The weather has been appalling, but I am supposed to be heading to the River Teviot on Saturday for the annual Grayling competition ( I am seriously doubting this will happen with all the rain) but needed to get some flies made up to replenish losses, and add to my arsenal.
Peter Ross
I also did a wee bit of tying of a few other flies and I start here with the Peter Ross. The Hillend Dabbler put up an excellent post on the Peter Ross and it came to mind that when I returned to fishing in 2010 one of the flies on my two fly cast that I put on at Swanswater on my first outing on the big boys loch was a Peter Ross. My first cast and I was taken and promptly broken off, on the Peter Ross. I had one more left and I put it on later in the day, can’t recall why or if I used it again right away, but I recall I put it on when I moved to fishing the Mill Pond, and was promptly broken off again! I have never replaced them and maybe I should.
So here is my effort. I tied about half a dozen in sizes 8-12. The body is not as smooth as it could be maybe – think my Mylar is a bit wide, and the other stuff have is a bit thin.
Peter Ross
JT’s Cased Caddis
This is an interesting one, I got the Grayling Through the Year DVD for Christmas by Fish On productions with John Tyzack, and in it he “ties” an interesting Cased Caddis pattern that is literally a construction job more than tying. Its made using a very heavy leaded hook ( in this case I have some Partridge Leaded Cz Nymph and bug hooks) and you paint on a white head, glue on some river gravel, strengthen it all with superglue and tie on a Partridge feather for a hackle as “legs”. This fly is totally designed to get you on the bottom and if the rivers are up a bit I think I will need something suitably heavy and this is one such pattern. I made about a dozen in different sizes from 8-16.
JT Cased Caddis
Pheasant Tail Nymphs
You can never have enough PTNs and these are tungsten beaded ones in small sizes (14’s and 16’s), in black and natural. Some are tailed some with a Red Butt, they will be equally useful for Grayling as well as Trout fishing. I used small bug hooks and Jig Hooks for these.
Red Butt Pheasant Tail Nymph
Beaded Black Pheasant Tail Nymph
JP’s Green and Brown Bug
Another bug from the Grayling Through the Year video is JP’s Green and Brown Bug. This one is a bit of a Frankensteins monster Now I did not have the right colour of Green for this so used what I had nearest. I also never had the brown micro tubing so used spanflex floss instead. It’s also a bit odd because, yes you guessed it I never had the Green Tungsten beads used, so what I did was use a Green Brass Bead then loaded the hook with a smaller tungsten bead behind the brass one and dressed over the top. It will definitely get down! It’s not the best tying but I can do a few more and see how they come out, what I was really after was a different colour to chop and change with on my cast.
JP Green and Brown Bug (Variant)
JT’s Olive Baetis Nymph
Again never had all the right materials but used something similar for another pattern from the video this one is for spring fishing and I suspect will do equally well for Trout as well as Grayling. I used Clear stretch material for the body and thorax colour and Squirrel for the Thorax/legs. I coloured it in with Olive permanent Marker and quite realistic it looks too. I did a lot of these again in small sizes, mostly 16’s.
Olive Baetis Nymph
I also did a few more Red Tags in very heavy weights again to counter rivers which might be up and pushing along and finally a curve ball.
Cats Whiskers
The fly that was catching at Swanswater last week was the plain old Cats Whiskers. I had a couple in my box tied using fritz, and had a couple of traditional chenille ones but they were very poor quality ones I won as a prize but seem to fall to bits when they see water. I got hold of some Chenille and tied a few fairly small ones for my box, beaded and unbeaded- this one has a tungsten head.
Cats Whiskers
And Finally
I will at some point need to look at replenishing my dry flies for the new season, and this is one I tied copying a Davie McPhail video a week or two ago, and you know I can’t recall what he called it, some sort of Yellow Dun pattern. Anyway a wee upwinged dry that came out sort of OK ish.
Yellow Upwinged Dun
Hi.. I found your site by accident and have been looking through your tied patterns.. You ask for any advice. well here is a litle from me.. for what it is worth..I always make my fly bodies a little longer than yours down to the start of the bend it’s self. I live in northern Germany and have great success with my patterns here on the local waters here. I have not got a great deal of experience on UK waters as I have lived overseaas for most of my adult life. One thing I was taught as a kid by my Grandad was big fish big fly .. try it some time..
regards Jim
Thanks for your comments Jim. Always interesting to hear different views. Generally speaking when I tie flies I aim to copy good tiers examples like Davie McPhails guides on You Tube. So this influences my scaling. I have had others tell me ” don’t be afraid to show some hook” and have also heard the statement ” small flies catch big fish”. I tend to think it all depends on the day, the weather, the conditions and what’s interesting the fish most. In a nutshell I will try any method until I find what works on the day!
Thanks for you observations I will still take them on board and keep them in mind when tying and fishing.