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Hi,
I have a few clear casting bubbles but I’m unsure if I’m using them correctly. Do you tie a tippet onto the end, or just use regular monofilament? It seems a tippet would be too long anyway. Also, can you use dry flies with them at all?
What about using a dry fly as a strike indicator with a bead head prince nymph underneath? It seems like the line is often slack if you are still fishing with a wet fly and I’m not sure how I would know if I’d missed a strike or not.
Obviously I’m inexperienced with this, and any advice about technique would be much appreciated.
Thanks,
Caleb -
You can use plain mono behind the bubble. I like to tie on some two pound test leader material, but if in a pinch I’ll use the 4 lb line I’m using on my reel.
The tapered leaders fly angler use are tapered to help their casting. There is no need for a tapered leader on a fly and bubble set-up.
I’ve seen fly anglers use a dry fly with a dropper behind, but it seems to me like it would get tangled. The key to fishing with a wet fly behind a bubble is to keep slack out of the line. Keep reeling the fly slowly in, often with little jerks of your line tip to give the fly action, and when the fish hits you’ll feel it on the line and see your bubble go under.
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I fish exclusively fly and bubble. I go 4lb. line on the reel, through the bubble, tied to a ball-bearing swivel, then 2lb. line to the fly. Usually 6-7 feet.
This seems to be good balance of durability, strength, and invisibility. I tried out about 1/2 dozen different lines as I concentrated my spring fishing on really dialing in my setup. There are tons of differences in lines and swivels, I found, and it seems everyone has their favorite. I put a huge priority on invisibility in water (those high lakes are CLEAR!) and low memory. With small spools and big casts, pigtail tangles are what I’m trying to avoid. I find that Maxima Ultragreen is the best balance so far. Curious to hear what others have found to be good low-memory, limp lines.
I tried the twist-on bubbles but didn’t like them. Seem to get way more casting tangles with them. WAY more. Also, they make it very hard for the fish to swim once hooked. They do give good wiggle to the fly, though. With the slider bubble, when the fish goes under the bubble stays on the surface and the fish can swim (i.e. fight). Makes the little 8 inchers much more fun to catch.
Bob Kayne’s book Fish Don’t Think is dedicated to fishing the fly and bubble technique. It’s not perfect, and I’ve tweaked his methods to my preferences, but it’s the best publication on the subject that I know of. Essentially it’s spin reel, bubble, and fly on a fly rod. I’m still working out the perfect rod, but the system works. Monster casts are possible with this setup, allowing a much, much bigger fishing area. Best thing going for shore-fishers that I know of.
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I am a fan of the twistons. Mostly for ease of use. I dont ge that many tangles. Another thing you can do is fill the bubble with water to make it sink to get the fly down, or you could leave a tiny air bubble in it si it will go down easier. Thats just with the twistons, i dont know if your bubble allows you to do that. Also consider using Fireline as one of your lines, it has no memory, great strength, ties great knots, and if you get the 4lb, it has a 1lb mono diameter.
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Do you still use a swivel with the twist-on type?
I did use Fireline for quite awhile this spring. Interesting stuff. Incredibly strong. Pretty much zero memory. Super limp. I had three problems with it, though. First, it frays. It was pretty fuzzy after a month or so. I’m not sure this matters, but it’s annoying. Second, it’s super visible. Maybe the Smoke color is less so, but the green really stands out. Maybe it doesn’t matter if your leader is long enough, but I generally think clearer is better. Finally, and probably the reason I don’t use it all the time, is it feels abrasive. When I’m reeling in, I can feeling grinding all down the rod. It seems like it’s sawing into my guides. Maybe it’s harmless, but it seems like I’m reeling in sandpaper. I do keep a spare spool of Fireline in case I’m in a really rocky area. The strength is just unbelievable.
My bubble takes water. I usually fill it 3/4 full, which gives me a good long cast without feeling like I’m throwing bricks. Depends on the rod, mostly. I use 3 pretty regularly. Two of them are so light that a full bubble is tough to sling well. They make a few different sizes of these bubbles, but I generally stick with the middle one. The big one is a monster, the small one just too tiny for anything but creeks. That middle one though – it’s just right….
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A bubble is a plastic float you can tie into your line that will allow you to cast a fly. There are several different types that attach to your line in various ways.
From combat-fishing.com -
@Curt wrote:
Bob Kayne’s book Fish Don’t Think is dedicated to fishing the fly and bubble technique. It’s not perfect, and I’ve tweaked his methods to my preferences, but it’s the best publication on the subject that I know of. Essentially it’s spin reel, bubble, and fly on a fly rod. I’m still working out the perfect rod, but the system works. Monster casts are possible with this setup, allowing a much, much bigger fishing area. Best thing going for shore-fishers that I know of.
I checked out the book and it was very helpful – thanks for the advice! I’m going to try that setup on Saturday, either at an ALW or an Olympics lake. Only problem is, my casting bubbles are the solid kind that don’t allow you to fill them partway with water.
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It’s definitely worth getting some of the right bubbles – the technique is dependent upon them. In fact, without them, you’re trying something completely different. Unless you’re tying on a bunch of weights you won’t get any distance. They have the right bubbles for 50 cents or so at most fishing places. If you’re heading up to the ALW via I-90, the Ace Hardware in North Bend has a ton of them in 3 sizes. The middle one is the best for my rods (F3-7, I think). The bigger ones will really fly with a stiffer rod, but they’re too much for my light ones.
Good luck!
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The solid teardrop shaped bubbles work fine. They don’t slip on the line like the slip bubbles do and you can’t adjust the weight with water, but they are self weighted so they cast well (especially if you don’t go with the smallest size). You’ll get less tangles if you put the heavy side toward the fly.
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@Curt Peterson wrote:
…Bob Kayne’s book Fish Don’t Think is dedicated to fishing the fly and bubble technique. It’s not perfect, and I’ve tweaked his methods to my preferences, but it’s the best publication on the subject that I know of. Essentially it’s spin reel, bubble, and fly on a fly rod. I’m still working out the perfect rod, but the system works. Monster casts are possible with this setup, allowing a much, much bigger fishing area. Best thing going for shore-fishers that I know of.
Thank you for the mention of Fish Don’t Think. I read a book about spin fishing with a fly in high lakes back using a spinning rod and reel in the early 70s. It mentioned using a dry fly with a dropper nymph tied in front of the casting bubble in moving water at inlets and outlets. The idea was to hold the fly combination under tension so the dry fly danced on the ripples, and the nymph swirled around in the surface film with the bubble a ways behind. I’ve since chosen to use a fly rod and reel but had success with this dropper technique as well as tying flies on a leader behind the bubble such that I always caught fish; something I cannot claim using a fly rod and reel even when packing in a lightweight float tube and the necessary accoutrements.
I picked up Fish Don’t Think on Amazon in near mint condition for $15 and find myself being drawn to adding a spinning reel and casting bubble to my high lakes kit.
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