A wet fly for the early weeks of the trout season, this is a good fly for the tail leader. A lot of anglers will skip over this fly in favour of much brighter offerings, but don’t be fooled by its drab colouring. Hook: sizes 8 down to 14 heavy wet fly hooks Tying silk:ContinueContinue reading “The Brown Olive”
Category Archives: fly tying
My fly tying set up
Now that autumn is upon us I thought you might like to see how my fly tying set up is arranged. I am exceedingly fortunate to have a room in the house dedicated to my angling and fly tying gear, something I am sure will turn many of you green with envy. The fact thisContinueContinue reading “My fly tying set up”
Black Nymph
I am willing to bet very few of you have ever heard of this fly. It was in the second volume of ‘Fifty popular flies’ by the Scottish angler and writer Tom Stewart published away back in 1964. These were fabulous wee books, written by a guy who fished all over Scotland and even strayedContinueContinue reading “Black Nymph”
Bergman’s Grey Drake
My posts of late have been almost exclusively reports on my various coarse fishing outings, much to the chagrin of my loyal game fishing readers. I am sorry guys, but the trout and salmon fishing has just been appalling this season, meaning I was busy with float and feeder instead of flexing a fly rod.ContinueContinue reading “Bergman’s Grey Drake”
Another day on Talt
Fish, despite their tiny brains, have the ability to frustrate us humans on a regular basis. Here is how yesterday’s trip to lough Talt exemplifies the unequal struggle of us mere mortals when trying to fool what should be easy prey. To set the scene – my mate Ben and I were going to spendContinueContinue reading “Another day on Talt”
Yellow Stimi
It is here at last – the merry month of May. Everything is a bit late this season, but mayfly are now beginning to hatch out on the western loughs at it is high time we fishers were about our business. While we all love our dry fly fishing, the good old wets have theirContinueContinue reading “Yellow Stimi”
Changes they are a comin’
After what feels like an eternity, I am finally back driving again. By happy coincidence this dovetails neatly with the much delayed start to the trout fishing in these parts. The prolonged wet spell which has stretched from last October until now has pushed back the usual angling calendar by about a month or so.ContinueContinue reading “Changes they are a comin’”
Black Gnats
Our terrible weather continues again this bank holiday weekend with storm ‘Dave’ bringing intense rain and high winds to the west of Ireland. I can’t recall such a prolonged period of cold, wet weather even over here where we are no strangers to inclement conditions. The loughs and rivers remain stubbornly high and the fishingContinueContinue reading “Black Gnats”
Blood olive
The car has thrown a wobbly and has been off the road for more than a week and is still not fixed. What started out as a regular bearing problem escalated faster than Trumps botched invasion of Iran and it will be late next week before the ancient Toyota is back on the road. SourcingContinueContinue reading “Blood olive”
Circles
I want to go over an old dry fly pattern today but this takes us on a bit of circuitous journey, in many ways. Let me begin. Derek falls inhabits that strange land between client and friend. I met him years ago and he hired me to bring him out on lough Conn, initially forContinueContinue reading “Circles”
