It started about noon and still was happening at 4 pm. The boatmen were everywhere on the lake and the rainbows were on them! The interesting thing was figuring out which pattern to use, what line to use and did you strip, strip, pause or just leave it and do nothing. Well I wanted to test out the Jennings Ultimate Boatmen that I tied up in preparation for two weeks in the Parkland Region of Manitoba! Jennings Boatmen are not really tied, but constructed by cutting and gluing and then finally adding the appropriate colour.
I had a great dumas (short for dumb a--) moment while constructing my Ultimate Boatmen when I realized that I installed a dozen boatmen bodies backwards. They still worked fine so I renamed them Less Than Ultimate Boatmen!
Larry caught some nice rainbows today with a flashback about 6 feet down. It is close to looking like a boatmen. When the wind was calm, the dry fly boatmen action was a load of fun!
After lots of experimentation, I ended up using a floating line with an ultimate boatmen and just left it in the surface film. I tried to anticipate what direction the rainbows were travelling. When I got it right, the takes were explosive. A few days prior to today's adventure, quickly stripping your fly with a midge line was a great strategy, today not so much.
I saw a fellow fly fisherman in a pontoon boat who was slowing backing up and he was having decent success with his boatman offering!
Get out and enjoy the great fly fishing. The water temperature was 54C, absolutely perfect!
Can you see the Ultimate Boatmen in the corner of the rainbow's mouth?
This rainbow rose right beside the boat and then started to move off while still rising. The take was spectacular because I could see the rainbow do its thing.
Check out how to tie them by clicking the link above!
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