The Whisky Fly

Rainbow trout were exotic arrivals to the fishing scene around Aberdeen when I was but a lad. The ADAA stocked some in the Loch of Loriston just to the south of the city and I cut my teeth on rainbow fishing there. My boxes of dry Greenwells and other size 16 flies failed miserably toContinue reading "The Whisky Fly"

2022

A strange year in many ways, 2022 will not go down in the annals as one of my finest when it comes to angling. I strongly suspect it may have been the same for many of you judging by the feedback I get to this blog. For the first season in many, many years IContinue reading "2022"

Euro-nymphing

Let me start out by saying I am no expert on Euro-nymphing. I do a little bit on my local rivers and catch a few trout alright but I am not one of these lads who can almost empty a river at one go. I use the method sparingly and often only when other methodsContinue reading "Euro-nymphing"

The Ke-He

Apologies for the recent lack of posts here, I am very busy at work and weekends are spent catching up on stuff, leaving no time for angling. A sad state of affairs I know but a small crumb of comfort is the evenings away from home usually present me with a little time to tieContinue reading "The Ke-He"

Skin in the game

The cock pheasant is such a handy bird for us fly tyers. We are all familiar with the tail feathers but this handsome chap provides a host of others we can use too. While it is easy to buy packets of the different feathers purchasing a complete skin gives you access to a range ofContinue reading "Skin in the game"

Back at the ditch

Irish canals are not on the whole held in high regard by anglers. Often referred to as 'that ditch', the Royal canal is the only option for me these days so I take a slightly more pragmatic view of it. The canal traverses the Irish midlands in long straight lines interspersed with odd turns, presumablyContinue reading "Back at the ditch"

Therapy

I was worn out, emotionally drained if you like. Thursday was a day of meetings and stress. OK so it wasn't like I was being beaten up by a Tory whip (like some) but never-the-less I felt tired and needed to relax. I'd go fishing! Now this was sort-of pre-planned but the plans fell asunderContinue reading "Therapy"

Finding gold

In this world which appears to be hurtling toward oblivion, any small success feels disproportionally satisfying to me. Saturday was a day of many small successes including the discovery of long lost treasure. Working away from home again has meant dropping back into a rigid cycle of mental highs and lows. That alarm going offContinue reading "Finding gold"

Just down the road

It turned out I was a little hasty in my summation there was no fishing near my new employers factory. For a start, the little drainage ditch I could barely make out at the bottom of an adjacent field turned out to be the river Brosna. Formally a wonderful game fishery full of trout andContinue reading "Just down the road"

HP’s

So here I am sat at the vice tonight whipping up a few small Butchers. The normal silver ones, some Bloody Butchers and a few Irish Golden Olive Butchers. A pair of mallard wings were providing me with the lovely blues to make the wings and I was churning the flies out in good style.Continue reading "HP’s"