CATCH THE BUG

Source: Finlay Wilson (FFFT 01/2007, pp. 44-47)

On the surface - though not literally, of course bugging may be viewed as an extreme form of fly-fishing. The heaviest Nymph in some instances may resemble nothing more than a minimally dressed-up torpedo, a small ledger weight in bug's clothing. But such generalisations can cast a bad light on this highly-skilled practice and may partly explain why some anglers turn their noses up at it unlike many fish - and why others have tried it and perhaps failed to find a winning formula.

Certainly, until you succeed, it can feel so wrong and does not instil confidence that fish might be taken so close to where you're wading, and quality fish, too.

Delve deeper and subtleties abound. Practiced well, bugging is a fine art and it is no coincidence that two of the most successful `buggers' I know are also world-class dry-fly fishermen. After all, when all is said and done, the desired goal is presenting imitative nymphs as naturally as possible.

The heavier nymph is largely sacrificial, perhaps only accounting for one-in-ten fish, but its ability to present the other members of the team so effectively is what makes bugging so deadly. It is the intricacies and nuances required in the mastery of this which make this technique not only so successful but also thoroughly intriguing, and for a better understanding of these a return to when Czech nymphing first made an impression on these shores is in order.

Often the development of new methods comes through competition angling and this was certainly the case with regard to bugging. Scotland internationalist Jim Fairgrieve is probably the most capped angler in the UK and recalls competing in the 1990 World Championships, held in Wales and featuring the sumptuous River Dee. It was here that Jim first cottoned on to what some of the eastern Europeans were getting up to, or indeed down to.

He recalls how, during a practice session, he'd fished down a productive stretch of river and felt pretty pleased at taking around 15 grayling. However, he then watched a member of the Polish team fish down the same water and pull out over 40 fish. Jim recalls the experience as nothing short of a revelation, and the rest is history. Duty bound to share this new-found gift with his Scotland team-mates, the technique was passed on and experimented with alongside fellow internationalists, a fair few of whom are also middle Tweed anglers still honing and adapting their own styles here and now. Of course, the general technique is now widely used with variations and advancements constantly evolving. Some internationalists, for example, use braid instead of a fly line when bugging to allow for even greater sensitivity as movements of the Nymphs can be more easily felt through such a light line.

Particularly fascinating is the fact that Jim still uses pretty much the same set-up now as when he was shown the ropes by his Polish adversary back on the Dee, whose surname is lost in time and will have to go down in this brief account of bugging history as simply `Josef from Poland'. However, here's the crux of the matter; rod and leader set-up may remain remarkably unchanged, but over the subsequent 15 and more years every subtlety and nuance has been tinkered with, tweaked and adapted. It is these finer details which must be considered in order to enjoy bugging at its best.

But firstly, the basics must be right and it is the weight of Nymphs in correlation to the depth and speed of water being fished which is the most important factor to consider. Talk of Nymphs with up to five tungsten beads is excessive, and such heavyweights are rarely required. Unfeasibly weighty Nymphs should not be the first port of call, and this is where trial and error must be endured. It can be a fine line between bouncing the heaviest nymph gently along the river-bed and hanking on the bottom all the time, but it is a fine line which must be defined. Start as light as you can and increase the weight if necessary. There is no easy fix here, though obviously the more often you experiment with differently weighted Nymphs to correspond with varying current strengths and depths of run, the quicker a successful combination will be hit upon.

Subtleties Jim prefers a rod of 10' 3" for a #6 with a nice soft, through-action which he reckons he loses less fish on, particularly grayling, while the length offers greater water coverage and control of the line - especially useful on a larger river. A floating line with a 3-4ft length of braided leader which has the advantage of added sensitivity and which Jim reckons holds a better angle in relation to the leader below. Typically, only two or three inches of fly line will protrude from the end of the rod.

Add to this set-up a fluorocarbon leader the same length as the rod with the heaviest Nymph on the point and two droppers each positioned around 20 inches apart. No need to taper the leader, which should be around 6-71b BS for winter bugging and down to about 41b in summer. (The Tweed Angling Code for Grayling stipulates a maximum breaking strain of no more than 41b must be used for at least the last 18" of the leader.)

The real subtleties, however, come in the actual mechanics. Placing the heaviest nymph on the middle dropper is preferred by many top-class anglers, the logic being it effectively gets both of the lighter nymphs (on the point and top dropper) down in the water and imparts an alluring movement in the stream. But Jim reckons that placing the heaviest nymph on the point produces an easier managed, straighter ‘cast’ and allows him to better judge the depth and position of the killer dropper nymphs as they fish round in front of him.

Ultimately, it comes down to personal preference, but there is perhaps another important aspect to consider here, certainly with regard to Jim's technique and one of the nuances alluded to earlier. He gently leads the nymphs down the stream. After ‘plonking’ them directly upstream, rather than following the leader as it makes that downstream arc the rod tip is always just marginally ahead, as if almost gently prompting those nymphs through their natural course, along and above the river-bed.

The heaviest nymph should be felt bouncing gently along the bottom. Any sharper or more unusual knock is often a fish and a quick strike follows before - assuming a missed fish or some other explanation - the nymphs are allowed to again fish round until below the angler. At this point, with the nymphs `on the dangle' for want of a better term, always, always strike a sharp little tweak in towards the bank behind as the rod is pointing downstream will suffice. It is incredible how often a fish will be hooked at this point. Whether it just takes there, or had been following the nymph down in the stream with the angler unaware of its presence is open to conjecture.

Another situation where a strike should be made is if all of a sudden nothing can be felt, which in itself points to another important factor. As should be the case in all fishing, as far as is conceivably possible you should remain in direct contact with the cast and know, or feel, exactly where those nymphs are at any given point. The speed at which a fish will suck in and spit out a passing morsel can be lightning quick and more fish than might be imagined will peruse our paltry offerings.

This leads to a particularly tricky aspect of bugging to explain. It is something that Jim and several other consistently successful anglers have alluded to before. Sometimes when bugging there is suddenly a sense that a fish has taken; no knock, no physical change, just a perception, an inexplicable knowledge that a fish is there let's call it that fishy feeling.

The strike is made and a fish is hooked. The handsome Tweed grayling pictured overleaf was caught in such a manner. That's the goal. When a successful fishing approach is so subtle that certain facets of it are impossible to satisfactorily put into words, then that, surely, is a fine art worth striving to master.

The other vital variable to consider is where the fish will be lying. Grayling can be found lying in very thin water, especially in summer, so reading the water is, as ever, one of the main precursors to success. If there's an enticing bumpy run of a slightly deeper channel just a few yards out from the bank, the chances are that fish will be there - especially on rivers like the Tweed and tributaries such as the Teviot and Leader which boast impressive numbers of grayling.

Finding them in the first place can sometimes be the hardest part, especially in higher water, but bugging is also a highly efficient way of methodically covering a lot of water.

Also, never make the common mistake of diving in to wade through a stretch of water which could well be holding fish.

Imitative nymphs

Any patterns which work well on your own water will take fish when used with the bugging technique, and golden oldies like Pheasant Tail, Hare's Ear, Killer Bug, Flashback Nymphs, Red Tags and Peeping Caddis should all be considered.

Adding variations like a thorax of pink or red can work well and I've had a lot of success with Pheasant Tail Nymphs dressed with a blue bead, which convincingly imitates the air bubbles trapped in an ascending nymph. Jim's first choice of nymph is the thinly dressed Shellback Nymph (Jim's Killer). The Nymph made up of copper wire covered in epoxy resin (see below) is an example of the heavier type of sacrificial Bug sometimes required to attain the necessary depth.

Advances in the likes of fluorocarbon, epoxy resin and artificial materials for the tying of more life-like Nymphs have helped refine some of the tools of the trade and many variations now abound. The angler who hones in on the finer details of any given technique, and learns how to adapt them to fit particular situations, is the one who invariably catches more fish.