Category Archives: fly tying

Fishing in Ireland, fly tying, trout fishing, wetfly

More Dabblers

I’ve been bust at the vice again and the fly boxes are filling up nicely now. For me, Saturday afternoons are my preferred time to tuck myself away with the radio on, happily snipping and whipping away. Steam rising lazily from my umpteenth mug of coffee while the room around me gradually fills with half used packets of feathers and reels of silk as I swap from pattern to pattern. Then an all mighty tidy up at the end of the session to restore a degree order once again. There are often a small pile of scraps of paper on the bench beside me, hastily devised patterns which popped into me head and I noted down on whatever was handy at the time. Lately I have been churning out Dabbler patterns. Some have been your bog-standard clarets and golden olives but I’ve also created some new ones too.

This handsome fly is a variation on the standard silver dabbler. Simply add a Glo-drite no.4 tag under the tail and use a badger hackle dyed green-olive instead of the usual red game. This fly has caught me plenty of fish in the past.

Here’s one I guess you could call a rhubarb and custard dabbler. Untried as yet, I have high hopes for it on Lough Mask. Yellow body and hackle with a blood red hen hackle wound in front of the wing, there is more than a hint of the Mayo Bumble about this one. It should work as a pulling fly when the trout are on the daphnia in the deeps on Lough Mask.

This bright dabbler looks to be a bit of a long shot to me but I guess you never know until you try it. Flat silver tinsel or Opal Mirage for the body and a teal blue dyed grizzle hackle under the cloak combine with a red tail to give a fry imitation look to it. It will either blank or give me the biggest trout of the season!

Why am I tying so many dabblers right now? There just seemed to be so many gaps in that part of the fly box is the only answer. I have not been doing much in the way of lough fly fishing for a few seasons now and as a result there has been a lack of focus on my part on what there is in there. I am forever handing my fly boxes around to others that I am fishing with and letting them help themselves to whatever takes their fancy. This of course leads to popular or interesting patterns disappearing, which is fine by me. I like to hear other anglers are catching fish on my flies.

I’ll need to address some major gaps in the lough dry fly box next. I have neglected this box too and there seems to be a lot of very old flies in there which need to be cleared out and new patterns added. Wulff’s in particular are conspicious by their absence.

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fly tying

Ginger peachy

Funny how memories come back to you across the years at the strangest of times. I know one or two of you who follow this blog reside in the North East of Scotland and if you are of a certain age you will probably remember an announcer on the telly called David Bennett. He used to round off the late evening shift with his catch phrase – ‘A ginger peachy goodnight to you all’. I was doing a small bit of dyeing this morning when David’s words came back to me. I was trying to get a colour which I could see in my mind’s eye but just couldn’t put a name to it. A light tan/ peach kinda shade, or even a ‘ginger peachy’ hue!

All the dyes and associated gear were fished out and the process started. I have written before on how I do this so I won’t bore you all with the same information. Here are a couple of tips though that may help you if you try this at home though.

The ginger cape immersed in the dye

Firstly, I like to wash the feathers on a solution of Venpol and I gently heat the water. I think this helps to clean more of the grease and dirt, from the capes especially.

Next, I organise the washed feathers into groups if I am dyeing more than one colour. This way I can chuck all the different feathers which are to be dyed the same colour into the pot at the same time.

When you have added the dye put the small canister of dye back into the packet. Veniard dyes are very good but the little grey container does not have any markings on it so it is easy to mix them up if you are not careful!

I add the vinegar just before the feathers reach the required depth of colour as I think the colour darkens a little once the mordant is added.

Back to the ginger peachy colour. I used a very pale ginger cock cape and dyed it in as strong solution of Veniards peach dye (I chucked some French partridge hackles in at the same time). The resulting colour is an interesting one, very different from the standard peach you get if using a pure white cape. I have a notion this colour should work on the small lakes around here. I have tried Orkney Peach colours on these waters before but they were not particularly successful. To my mind the peach needs to be more muted and, well, ‘gingery’.

BEFORE

The pale ginger cape, washed and ready to dye

AFTER

While I was at it I dyed some other colours, a nice Green Olive and then my favourite for river trout flies – Brown Olive.

Ginger Peach, Green Olive and Brown Olive capes
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Fishing in Ireland, fly tying, trout fishing, wetfly

Bloody Dabbler

On holiday now so I am busy tying flies for the upcoming season. I have lots of ideas floating around in my head and one of them took shape this morning in the form of a Bloody Dabbler. This is loosely based on the Bloody Butcher, a great old pattern which used to work for me in either the standard feather winged form or busked on a longshank 8 and fished off fast sinker at night for sea trout.

I made the body of the fly from flat silver tinsel body, ribbed with fine oval silver and a palmered hen hackle. This hackle came from a hen cape I dyed flourescent scarlet. Tails of cock pheasant, a cloak of bronze mallard and a pair of jungle cock cheeks were added and the head was formed from the fire orange tying silk. I have high hopes this one will work when the pin fry are on the go in June/July.

I have been reading some ideas from Rob Denson and in particular his use of hen hackles for palmering dabblers and bumbles. This gives a very different look to these flies and I like the idea they will move better in the water than our normal stiff cock hackles.

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Fishing in Ireland, fly tying, trout fishing, wetfly

Western Lakes Dabbler

Here is a dabbler pattern I created some years ago to use during the mayfly hatch on Lough Carra. It’s proved to be a consistent killer and has taken trout from the other lakes too, so I can vouch for its effectiveness.

A calm start to a day on Lough Carra

I used to keep a boat at Moorehall on Lough Carra and enjoyed some great fishing on that lovely water but these days the fishing on Carra has deteriorated to the point where I no longer leave a boat there. It’s easy for me to get a loan of a boat on any of the local lakes so I fish Carra occasionally these days when I hear the trout are rising. 

Carra has long been famous as a lake with a massive hatch of mayfly. Sadly, there are fewer and fewer mayfly each season now but the fish still respond to a well fished artificial. I prefer Carra on a day of big winds when large waves roll the length of the lake. Big winds seem to stir the bigger trout in my experience. This pattern was designed to be fished in just such conditions.

Tying silk: brown

Hook: heavy wet fly, size 8

Tails: Cock Pheasant tail fibres, about half-a-dozen

Rib: thick brown silk. I use rod whipping silk which has a nice colour and is very strong.

Body: natural seals fur

Body Hackle: a dark red game cock hackle, palmered

Shoulder hackle: a grey partridge dyed golden olive or yellow

Cloak: well marked bronze mallard tied all round

As you can see, this is a simple dabbler style pattern and it is easy to tie. To my eye the natural seals fur is an excellent match to the ivory coloured body of the naturals. The trout certainly approve and it has been a very consistent pattern over the 20 odd years I and my friends have been using it.

The natural fur
Heavy rod wrapping thread for the rib
Tapered dubbed body

I recommend that you fish this fly as part of a three fly team. It has caught me trout in all positions on the leader but if pressed I would put it on the tail in preference to the droppers. Many times I have boated trout on a wide range of patterns on the same drift, so exact copies are not usually required in a big wave. The secret is to find the fish where they are feeding and this is not always easy. Experience plays a large part in finding the trout but you cover a lot of water in a big wind so keep flogging away safe in the knowledge you are going to cover fish somewhere on your drifts.

The only drawback with this pattern is the weakness of the pheasant tail fibres. These break off easily and the resulting tail-less fly is not effective. Try replacing the pheasant tail fibres with some moose main hair – it is much tougher and longer lasting.

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Fishing in Ireland, fly tying, trout fishing, wetfly

Blae and Black

There are some flies in every angler’s box that they have next to total faith in. Those ‘fail-me-never’ patterns we reach for either when nothing else is working or specific conditions demand their use. A big brown Murrough late at night in July on Lough Carra, a size 14 wet Wickhams fancy in a fast run when I have failed to match the hatch during an evening rise, a red-headed Silver Dabbler when the trout are on pin fry………….. the list goes on. Near the top of my list is a small fly we all know but may not realise its effectiveness – the Blae and Black. Let’s take a closer look at this unassuming wee fly.

I believe the Blae and Black is a Scottish pattern by birth. ‘Blae’ to we Scots means a flat grey colour which perfectly describes the shade of the wings. Just like the ‘Mallard’, ‘Grouse’ or ‘Teal’ series of flies there is an extensive range of ‘Blae’ winged patterns but none ever reached the levels of popularity of the Blae and Black. An old fly, over the years it has been used and abused by generations of us anglers. The original is still the best in my opinion but there are many options for changing this fly. Here is a breakdown of how it should be tied.

The Hook

Most writers seem to suggest the Blae and Black can be tied on hooks ranging in size from 10 to 14. I beg to differ about this. For me the Blae and Black is always a small pattern, size 16 is by far the best in my humble opinion. A 14 has produced a smattering of trout for me over the years but it is a size 16 (or smaller) which mainly does the business for me. With such a small hook you need to think carefully about the hook design. On waters where the fish are small you can get away with lighter wire hooks but this is dangerous where bigger trout might be encountered. I personally use heavyweight size 16’s for this fly.

Back in Scotland the Blae and Black was often tied on wee doubles and bloody effective they were too! Early season outings on lochs and reservoirs would inevitably see me fishing this pattern if there were dark buzzers hatching. I never see them being used here in Ireland but there is no reason why tiny size 16 doubles would not work. I would not dream of using wee doubles where there are populations of small trout or worse still salmon parr/smolts. The wee double bites deep and should only be used where you expect good sized trout. The nice thing about the double hooked fly is its ability to sink quickly. That alone can make the difference some days.

The Tail

A wisp of red on this well chewed size 18

On the original fly the red tail was made from fibres of a red feather taken from a Scarlet Ibis, Eudocimus Ruber. These gorgeous birds inhabit coastal regions in South America. The trade in Ibis feathers has long gone and instead we now use a few fibres of swan or goose dyed scarlet instead. I have a dislike for ibis subs which are too ‘pinky’ in shade, I want a strong, vibrant red for the tail. While it is easy to dye some white feathers yourself the cost of a packet of dyed goose is only  a few cents. the same material is used for the tails on a huge range of traditional wet flies too.

A Scarlet ibis. Like so many other rare and beautiful birds they were shot so their feathers could be used for making ladies hats and as a by product they found their way into Victorian flies.

Another option for the tail is a short length of floss silk dyed red. Modern tyers also take this one step further and use Glo-brite no. 4 floss to form the tail.

 

The Rib

the silver wire rib tied in at the hook bend

You have a couple of options for the rib, either fine oval silver tinsel or silver wire. I am a huge fan of oval silver tinsel usually but for this pattern I generally favour the fine silver wire instead. It just ‘looks’ better to me on the very small hooks. An important point is to make sure you wind the wire rib counter to the direction of the floss silk wraps of the body. This makes sure the rib sits on top of the floss and doesn’t dig into to it.

The Body

I guess you could use a lot of different materials to form the body but I stick to the old traditional floss silk. I like the shiny nature of the silk and it makes a nice slim body, just like the buzzers the fly represents. If your floss is too thick then split it down, you don’t want a bulky body lads! Floss used to be made from raw silk and older tyers may have a spool or two of the real stuff still in their kit. These days rayon floss is the one you buy and it is just as shiny as the real silk.

The Hackle

a small dyed black hen hackle, just the job!

Cock or hen? That is the question. Me, I  personally plump for a hen hackle but I will concede this is purely a personal preference and that the fish probably don’t give two hoots.

Winding the hackle before the wings are applied is the norm but I sometimes tie the fly with the hackle wound in front of the wings and it looks good. I insist on winding the hackle, none of your ‘beard hackles here please. Don’t go overboard when winding the hackle, a couple of turns is ideal.

 

The Wings

Starling. For me it has to be starling. Other options include Jay (lighter and difficult to work with) or Waterhen (darker but still look good).

Now do you tie the wings inside or out? By this I mean do the wings have the shiny side facing outwards or inwards? For me there is no right or wrong way and I tie both.

 

Variations

Where do I start!

  1. Add a small red fur thorax
  2. Make the wings out of a pair of pure white hackle tips
  3. Use tippets for the tail instead of the ibis subs
  4. Add a pair of tiny Jungle cock as cheeks
  5. Use gold wire for the rib instead of silver
  6. Swap the black hen hackle for a badger hackle

Blae and Silver

A small red thorax tied under the wings

The list goes on but each one just takes you further away from the original and best version. The Blae and Silver is the same fly but with a solid silver tinsel body. Then again you can veer off into the world of Saltoun’s with ginger hackles.

As I said earlier, there is a whole range of blae-winged flies to tie. Different coloured bodies and hackles produce flies for a wide range of occasions. Probably the Blae and Silver is the most common. I’ve caught trout on a Blae and Ginger before now too.

How to fish the Blae and Black

One of the beauties of this fly is its sheer versatility. It works on rivers as well as on still waters and it can be very effective when any of the small black naturals are hatching or falling on to the water. When occupying a position on a wet fly leader I prefer to place it on the tail. However, I have found over the years that this is a fly which works best on its own on the end of a light cast. Cast to rising fish and twitched back ever-so-slowly it can be absolutely deadly. Another trick is to cast directly into the rings of a rising trout and do nothing, just let the fly sink. You will be amazed how often the line will suddenly straighten and a trout is on the end.The temptation to start pulling the line back through the rings needs to be suppressed as the delay between the fly landing in the water and that glorious instant when the line tightens can be quite long

In these days of mop flies the art of applying a pair of tiny starling wings to a size 16 wet fly may seem like too much trouble to master but I can assure you it will be worth the effort.

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dryfly, Fishing in Ireland, fly tying, trout fishing

A sedge for Lough Mask

I recently tied up a small dry sedge pattern for one of the lads. Think this is one of the late Rod Tye’s patterns. It looks good and I will make a few for my own fly box too.

The fly has deer hair wings and tails with a black fur abdomen. Rib is red wire and the thorax is red fur with a bit of flash through it. Body hackle is short fibred black cock and a red game cock is wound over the thorax. All of this is on a size 12 hook.

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Fishing in Ireland, fly tying, salmon fishing

Tying for Carrowmore

‘Tis the season for fly tying and my thoughts have turned to what to try on Carrowmore next season. When fishing that lake I firmly believe I could get by with a cast of a Claret Bumble, a Green Peter and a Bibio and catch just the same number of fish but that would take away from the joys of trying out different patterns and the sweet moments of success when a salmon imbibes one of my own designs. So I sit, hunched up to the vice, for long hours each winter. New materials are tried out, variations on old reliables given a trial and occasionally some fresh ideas are brought to life. Here are some of this winter’s offerings so far………….

On a bright day early in the season, what would you reach for on Carrowmore Lake? Maybe something with a tinsel body? How about some bright hackles? I would normally go down the route of a Magenta Bumble of something similar but maybe a white fly might be worth a try instead. This one doesn’t have a name but it looks so different I think it might just work on a cold, clear day.

Hook: A small salmon iron

Silk: Black

Tag: Several turns of oval or flat silver tinsel

Tail: Fl. red floss

Rib: oval silver tinsel

Body: white baby wool (the same stuff that is used to make the Baby Doll lure)

Body Hackle: a white cock hackle, palmered

Hackle: A long fibred white cock hackle tied in front of the wing

Wing: White bucktail

 

 

At the other end of the spectrum, a dull day often requires a dark, sombre fly. Like you no doubt, my fly box bristles with Bibio’s and Watson’s Fancy variations for just such conditions. What if we add another colour to the palette though? Would a dash of purple make the difference? I like purple on the darkest of days, when the sky is low and the wind makes the boat scud across the wave tops. On Carrowmore that sends anglers scuttling back to the bar as the lake quickly churns, but in those few minutes before the colour comes in the water you can sometimes hook a fish. This pattern is tied with just that scenario in mind. I suppose you could call it a Purple Dabbler

Tag, tail and rib all tied in

Hook: A strong trout wet fly hook like the Kamasan B175 or similar. An 8 would be a good size I think.

Silk: black

Tag: Opal mirage, a couple of turns at the bend of the hook.

Tail: Bronze mallard fibres

Rib: Red wire

Body: Ballinderry black fur with a turn of purple fur under the cloak if desired

Body Hackle: Black cock hackle, palmered

Wings: Golden pheasant tippets dyed purple under a cloak of bronze mallard. Optional 2 or 3 strands of flash over the wing

Hackle: Tied in front of the wing, lots of turns of a long fibred cock hackle dyed purple.

 

This is a deadly trout fly but I fancy giving it a try in larger sizes for salmon on the lake. It is just your bog-standard Invicta with a red tail and tag. I added an extra couple of head hackles for some additional movement.

Hook: 8 or 10 trout hook

Silk: Yellow

Tag: Glo-brite no. 4

Tail: A good sized tuft of bright red wool

Rib: oval gold tinsel

Body: yellow seal’s fur

Body Hackle: dark ginger or red game cock hackle, palmered

Wing: Hen pheasant tail

Head Hackles: A red game cock hackle with a grizzle cock hackle dyed blue in front

I confess that I have yet to catch a salmon from Carrowmore on any shape or form of a daddy. A late season fly on an early season lake does not sound like a smart move but this Green Daddy might be sufficiently  different to entice a fish fed up of the endless Bibio’s and Green Peter’s. It looks nothing like a natural daddy but then it is not supposed to. I just wanted that leggy outline combined with shades of green. A Green Peter is deadly on Carrowmore and the Green Highlander takes a few fish every season so why not a Green Daddy?

Hook: size 8, normal shank wet fly

Silk: black

Tail: Formed with a bunch of cock pheasant tail fibres which have been dyed green and each one knotted twice. About a dozen fibres in total. You can add a couple of strands of krinkle flash too if you want.

Rib: Fl. Green thread

Body: Peacock tinsel

Legs: multiple cock pheasant tail fibres, dyed green and double knotted. 2 or 3 strands of green flash on top

Hackle: lots of turns of a grizzle cock hackle dyed green

You could also add a head of deer belly hair dyed green and spun muddler style if desired.

Look, none of these patterns has so much as been tied on to a leader never mind given extensive trials so they may be a total flop. But then again………………………..

 

 

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