moss problem

I am looking for suggestions on how to fishing a cold water stream that has the bottom covered in moss. I have tried my usual technique of tungsten beaded fly with a dropper but they are covered with moss before the drift even starts. I have also tried a dry and dropper but don’t seem to get enough depth to reach the fish. Any suggestion would be of great help to me. Thanks freddyg

Impossible situation I suspose.

You may try an unweighted nymph or tie some with a single wrap of lead (on lead free) wire.

The bead head may be just heavy enough to bury it in the moss.

But as has been said, moss (actually alge) sticks to everything and there’s not a lot you can do about it.

Jeff

freddyg -

Don’t have a clue if this will work, but it is a slow Saturday morning. The idea comes from watching some bait fisherman fishing with minnows a couple weeks ago on the South Fork. They were using weight above the bait to cast their minnows out to the current, and placed a “corkie” just above the minnow. A “corkie,” for those not familiar with them, is simply a small, light, hard shelled “balloon” used to keep the bait off the bottom.

My idea is this - tie flies with some floatation built in, maybe some foam, for example. Or maybe even use something like a small, castable “corkie” above the fly. Then fish the fly with enough weight on the line to get the weight to the bottom, and let the fly float above the bottom structure.

Good luck.

John

We’ve had good results floating a caddis over the seams in the moss. You may not be able to see them, but the fish can see the fly. Many are hungry, or curious, enough to check it out. So don’t rule out the little drys!!

I would suggest something like what John said…I would use foam…ala the Booby Fly…or a foam body or under body…use a sinking line of the proper sink rate …and let the fly float higher than the line…worth a try.

I think it was last month’s Fly Fisherman mag that had several different methods of nymph rigs. A good one for your situation might be the weight on ‘point’ at the end of the leader and then droppers off the side of the leader at a distance far enough up to be out of the moss, but close enough to the bottom for the fish.

Also, I’m not good at it, but a lot of the better nymph fisherman use lightly weighted nymphs no indicator and regulate depth with mending. If you fish that mossy situation a lot, it may be worth the practice to figure it out and master it. One idea I’ve also had for this style, but haven’t tried is tying leaders with alternating colors for the various sections to give me a visual indicator of how deep the nymph likely is to guide my mending. But like I said, haven’t tried it so don’t know if it would work.

Good luck!

I generally don’t fish with a floating indicator (bobber), but when faced with that situation the easiest way to stay just above the moss is use a floating indicator set it to float your fly just above the mossy bottom. To do that, keep moving the indicator down until you get a drift without moss. If the depth changes as you move, just adjust it up or down to keep it in the fish zone.

Wooley bugger…the answer to everything.

ok, here goes…

when fly fishing ponds in my area aquatic vegitation is a near constant dilemma. I get around the problem of depth control, and weed avoidance by using a foam or deer hair floating pattern with a weighted nymph dropper. I realize it’s not a new idea and some may look at it as a bobber with a hook, but hey, catching fish is more fun than not catching fish. using this rig you might also pull up a few fish looking for the big easy meal on the surface.

I tend to use this approach pretty frequently, so I have started tying my high floating patterns with piece of #20 mono doubled over sticking out near the tail section of the fly. just cut a piece of mono the lenght of the hook shank. fold it in half, and tie it to the shank so that you have a small loop hanging past the curve of the hook. make sure to thread wrap all the way forward to the hook eye, and I even give these wraps a light coat of super glue.

doing this allows you use a loop style attachment for your dropper so it’s easily adjustable, easily replaced, and you don’t have to worry about the attachment poin being damaged by any fish that hit the floater or it slipping off of a barbless hook. I frequently start my trip by tying a couple of drooper lines with the flies that I want to try attached to them and then hanging them on my fly patch. using the perfection loop dropper to the loop connection of the fly I can switch rigs in 30 seconds or so.

hope this helps…

fish

Impossible situation-no way. Thanks for the many solutions you have provided. The amount of knowledge on this forum is amazing. Thanks again for sharing you knowledge and the time to post. freddyg

There’s a real cold water stream I have fished in the mountains of North Carolina that has a green moss on some of the rocks … and boy is it slick! Anyway, I fish some holes in that stream downstream using a streamer. What I do is put a very small lead weight above the streamer about two feet. If there’s any moss collected on this set-up it’s usually collected on the lead weight.

Dale

afishanodo has the best answer in my view—an adjustable indicator.

Hi,

You could try thread or floss bodied soft hackles, unweighted, and cast well upstream. The slim profile should allow them to sink enough to get down close to the fish, but being unweighted, not so quickly that they hit bottom and weed up. You’re in a better to position to judge if this is suitable to your particular water’s situation though.

  • Jeff

Some states do not allow any weight (split-shot etc.) on the line or leader in ‘Fly Only’ waters. You might be sure before you use the stuff. Some others do not allow lead, for any reason.
Sometimes, if you use an unweighted fly (nymph) on a very long, fine tippet it will drift and follow the currents, avoiding some of the weeds and grass and moss.