My bead head fly box

I have listed this fly box first because its undoubtedly the most important of my river fly fishing boxes. I am a firm believer that when fishing rivers you have to get down to where the fish are holding and also that flies particularly in faster running water and must include “hot spots”. These flies satisfy both these requirements.

 

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Nymphs 

The word nymph has of course two fly fishing meanings. The first is “Juvenile, sexually immature stage of certain insects, usually similar to the adult in form, and which require an intermediate stage before becoming an adult. Mayflies, Caddis flies, Dragonflies, Damselflies, Stone flies and Midges are all insects that spend part of their life cycle in the water and have a nymph stage.” The second is flies tied to imitate the first i.e. “the nymphal stage of an insects life cycle”. I have narrowed down the selection of nymphs that I carry to just the list below.

 

 

Spiders tend to be much more lightly dressed than traditional nymphs and generally don’t have tails. They are tied to represent the the nymphal stage of an insects life cycle.

Collared copper mary

I subscribe to a couple of British fly fishing magazines so its not surprising that I have been aware of “Mary” nymphs for quite a while. They are a recurring feature of many of the articles. I had tied and used them on and off for few years but they really didn’t come into their own until I became more proficient with short line nymphing and fishing faster rivers.

Marko’s go to fly

I was introduced to this fly at the 2012 World Fly Fishing Championships during the training sessions by our guide Marko Gradnik. This was his “go to” fly for all the river sectors of the competition and produced fish for all the Australian World team members.

Straggle fritz bugger

‘I switched to a slime line and put a Black Straggle Fritz Taddy on the point, kept the Damsel on the dropper and, due to the weed, discarded the top dropper completely. At the end of one retrieve I had a cracking take on the hang and bullied a near 5lb rainbow into the net.’

TBH brown and peacock hybrid spider

Brown and peacock hybrid spider nymphs are good buggy looking flies and the tail and soft hackle provide plenty of movement. One of these hybrid spider nymphs on the top dropper and two unweighted spiders or nymphs below can be a real tease for trout.

TBH caddis nymphs

This generic representation of a caddis nymph tied on a Czech nymph type hook is one of my favourites. A good buggy looking fly that also has a subtle hot spot emerging wing of UV material. It’s such a good fly I carry it in a number of different colour options.

TBH chocolate caddis nymph

Caddis are are common throughout the year but with the greater concentrations occurring from September through to March. They inhabit both running and still water and are a significant food source for most trout often reputed to represent up to 30% of a trout’s diet.

TBH collared hare and copper

A very effective fly yet perhaps the simplest of bead heads to tie. With elements of the hare and copper and an Adams fly in the dressing its logical that its default name became “hare and adams”.

TBH flash back nymph

Flash back nymphs have been around for a long time but they still work. In my view the only trick associated with this fly is to select an appropriate flash material for the flash back. I favour several strands of sparkle flash or similar material rather than a single strand of flat Lurex or tinsel. I tie black, brown and olive versions in a couple of sizes..

TBH flash back PTN

Jeremy Lucas was our river coach leading up to the 2012 World Fly Fishing Championships and was very keen on thinner flies for this early season competition. I think its a great interpretation of a classic fly and commend it for your consideration.

TBH fuzzy wuzzy

If you went back just a few years and you a asked an average fly fisher to name his for her favorite fly chances are it would be an unweighted, or lightly weighted probably with a few turns of lead wire, Fuzzy Wuzzy. The traditional Fuzzy Wuzzy has always been useful as a river and lake fly leading up to, through and just after the spawning season. This fly just extends the application of the standard Fuzzy Wuzzy an little further and the simple addition of the tungsten bead head makes it easier to get this fly down and bumping along the bottom where the fish are.

TBH hybrid caddis spider

This is my favourite hybrid of a spider fly and a bead head nymph with a tungsten bead up front. I carry this fly in two sizes and find them particularly useful in situations where I need a bit of weight to get a fly down yet still want the anchor fly to fish well and be enticing to trout rather than just being an anchor for other flies in the team. This is a great buggy looking fly and the tail and soft hackle provide plenty of movement.

TBH pheasant tail nymph variant

The Pheasant Tail Nymph is a New Zealand pattern designed to suggest a small “Deleatidium Vernal” Mayfly. Whilst that family doesn’t extend to Australia I suggest you still carry Pheasant Tail Nymphs or one or two of its variants in a couple of sizes because they are very buggy and particularly useful in faster water.

Tungsten bead head chartreuse and partridge spider

Bead head spiders fish very well in conjunction with traditional spider flies and give you the opportunity of adding a bit of flash to your team and more importantly get your team down a little. The benefit of that of course is that the added depth gives a little more vertical travel to your team of flies as they swing round at the end of the drift and start to lift, which as we all know is when the majority of hits occur when swinging spiders.

Tungsten bead head orange and partridge spider

I nearly always fish my bead head spiders on the point in a team of two flies and with a relatively heavily weighted nymph such as a TBH duracell jig nymph, TBH collared hare and copper or TBH chocolate caddis nymph on the top dropper on the dropper 60 or 70 centimetres up the leader.