BOOBY NYMPHS
Booby flies have revolutionized many aspects of deep water trout fishing. I have found them deadly on large and small stillwaters. They have a unique action all of their own when retrieved in short, sharp movements. Use a retrieve, pause, retrieve pause method. On the retrieve the fly sinks but on the pause it floats up. It is an action that is lethally attractive to rainbow trout. Fish them on a fast-sinking line and an ultra short leader. in this way this nymph fly can be presented just above the bottom, where the fish are often lying during early season. All boobies have buoyant eyes of closed-cell foam. This buoyancy and the tail give it a tremendous enticing action. 

In the 1970's Gordon Fraser, created these flies for use on Eyebrook Reservoir in Leicestershire, central England. They were named after the flies resemblance to a woman's breast. It took some time before other anglers grasped the tremendous potential that this buoyant headed nymph has to offer. Originally Gordon used polystyrene balls attached to the hook by trapping them in pieces of white nylon mesh from a pair of ladies panty-hose (tights). The mesh was tied to the hook. they were secure but suffered from crushing in the trout's mouth which reduced buoyancy. The answer came with the introduction of Ethafoam, a tough closed cell plastic foam that is far less prone to damage. The Booby has been used to good effect at all levels of the water column. In fact Gordon Fraser originally used his booby nymph on both floating and sinking lines. A booby also works great as a disturbance pattern. I skate Booby nymphs across the water surface just as you would a Muddler. I cast it out in front of a rising fish. I give the line a couple of pulls so the Booby makes a distinct plop sound on the surface. The movement and sound often attracts a trout's attention.

THE WASHING LINE RIG
When part of a team of flies their buoyancy can be used to allow other flies of little buoyancy to fish just above the loch, or lake bed. This is arrangement is referred to as a washing line rig. I like using this set up of buzzers on droppers when other tactics are not working. Rather than have the point fly at the end of your leader, the largest and heaviest fly to help the leader sink, I tie on a very buoyant booby nymph. This keeps the end of the leader up near the surface. I then tie on three buzzers, Gold Ribbed Hares Ears or Pheasant Tail Nymphs, each on a dropper. They dangle down in the water, off the horizontal leader, just like clothing hanging down from a washing line. It simulates buzzers that are nearing the surface just before they reach the top and emerge into adults. I tie the leader onto an intermediate or slow sinking line. 

In August during a heatwave I went to a local fishery in Southern England. Talking to a few of the anglers on the lake they said that the fishing was slow as expected. They were all fishing deep with three buzzers on droppers tied to a long leader. If I did the same I would get the same results. It was too early for a hatch but I believed that the nymphs might be getting ready for the hatch and moving up through the water. I tied on a 'washing line rig' and sent out my first cast. I caught four times the amount of fish as the other fly fishermen.

BOOBY TIPS
Start by fishing deep and slow in the morning. Than as the day warms up start to fish your booby higher on the water column. If you are catching weed use a longer leader to keep the booby higher in the water. Try two different boobies on the same cast. I have found that on one day the point fly will work but on others days the the dropper catches the fish. Do not use a soft rod as you will be unable to set the hook at a distance. Use a non or low stretch backing to help set the hook when fishing at distance. This will help your catch rate by converting more takes into fish. Striking sideways will produce a faster direct contact rather than the traditional upward strike. Leave your line sinking for 30 seconds when fishing deep. Give one big strip to create a disturbance before starting a slow figure of eight retrieve. In winter the main diet of trout will be fry or small black buzzers. Use a white or dark colored booby instead of a bright orange colored one.  

NYMPH FLIES
Some artificial fishing flies try to imitate the fish's food at the different stages of an insect's life. A good example is the Mayfly. They all have upright wings and two or three long tails. There are five stages in the metamorphosis and life of the mayfly: egg, nymph, dun, spinner, and spent. Nymphs and most wet flies are very similar, they both represent insects in their aquatic nymph life stage. This stage comes before the adult stage (dry fly). While nymphs and wet flies may imitate slightly different things, the main difference is wet flies have wings and nymphs do not. These flies weigh a little more than a dry fly, and weight is often added to them in order for them to achieve the proper depth. This additional weight makes them a little harder to cast but the good news is that there is almost no wind resistance. Generally fish nymph flies along the bottom, moving it slowly and smoothly, except in the case of Booby flies. Every now and then dart the fly forward as if it is attacking its prey or trying to escape from being eaten. Such movements should induce a following trout to take your fly.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF NYMPH FISHING
Many of the very early flies fished below the surface were being used in the North of England and Scotland. Many of these wet fly techniques were being developed into a fine art. Down in the South of England , during the Victorian era, on the clear chalk streams of Hampshire and Wiltshire it was the floating or Dry Fly technique that became popular in fly fishing  circles. It was considered the most sporting method of tempting trout. By the end of the nineteenth century the rule of 'dry fly only' had become entrenched on most rivers. this was despite knowing fact that large river fish rarely feed on the surface. These values were transported around the British Empire.

However this dogma was challenged by one G.E.M. Skues, who fished on the famous River Itchen. Skues made himself very unpopular with the Victorian dry fly traditionalists, by singing the praises of a nymph pattern fished just beneath the surface to represent a hatching fly. Eventually Skues' arguments won the day and on most chalk streams the rules were changed so Gentlemen could fish either a floating fly or a nymph. With the 'rot' having set in, Frank Sawyer, a South England, Hampshire Avon river keeper, publicized his new 'induced take' method of fishing a heavily weighted nymph from near the river bottom. A method still widely used on both chalk and rough water streams.

With the building of  reservoirs for public water supplies the opportunity for trout fishing increased in areas that previously had poor fishing resources. Many of the reservoirs are extremely deep and new nymph fishing techniques and lures have been developed to tempt the huge trout that live at the bottom. The growing popularity of stillwater trout fishing has led to many farmers and landowners digging trout pools as an extra source of revenue. These small stillwater lakes and ponds make fly fishing accessible to more people.

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