Washing lining at Draycote Water.

Draycote fishery manager Tom Bird, talks through the popular and very effective washing line technique.
Before putting it to good use on the water, and landing some hard fighting Draycote trout.
Hope you enjoy the video.

[@alanbobbymcguire5099]

I haven’t fished Thornton but I absolutely love Draycote and Eyebrook. We travel down from Edinburgh every year to fish them. Keep up the good work Tom. 👍🏻👍🏻

[@TW-qz5wo]

When you have something light and fluffy on the point I have trouble casting a washing line out there because there’s no weight - any tips Tom.

[@FlyfishstoreUK]

There is a couple of different ways, one method is to cast the rod tip down into the water as you deliver the forward cast. This will cause the team of flies to turn over lower near the water and potentially cut into or under the wind. If fishing with the wind behind you, and what I do more often than not is to sacrifice a little bit of turn over. And making sure you hit the reel and hold the rod tip high in the air. This will cause the cast to definitely stop and kick out from her fly line. You can also doing this by grabbing the line in your non rod hand to help kick the flies out. If you want to have extra line off the reel in case you are covering moving fish. Hope this helps.

[@garymartin7623]

Hi tom great video 👍. I was wondering what the sink rate of the rio hover tip line was that you were using.

[@FlyfishstoreUK]

Hi Gary The Rio sinks are 1” a second. Glad you enjoyed the video.

[@garymartin7623]

Cheers Tom

[@davidwillacy4796]

Thanks Tom, well explained video. As a guess what is the percentage of fish that come to the nymphs rather than the fab? When would you use a fab rather than a booby? Cheers

[@FlyfishstoreUK]

@@davidwillacy4796 it really depends on the day, some times the FAB or booby will take 90% of the fish. Especially if the fish are moving and you are covering and pulling the FAB to interest them. Other times nearly everything will take the nymphs on a normal day I would say the split is 60/40 in favour of the FAB. I would use a booby if I wanted to hold the flies higher in the water. As booby eyes will normally help to hold it up more. Due to the foam at the front, the FAB will also get pulled down quicker as foam is in the back. The weight of the other nymphs and fluorocarbon will cause it to sink quicker and sink with the “arse” up. So I find these better for fishing the flies completely static as you get a lowly slow drop of the cast.