A difficult day

Robeen Bridge as a handy entry point on the River Robe. Both banks are clear downstream of the bridge but there is a heavily wooded stretch immediately upstream and this means that you have to get into the water and wade upriver to fish this part. The bottom is very slippery and there are someContinue reading "A difficult day"

Messing around with the Hare’s Ear

A standard Gold Head GRHE nymph The GRHE gold head nymph is one of my standard patterns but I thought I would tie up a variation, so here it is: This is dressed on a curved grub hook and I added some chopped up fl. lime floss and red fur to the HE to formContinue reading "Messing around with the Hare’s Ear"

As good as it gets

The bridge, good water below here 19th March. The bright and warm weather is unusual for this time of year and I decide to go fishing, hoping the good weather will have raised water temperatures and brought the trout on the feed. So with Bob Seger blasting out on the CD in the car IContinue reading "As good as it gets"

Bibio’s

Bibios are so widely used that you may be forgiven for thinking that you know all about them. A great fly early in the season when you need something dark and a handy pattern if there are salmon around. What else is there to know? A hell of a lot is the answer! Let’s startContinue reading "Bibio’s"

fr. Ronan

Despite the ecclesiastical name I don't know of any particular connections with the church for this fly. It is a dabbler style pattern for use when fishing for sea trout and salmon but I can see no reason why it would not work for brownies too, especially around the time of the mayfly hatch. ItContinue reading "fr. Ronan"

Who remembers the Bodie Special?

Not many is the answer! Who or what is a Bodie Special? Sounds like it could be a Glasgow cocktail based on fortified wine, but no, this is a trout fly with a small but ardent following in Scotland. Here is how it is dressed and, as always, I have a small variation to theContinue reading "Who remembers the Bodie Special?"

A typical spring day on the river

16th of March. A Monday, blessed with an overcast sky and light winds from the North East. By 11.30am I have cleared the desk and can hit the river for a few hours. A west wind would be better but beggars can't be choosers at this time of the year so any day that isContinue reading "A typical spring day on the river"

Old flies

I found this guy nestling in the corner of one of my fly boxes today. It has lived there for a couple of seasons now after catching a few grilse and receiving some significant battle scars. It's hard to see from the photo but the rib is very loose. I don't mind the roughened upContinue reading "Old flies"

The Red Invicta

I was tying some lough flies yesterday evening and made up a few Red Invicta Bumbles. This fly is a hybrid of other patterns but the end result is a nice approximation of a hatching red midge. Fished on the top or middle dropper positions of a cast it can pull trout like magic onContinue reading "The Red Invicta"

Killdevil Spider (great name for a fly)

What a name! 'The Killdevil Spider'. It's like something out of a 1950's 'B'movie. In practice it is a confusing little pattern which some anglers swear by and other rate as highly as Jeremy Clarkson's diplomacy skills. Personally I think this is one which is misunderstood (the fly, not Clarkson) and you should make aContinue reading "Killdevil Spider (great name for a fly)"