As regular readers know, I have a habit of buying up joblots of old fishing tackle and then spending hours of my free time sifting through the detritus looking for bits I can use or salvage. This harmless idiosyncrasy keeps my amused and on the odd occasion turns up little gems of old gear. AsContinueContinue reading “Never heard of this one!”
Category Archives: fly tying
Fly sizes
It’s December, and fly tying season is now in full swing for me. The run up to Christmas is usually when I do the bulk of my tying as I try to distract myself from the rampant consumerism around me. To be perfectly honest, due to a total lack of any sort of fishing forContinueContinue reading “Fly sizes”
The dark side
Most weekday evenings I am to be found at an old desk in my digs here in the boggy Irish midlands. As the winter weather swings between sodden gales and pin-sharp frosts, I am inside making flies for the coming season. Dabblers, bumbles, Wulffs and the rest of the usual suspects have rapidly filled myContinueContinue reading “The dark side”
What is it (part 2)
A lot of you were just as intrigued as I am about the identity of the indigo blue feathers on a patch of skin which recently came into my possession. The shape of the feathers were nothing like any domestic fowl, so whatever it was it came from the wild. I set about tracking itContinueContinue reading “What is it (part 2)”
What is it?
Fly tying season is in full swing for me now and most weekday evenings are spent at the vice. When I am busy like this I go through a heck of a lot of materials, meaning I am regularly topping up the most commonly consumed feathers and hairs. While putting together a shopping list earlierContinueContinue reading “What is it?”
Enhancer
I came by a second-hand box of dubbing additive the other day, so I’ve been busy at the vice trying it out. The clear plastic box with the familiar layout of twelve small cubicles filled with dubbing came from South Africa, judging by the faded price tag in SA Rand on the base. I gaveContinueContinue reading “Enhancer”
The Banshee
Here’s one for ye all now. A sea trout fly I tied up around the time Adam was a boy (OK, slight exaggeration). What I wanted was a pattern featuring green and black but there was nothing out there that matched my expectations so, I tied this fly. The colours looked a bit, well, ‘demonic’ContinueContinue reading “The Banshee”
Sedge hooks
I wrote last time about some keel hooks I had acquired and now I want to discuss another oddity, the sedge hook. I first became aware of these in the 1980’s when they were marketed as ‘Yorkshire sedge hooks’ and they appeared in a number of patterns tied by the foremost reservoir fly fishers ofContinueContinue reading “Sedge hooks”
Keel hooks
A while back I bought some partly used packets and small boxes of fly hooks from a well know online purveyor of pre-loved goods. The photos accompanying said lot of hooks were none too clear, but for a small layout I thought it was worth the risk as I wanted to top up a fewContinueContinue reading “Keel hooks”
Under the knife
As you regular readers know, I am forever buying old fishing tat. Gear or materials that nobody else wants finds its way to me and I spend hours messing around trying make whatever it is of some use. One purchase from last year was a wooden box full of fly tying materials and a flyContinueContinue reading “Under the knife”
Claretbumbler 