Break out the Daddy Long Legs when takes start falling short

Our resident contributor says don’t sweat the small stuff: unleash the big bug from your fly box

‘It’s quite good at catching fish when nothing else is working.’ This is why our go-to adviser Paul’s list of top five favourite flies has a spot for the Daddy Long Legs.

Sometimes, doing the opposite is what works. Paul came to this realisation during a fishing day long ago when he observed trout were rising to the river’s surface to feed. It must have been something very small, as he couldn’t make out what they were. Common sense dictated that he change out the fly he was using, going down to a smaller size. And yet, not even a nibble. So he tried several even smaller flies. But it still didn’t do anything positive.

In the end he thought, ‘Oh my, I’m just going to stick on a Daddy Long Legs.’

When he did that, the trout started going after his new larger offering. From then on, he would bring out the Daddy Long Legs whenever nothing else was working. He recalls musing that the fish must have been fed up eating tiny things and they were thinking, ‘That big daddy looks rather delicious, let’s have a go at it.’

Today Paul admits, ‘I actually don’t quite know what really goes through fishes’ minds.’

When nothing seems to be working, shift into reverse and unleash a game-changer

The name says it all: it’s definitely a rather large fly. Sometimes more than an inch long, it can be tied on different sized hooks. And the legs sticking out would be an inch and a half long as well. It imitates a real insect called a crane fly. In the wild, these bugs are really rather cumbersome things and not very elegant flyers.

It’s not one of the most complicated flies to tie, but it’s certainly more difficult than a simple pheasant tail nymph. The Daddy Long Legs has six legs made from a pheasant tail feather, so it takes a bit more time to properly tie the two knots in them that are meant to resemble the ‘knees’. Then three legs have to go on one side of the fly and three legs on the other side. After which, two very small feathers are added on to represent the wings.

These wings are another thing Paul likes about the Daddy Long Legs he ties. He says, ‘Because you have some parts of it sticking up from the water surface, it makes the fly more visible. A lot of other flies are quite difficult to track amongst the debris floating down on the river.’

Paul says he tends to use this fly more in the autumn. And if he’s seeing crane flies flying around then it indicates a recent hatch—time to bring out the Daddy Long Legs.

Paul talks about the other flies in his Top Five Faves in upcoming posts on our blog. Check out his take on the Parachute Adams in the first article of this series.

Photo courtesy of Paul