Deer Hair Divers
     This fly is for everyone who ever asked me, "Why in the world would you ever bother with a sinking line?"

Hook: Mustad 37187 (Stinger) 2-10
Thread: matching Kevlar
Body: spun deer hair (northern/winter coat)
Eye: black deer hair, selectively placed withing the spun hair
Tail: matching marabou

     This is a typical diving deer hair fly that has been around for over a decade. Any modern tying book will have instructions on making these, but I'll go through it briefly for those who have not yet tied one. These flies are available at most quality fly fishing outfitters. (I didn't invent this one, but the technique for using it as described here is my own brain child. This is not to say that no one else hasn't thought of it either.)

     Deer hair from the winter pelt of the northern mule deer (within the snow belt, aka northern US and Canada) is hollow as insultation against the winter cold, an adaptive survival trait. When bundled together, this material floats rather nicely. Because it is hollow, it crumples back onto itself when you put pressure against it with the tying thread, like a drinking straw. Spinning deer hair is an old technique, and it takes a little practice to get the hair to spin and pack properly. Essentially, a small amount of hair is tied down to the bare shaft, and then two turns of thread are added under pressure (the reason for the Kevlar, since it's very tough to break under the pressure). As the hair is compacted and bent in the middle, it rolls around the shaft, flairing out 360 degrees around the shaft. Note: This is always done on a bare shaft, since a thread foundation impairs the spinning action. The body of a simple Bic pen (tip and ink tube removed) makes a perfect compactor to press the hair together after it is spun. It's done a bit at a time, spinning and compacting until the shaft is covered like a fuzzy ball. Don't get lazy and try to add too much at once. This will ruin the spin. Take the time to add it in small amounts.
     The foundation is set in reverse, starting shortly before the bend, and working toward the bend, getting it just long enough to hold the tail. The tail is set and secured with glue, then the spinning begins toward the eye. Near the end of the spinning, black deer hair is set in without spinning to form the effect of an eye on each side. It might help to preglue this section if you can't get it down without spinning it. Once the shaft is covered with spun hair, it looks like a porcupine in defensive posture. The tying scissors are then used to sculpt the body to the desired shape.
     For the diver, you want a contoured wind resistant body on top and sides, and as close to flat on the bottom as you can get without cutting the spinning thread. A collar at the rear (left untrimmed on the top and sides for a quarter inch) to help facilitate the diving action as a diving plane. Two tips. Cut slowly, better to take too little and come back than to take too much. Be patient. Second, because the hair is spun on a bare shaft, cutting any wrapping thread is death for the fly. Once you cut the thread behind the wrap knot, the fly is destined to fall apart. (Another reason for the Kevlar thread).

     Okay, enough bench talk. Let's take the finished fly to still water (lake or pond) and change the subject to sinking lines. A sinking line is a real pain compared to a floating line. There's no picking it up off the water with a loop cast. It's standard practice to retrieve it all the way back and play it out again while keeping it off of the water during the cast. It's a no slack line that works you harder than any other line. As a rule, it's the newest line in an angler's collection, since it's the last one to be bought.
     Sinking lines come in a range of sink rates, from barely above neutral bouancy to four inches per second or more sink rate. At four inches per second, it takes the line thirty seconds to sink ten feet. This is no run and gun technique, but it does get to where the fish are holding when they're not hitting up top. But it is cause for proper placement when casting. For this technique, combining a floating fly with a sinking line, use the most dense sinking line available.

     For those familiar with spinning and casting techniques for bass, consider the Carolina rig with a floating body lure, and you will get the picture of this technique in a hurry. Here, the sinking line is the weight that is used to get the fly down near the bottom where fish are holding. But the floating nature of the fly keeps it just off of the bottom, increasing visual presence and allowing for some interesting actions, especially in regard to the fish. When the line has reached the bottom, the fly is following downward on an almost vertical leader. When the line is retrieved, the fly heads straight toward the bottom, the resistance of the water keeping it from following along at the same depth above the bottom. When the retrieve is stopped, the fly gently floats upward in an arc, trying to return the leader to the vertical with its buoyancy. It's a slow process all around, requiring a great deal of patience. Consequently, it should be used in high confidence areas (where fish are believed to be holding, like stumps, submerged log jams, creek bends, any subsurface structure where fish are known to hold). The idea is to present the image of a struggling and wounded fish.

     The natural tendency for a wounded fish that is too stunned to flee successfully by speed is to bury its face in the muddy bottom to avoid notice by preditors. In turn, preditors have this opportunistic response for any fish struggling to reach the bottom. A stunned fish often has an excess of air in its air sac, tending to force it slowly toward the surface. The fish struggles against this, since floating on the surface is leaving it vulnerable to predatory birds. In time, the fish tires of the struggle to remain below, and during that period of tiring, where it's most vulnerable, it will float upwards slightly while resting up, then make an effort to go deeper, then resting again. This is what the retrieve should imitate to be most successful. The retrieve is the struggle to reach the bottom, the long pauses between retrieves allows the fly to float toward the surface, creating the appearance of the easiest pickings in the book. The fish do not strike aggressively, as they do when chasing prey that has the speed to escape, but they do strike hard, putting the poor wounded thing out of its misery with a hard blow. It takes them awhile to reach the point of striking, but it's something most predatory fish can't resist. They will sit and watch the struggle a bit before doing something about it, since the target doesn't seem to be going anywhere fast. Patience pays off in the retrieve. The fish will strike, often the biggest in the school if there is more than one within sight of the display.

     The clearer the water, the better this retrieve works. But the clearer the water, the more accurately the fly needs to represent something alive. Again, marabou is the key to giving the fly life as it moves up and down at different rates. Zonker strips also work quite well as a tail. Try to stick to natural colors, pale browns, greens, off whites, maybe a hint of brighter stuff, especially pearlescent, as highlighting, but don't get dominant with brightness. Keep it as close to the color of the natural forage as possible. This is a great fly for fishing the "cruise lanes" in the morning as the predators are making their territorial rounds, as well as hitting the holding areas. It won't replace the surface fly when fish are hitting up top, but it does the trick when nothing is happening on the surface, often finding the bigger fish.

     In parting, let me warn you that concentration is essential. A sinking line does not transmit information as well as a worming rod does with a carolina rig. Keep the line as tight as possible without moving it during the pauses, especially after the short retrieve. Most strikes come just as the fly is starting to rise again from the dart downward toward the bottom.