The effectiveness of micro coneheads

The effectiveness of Micro coneheads

Micro cone-head flies have been making a big name for themselves on the Scottish Salmon rivers I like to fish and no doubt will be highly effective on Scandinavian, Welsh, Irish and English rivers. These un-assuming flies can often yield results when other things won't work. For a start, they can be fished on a variety of sink tips or full floating line, they offer somewhat delicate presentation but get down that bit deeper than a dressed or even tube fly.

The effectiveness is a dual aspect, the fly is able to get deeper and more in to the faces of the resting fish you're targeting and its smaller than most equivalent flies needed to reach that depth, the size gives some surprise as it isn't seen from a mile away by the fish, it doesn't spook fish as easily and is likened to a more common sight the fish naturally see in the river, size wise anyway. Furthermore, the heavy and small combination is likely less used by game fishers as it's relatively new so heavily fished beats, it may be advantageous as you're showing the fish something they haven't seen as much of or at least being fished in a way they've not seen, everything is going over their heads and all of a sudden there's something being fished right at their level and they react to it, if you're lucky, this will be taking the fly, the real zinging and you lifting in to that unmistakable thumping weight.

In summer time, I believe a floating line with long leader is often the best set up, one of the main things is the presentation that can be delivered with such a set up. Fishing for fish that are often in lower flows and clearer waters need some stealth to your approach, gone are the Spring days when I'd say fish aren't 'leader shy', long leaders with lower diameter line and smaller flies presented well will often produce a fish when conditions are tough, a cone-head will help you cast a long leader due to the weight, the turnover of the leader is made much easier due to this aspect.

The fly is perhaps the biggest part of what the fish responds to, its of course the focal point of any Salmon or Trout you may be targeting and how it's fished is paramount to a cone-head fly, for instance my chosen way to fish the fly is in faster water such as the ripply neck of a pool, a shallow angled downstream cast and hang the fly in the current enticingly in front of a resting fish, alternatively in the slacker body of the pool, a squarer angled cast and speed the fly up is effective, the beauty of the cone-head is that the way you fish the fly will compound. Say I cast at a shallow angle downstream and mend the line up stream, the fly will sink at a much faster rate than that of a dressed fly, you are able to fish the fly at quite a depth despite running a floating line set up. Alternatively ripping the fly round at a fast pace won't fish the fly much lower to a dressed fly as the floating line pulls it constantly, it will remain higher in the water column. Any added movement such as a sink and draw technique by pulling the line 30cm and then a pause will add much more movement with a cone-head compared to that of a dressed fly. It's a great fly to be adaptive with for different pools and targeting different depths and speeds.

Allowing the fly some time to sink can be really effective, situations such as casting in to slacker water before allowing your fly line to be carried round by the current can lead to a sinking fly being pulled up through the water column with pace and if you're lucky producing that induced take which is so instinctive to Trout and Salmon.

A basic cone-head fly pattern which connected me with 3 fish on a day the other rods blanked.

Casting this square across the pools and retrieving it to keep a medium pace worked well in the slacker water, the long leader meant that the fish weren't being 'lined' as bad - a scenario where your fly line is passing the fish right before your fly so the former spooks them. The medium pace the fly was fishing at meant it will have had a reasonable depth to it and as the day was sunny with intermittent cloud perhaps made the difference. When it's sunny, fish won't necessarily come up for the fly so a bit of depth can really help with the hesitation a fish may have when taking the fly on a sunny day.

I sometimes use a hook keeper for free swinging tubes, there is a school of thought that the life like look of a fly is increased dramatically when the hook isn't connected to the body of the fly. These little swing tube hook keepers can add a bit of colour to your fly and can be trimmed to a few mm's long, either way as they cover both the eye of the hook and the knot made from the leader, they tend to keep you tangle free a lot better than not using one too.

Give a micro cone-head a go, try with a long tapered leader (12 foot plus) and an intermediate short tip if you desire one. a dropper is optional, I've found these to work great alongside a micro cone-head but that's an article in itself. Fish different styles, altering your casting angle and ultimately the speed of the fly which correlates to the depth, its a really versatile and fast way of finding what the fish will take.

Tight lines and catch that fish!