The Floating Boatman

 

The Floating Boatman, another fly that is an absolute blast to fish when the trout are on them. Mostly fall action, during the flights when they return to the water after mating. I have also had outstanding days early in the spring, it seems the lack of heavy weed cover can leave them a little exposed. Mostly shallow water in the spring, in the fall they seem to crash into the water from their flights in a haphazard way and can be found all over the lake.

I fish two types of boatmen, a floating on a sinking line and a sinking on a floating line. It is my belief that the floating boatman on the sinking line offers a better presentation and that the fish are more easily fooled by the floating presentation. I cast the fly out and give the line time to sink a few feet and begin an irregular quick retrieve. At the pauses, the fly begins to rise in the water column much as a natural does due to the air bubble it drags around with it. I find this a better presentation than the sinking effect of the sinking model when paused, although if you keep the sinking one moving at a good clip it doesn't get the chance to sink at rest.

When fishing, keep an eye out for splashy rises in the spring, that usually indicates the fish are chasing boatmen around. I fish over shallow, dead weed beds and retrieve the fly at a good clip with some long pauses to give the fly a chance to rise like a natural, takes are usually quite confident. In the fall watch for the boatman rain, it will look like it is raining, usually in the hottest part of the cool days. Boatmen that can't break through the water surface tension will flail away trying to get through and down. I have heard of people having outstanding top water action on these days but myself have never witnessed this, my fish come subsurface. In the fall I use a fast jerky retrieve and cover a lot of water, even trolling if I have to. The action seems to last through the hottest part of the day and when it's over, it's over. I don't spend a lot of time fishing a backswimmer unless I'm into fish, it seems when they are on backswimmers, you will get bit and when not, they won't budge on this fly.

Materials for the fly include a Diiachi 1550 hook in size 12 to 16, a strip of brown foam about 3/16 to 1/4 in. wide, Super Floss or other small dia. rubber for legs, small Waspi woolly bugger chenille in tan, it has a little flash to it and imitates the trapped air bubble nicely.

 

I begin by splitting the super floss in half, I use the bigger of the halves when split.

 

Next lay a base of thread and tie the chenille on the underside of the hook at the bend, then figure eight the super floss legs about a third to half way back from the eye.

 

I tie the foam in but only use enough wraps to hold it in place, any extra foam is left full as it aids in floating the finished fly.

 

 

Pull the chenille along the underside of the hook. I don't wrap it, again, I want to help the fly stay buoyant. Then pull the foam over and tie off with about six wraps and then get thread to the eye of the hook and whip finish under the head. Trim head to a suitable size.

 



 



I color the foam with a permanent marker. The foam can be covered with a nail polish to give it more durability.
Have fun.