Banned Boobies

I’d never heard much about “Booby Flies” until a few years ago, when I started doing more stillwater fly fishing. My friend Arron Varga introduced them to me, and when he did, I thought they were pretty weird looking. I still don’t quite understand what the attraction to the fish are that take them, although I’m told it’s not how they look; rather it is the noise or vibration they make.  Personally, I’ve never caught a trout on a Booby Fly – but that just may because I seldom have tried them.

When I first heard about them, I did a wee bit of reading up on these flies and heard a few more things – like how they were all the rage on some U.K. reservoirs for rainbow trout.  And I also heard that some places had banned the use of Booby Flies because of how effective they are at catching fish, apparently.

In the March 2010 issue of Total FlyFisher, there is an article entitled “Booby Trap,” featuring anglers Mike Marriott and John Pass “as they employ a new Booby technique, trying to catch from a water that hasn’t seen a trout caught for more than two weeks!”

In the article, Mike Marriott points out that indeed, many fisheries have banned the Booby. But for a different reason than what I’ve heard:

“The problem is, if you’re fishing catch and release with Boobies, the trout you catch are generally deeply hooked and then have to be dispatched, and for this reason Boobies are banned on many fisheries.”

Mikes go on to suggest that his method of fishing Boobies, which employs the use of split shot, most fish are lip hooked and the fly is therefore easier to remove.

Booby flies are also sometimes called “Dolly Parton’s.” If you don’t know why, you’ll understand the very first time you see one. Basically, they have two round bits of foam on either side of the hook shank near the eye.  They can be dressed in many different ways – some fly tyers will attach eyes to each “booby.”  Some swear by using different colours of boobies, and different sizes for different levels of flotation (the foam helps the fly float off the bottom, when using sinking lines).

I know that Arron has caught a good number of rainbow trout on Booby patterns. I’ll have to get ask him to provide some of his favorite patterns with photos!