Not really up to fishing just now, and the weather is pretty dire anyhow, what with the recent rainfall and pretty high winds here today. I have been gradually building up a few fly boxes hopefully for boat fishing next season. I am concentrating on the wet fly and nymph box just now, taking a bit inspiration from the Hillend Dabbler’s cracking flies and have been watching a few of Davie McPhails You Tube videos to tie a few patterns of his as well as some I have just done myself. I would never claim to having even a fraction of his abilities and the flies I have tied are I would have to say variants as I don’t have the feathers he has or all the materials exactly right, but I am pretty sure they will catch fish.
I hope to go to the Glasgow Angling Centre Open day tomorrow if I can make it along, and might pick up some better feathers while I am there- its not like I am spending the money on actually going fishing right now (unfortunately).
The KeHe
I tied a few of these this following Davie McPhail’s guide that you can find here. This wasn’t too hard to tie once I realised I had some fluro green floss in my materials box. I think he specified Chartreuse but this is close enough.
This is on a size 10 hook, materials are
Body: Black Peacock Herl with silver wire rib
Tail: Golden Pheasant tippets with a Green Fluro tag
Hackle: Black Hen
Thread: Uni Black 6/0
The Zulu
Amongst wet flies this is a bit of a favourite of mine. I don’t have a huge amount of success on wets, excepting the few outings I have had on wee wild lochs up north where it seems they are all that work. But the Zulu was the fly that caught me my first fish when I came back to the fly fishing a few years back and I still take it out and wet it from time to time, and have abit success with it. It seems to work well when there is a bit of a wave and wind but the fish aren’t too far down. The one pictured is tied on a size 12 hook.
Materials used
Tail: Fluro red wool
Body: Black Seals fur with silver Oval tinsel rib.
Hackle: Black Cock
The Unfamous Wet Daddy Long Legs
I have a few beaded flies I refer to as wet daddies but they are not especially imitative though again they do catch their share of fish, but they are not far short of lures in my opinion and I thought it might be fun to tie a wet daddy that has a few more resembling features to the real thing. I was inspired to this by the Hillend Dabblers image of a wet daddy he used on his recent “stravaig” to the north. I tried to keep the colours fairly natural and avoided too much flash, just a touch in the butt. The idea is something that might fool a trout into taking a daddy thats been a bit drowned in a wave.
This is on a size 12 long shank hook, materials are
Butt: Black Holographic
Body: Uni 6/0 in Tan with a rib of Brown Flybox micro wire
Legs: Veniard pre knotted Pheasant tail fibres
Hackle: Ginger Hen
Thorax: Natural Ostrich Herl
Thread: Uni Tan 6/0
Head: Coated with Black Varnish
I have more but will save them for another post hands- are getting sore typing now!
