Ullsock

Here is another old post which was gathering dust in a forgotten folder deep inside my website. Not a fly most of you will be familiar with, but I like the look of this one as a possible salmon and sea trout pattern for the west of Ireland.

I was intrigued when I first saw this fly because it looked so similar in construction to our Irish shrimp flies. Indeed, I initially thought I was looking at some variation of an old Irish shrimp in muted colours, but when I read up about the Ullsock it was clear this was a fly from a very different birthplace. This fly comes from Sweden, or to more precise, the famous river Morrum. My Swedish does not extend beyond being able to order a beer (‘En öl, tack’) but apparently Ullsock translates as ‘Woolly Sock’ and this pattern was devised for the big salmon and sea trout which run the Morrum.

Just like our Irish shrimps, there are a lot of variations of the Ullsock. It’s an old pattern and a good one, so it has been tweaked by tyers over the years to meet local requirements. Once I started to research the Ullsock the similarities to our Irish shrimp flies became even clearer. Just like our shrimps, local Nordic tyers created a wide range of patterns based on the same profile and methods of tying, with just the colour scheme changing. Many of these are available commercially from Scandinavian suppliers. I also noted the fly is tied on a lot of different hook styles (not unusual for salmon flies). Big doubles and trebles seem to be very much in vogue, as are tube fly versions.

So how do you tie the Ullsock? Let’s start off with the basic dressing.

Hook: the original was almost certainly tied on a large single hook, but for fishing here in Ireland I would recommend dropping to a size 8 or ten single salmon iron.

Tying silk: for this one I would use black in 8/0

Tag: I tie the tag in two pieces. The first is flat silver tinsel followed by fluorescent red floss or wool. I think making a big, obvious tag looks good but use your own discretion

Rear hackle: a red game cock hackle

Rear body: rough black wool covering the rear 3/5ths of the hook. Lacking any black wool, I just use black seal’s fur instead

Middle hackle: another red game cock hackle

Front body: more rough black wool

Head hackle: one more red game cock hackle

That’s it, a very simple pattern to tie. The only things to watch out for are keeping the body in proportion so the front body is slightly shorter than the rear portion. Hackle length seems to be disputed, but I err on longer hackles so there is plenty of movement in the fly. Unlike Irish shrimps, the hackle length remains the same for all three hackles on the Ullsock. There is no rib on the Ullsock I tie.

Colours can be varied to anything you care to imagine. American west coast steelheaders tie up this fly in pinks and purples for example. I reckon Irish tyers using olives and fiery browns could make deadly flies in this style. I have seen videos of Scandinavian tyers who use different coloured hackle for the tail, with reds and oranges being popular by the looks of it (see below).

So there you have it, a versatile and easy fly for you to tie. In a world where every pattern seems to require the latest flash or blended dubbing it is refreshing to tie simple patterns from readily available materials. As we come towards the end of the year we have long winter nights at the vice to look forward to, and making some wooly socks could be fun for you feather binders out there.