Nightcrawler Brown Vampire Leech #4 ($5.49 pairs)
This dark brown Vampire Leech could be described as “night crawler brown”. Leeches are one of the main reasons that crawlers are so successful as a bait. When the hide gets wet it has that slimy disgusting leech look that trout find delicious.
This fly pattern has the best action of all of my trolling flies. I fish these flies behind an Action Disc or with a small bullet weight on the line ahead of the leech. With the bullet weight, twitch the line to get a pull/pause effect to actuate the fly. Actual leeches swim with a “dipping” action that creates snake like swimming motion.
A typical trout take on a leech begins with a nip at the tail to get the leech to shrink up, then it inhales the creature. Often times when trolling this fly, you will get a light tap and followed a few seconds later by a solid take.
Additional Info
The first time these flies are put in the water they soak through slowly. Repeatedly dip into water and lift. This allows the trapped air to escape. Try rubbing the damp fly to get the water to soak all the way to the skin. The second time fished, the fly gets soaked quickly.
When fishing without an Action Disc, slide a small bullet weight (1/32 to 1/8 ounce) on the line above the fly. Also try glass or metal beads as the front weight. Experiment with various pull-pause movements to try to achieve a good swimming action. Go to this video to see an actual leech swimming underwater: “Swiming Leech”
A Dark Brown VAMPIRE LEECH swimming behind a #2 Wiggle Fin Action Disc. The video shows the fly from stopped up through 2 mph.