In keeping with the season here at MVF, our next review is on the Spro Phat Fly. This little doll hair fig is designed to be fished under a bobber and will sit dead horizontal in the water column.
Spro Phat Fly Design
The color patterns were designed to mimic the most prevalent baitfish in North America and feature sculpted heads with 3-D eyes and well done paint schemes. The hooks are sticky sharp Gamakatsu single point hooks and are available in two sizes, 1/16 and 1/8. Now let’s get down to where the rubber meets the road, how to fish it!
Fishing With The Phat Fly
I like to use the Phat Fly on a 6 1/2 to 7 foot light or medium light spinning outfit. I use a twenty series spinning reel and spool it with 6 or 8 pound clear P-Line Floroclear line. I said clear because this line is also available in moss green but for this application I prefer the clear. I use a one inch diameter fixed or slip bobber with my choice being the Lindy Mini Stealth Slip Bobber.
I use this one because it does double duty as a slip bobber or a fixed float. More often than not with this technique, I will go ahead and use the rubber stoppers with the Lindy and make it a fixed bobber. I tie the bobber up my main line about 4 feet to start, with the Phat Fly at the end of the main line. That’s it, all there is to it, and then cast it out.
The Float And Fly Technique
Once it hits the water, I allow the fly time to get down underneath the float and then in very short jerks with extended pauses, bring it back to me. You can change your retrieve as much as you want with this float and fly system and keep experimenting with the depth and action until the fish tell you that you’ve got it right. I have caught fish with this system by barely moving the rig a few inches at a time all the way to using a shaky head type retrieve and everything in between.
I do however, tend to start slowly and increase the speed of my retrieve incrementally as the day goes on. One thing that I have noticed when using the Spro Phat Fly is that once you hit the sweet spot as far as depth and retrieve cadence, you will usually catch more than one fish at a time. This is not to say that you won’t want to change things up as the day goes on but it’s to say that at different times of the day, a particular cadence is going to produce fish in spurts.
This technique is one of those kind of in between methods of fishing that sure can’t be considered power fishing but isn’t as slow as fishing with a shaky head for instance. The real plusses to the Spro Phat Fly is that they aren’t expensive and they are simple to learn to fish. This is a technique that young children can master quickly and have a lot of fun with almost all year long.
The float and fly will catch any number of species depending on the size fly that you’re using and for the price, they are really pretty durable. As with any fly, eventually the hair will get torn up by the fish and they will need to be replaced but it takes longer than you might expect for this to happen. You can use this in cold or warm weather and I have seen some tough days on the water where guys were flat out struggling to catch anything and I was consistently bagging fish using the Phat Fly. I have also caught a number of trout, crappie and even some good sized bluegill using this technique.
If you’re fishing some heavily pressured water or just looking to add a different tool to your arsenal, the float and fly technique using the Spro Phat Fly is one that deserves a lot of consideration due to it’s low cost, ease of use and ability to catch multiple species in varied weather conditions.
See ya on the water…