Catchbook - Social Fishing Network

  LUMI-FLASH 

“Lumi-Flash is a luminous reflective fly tying material ideal for creating wings, luminous reflective bodies or adding that extra killer effect to your flies. During the daylight it is a white/pearlescent colour with good reflection and after dark it glows a luminous green colour perfect for attracting the predators. It is highly effective for Sea Trout, Salmon, Trout, Sea Bass, Striped Bass, Pike, Zander, and many other species at night and in low light/coloured water conditions.” 

 That is the marketing spiel but does it actually work?  After trialling it for the last summer I can say undoubtedly yes! In fact this is an injustice to the product as far as endorsements go. I would go as far as to say that it is the edge you want on the end of your fly line. I used it as a body material and wing highlighter in my sea trout (and some salmon) flies and made whole wings on my sea bass and saltwater flies. The first test you can do is shine a torch onto the material and go into a dark room and shut the door. The glow is impressive. You will start imagining the fish reacting to it immediately it invades their underwater world. The first trip I used the material on, for sea trout, brought four fish to a “lumi” fly, including a 10Ib 7oz beauty; the largest fish caught “in living memory” from the River Tavy, Devon.

Flies with lumi-flash added to them have continued to produce sea trout in all conditions and have proved themselves to take fish when other flies are being ignored. This was brought home when fishing with a friend on the River Till on a relatively heavily fished beat. The sea trout where there but they were not interested until I changed to a lumi bodied fly. This produced three fish in quick succession. Nothing else changed. My fellow angler then placed one on as his point fly too and he also started to catch fish. Throughout the season I have moved flies with lumi tied into them around on the cast and have been amazed how the sea trout have come for them. The aggression of the takes has been noticeable too. It is as though the glowing green fly appearing within the view of the fish has triggered an irresistible reaction as thumping takes have been the norm.

Lumi-flash is also very useful in saltwater flies proving particularly useful during this summer for sea bass. I used it to create whole wings on bait imitations and clouser style bait patterns. These were successful during the day but, as expected, came into their own at dusk and on into the darkness. I took these flies to the United States with me in May/June for a striped bass fishing trip in Virginia and saltwater trip to Florida. The patterns where lethal after dark for stripers in Virginia and ladyfish “baby tarpon” and red drum seemed to have a particular liking for them in Florida.