cool to watch!

Seeing the footage would let me think about solutions to warmfishernc's "rolling" problem. Because it sounds to me like warmfishernc's problem is my problem, too. Everybody's problem maybe.


Joe
"Better small than not at all."
Hi Joe,



I think that both of your ideas are correct. As I'm using the term to describe blue gill behavior, I'm talking about the fish physically rolling its body over the top of the fly. When I experience this behavior, the fish doesn't become airborne but instead raises it's head out of the water just enough to reach over the top of the fly and pulls the rest of its body over in a downward dive. The brim doesn't become air borne----no mantra ray crushing a row boat here! The tail swat involves a much larger surface commotion. Here, the brim swims near the fly and seems to strike the fly very hard with its tail. This produces a startling about of splash but few hook ups.

Your second idea also occurs with brim but more frequently with trout. The fish charges the fly from below but at the last second changes it mind and reverses course back to the bottom. This typically creates welling up of water around the fly but not much splash or surface commotion.

All three behaviors have one think in common---no hook ups. Others may use different terms or have different interpretations for these terms. 8T