Flies

Hackled gold ribbed hares ear

On balance I think it fishes better than the Greenwells Glory. It works equally well on running or still water and is a little more buoyant than the Greenwell Glory and is buoyant enough to support a small bead head nymph in a wet under dry team.

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Last Updated: August 11, 2018
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Categories: Dry flies, Flies, My "trout" dry fly box, Trout flies
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Perdigon (Spanish nymph) – gold micro glint

perdigon-f
A streamlined fast sinking fly that will anchor your team.

Materials

Hook Head Extra weight (optional) Thread Tail Body Thorax Coating
Hanak 300BL #14 / #16 3.0mm / 2.5mm slotted faceted gold tungsten bead 0.010 lead wire Fl fire orange UTC UV thread Coq de Leon Fibres Brown Micro Glint Black nail polish UV Resin and then Varnish.

Process

 

A
  1. Most beads have a large opening at one end and a smaller opening at the other.
  2. Slide a faceted gold tungsten bead over the point of the hook small opening first and position it behind the eye of the hook.

    3. Adding extra weight to the fly.

    On this fly my preference is to keep the bead size down a little and to add extra weight to compensate for that.

  3. The best way is to take several wraps of 0.10 mm lead wire behind the bead, worry of the excess lead wire and then to push the wraps of wire up into the rear opening of the bead.Take a length of 0.20 lead wire and push the front end into the back of the tungsten bead.


    4.  

  4. Tie your thread in behind the bead.
 perdigon-a
B
  1. Wind the thread in touching turns down to the bend of the hook
 perdigon-b

 

C
  1. Tie in a tail about the same length as the shank of the hook of 6 or 7 Coq de Leon hackle fibres
  2. Wind the thread back toward the bead forming a thin uniform under-body.

perdigon-c

 

D
  1. Tie in a length of brown Micro Glint behind the bead.
 perdigon-d

 

E
  1. Wind the brown Micro Glint down to the 10% position of the fly leaving a hot but of thread and then wind the brown Micro Glint all the way up to behind the bead forming a cone shaped body.
 perdigon-e

 

F
  1. Trim away the excess brown Micro Glint.
  2. Turn the fly over in the vice and paint on a thorax of black nail polish.
  3. When the nail polish thorax is totally dry apply a thin coat of UV epoxy to the fly taking care not to get any epoxy on the tail or in the eye of the hook.
  4. Cure the UV epoxy with a UV torch.
  5. If your UV epoxy is still a little stick, which is often the case, coat the fly with a thin layer of clear nail polish taking care not to get any nail polish on the tail or in the eye of the hook.
 perdigon-f

 

Last Updated: August 5, 2018
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Categories: Bead head nymphs, Flies, My 'trout' river wet fly box
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Claret caddis

Any time there are caddis on the wing this fly is worth a swim in the middle position of a team of three loch flies. One of the most important things to remember when tying this fly is not to overdress it ... make sure you can see a gap between the two wings even when the rabbit fur is dry and fluffed out.

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Last Updated: August 3, 2018
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Categories: Flies, Loch flies, My 'trout' lake wet fly box, Trout flies
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Epoxy midge – black with hot butt & UV cheeks

When Chironomids are around they tend to be around in large numbers and trout become quickly switched on and gorge on them. There are number of techniques to target chironomid feeders and one of my favourite is to fish three chironomid imitations with the heaviest on the point with a long leader on a floating line and fish relatively static. You will be surprised how many fish find your flies.

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Last Updated: July 7, 2018
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Categories: Emergers, Flies, Loch flies, Midge pupa, grubs & snails, My 'trout' lake wet fly box, Nymphs, Trout flies
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Booby blob

Both boobies and blobs are each tremendous search flies in their own right particularly for stocked rainbow trout. This fly presents the best of both of those worlds and has the head an tail of a booby and the body of a blob. With a little flash in the tail it's one screamer of an attractor pattern.

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Last Updated: June 4, 2018
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Categories: Boobies, Flies, Foam and poly flies, My 'trout' lake wet fly box, Trout flies
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Articulated booby

A great fly for barra and mangrove jack ... put a good cast into the target area and to allow the fly to settle for a few seconds before doing tiny twitches of the rod tip to cause some rings on the surface suggesting it's a natural struggling and then if that doesn't induce a strike to commence either a slow roly poly retrieve, or a series of stop start strips, back to the boat or bank. Whatever the retrieve the occasional pause followed by some twitches of the rod tip area good idea.

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Last Updated: May 18, 2018
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Categories: Big fish flies - temperate & tropical destinations, Flies, Fly colour choices - #10 weight tropical destination
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Olive epoxy bugger -silver TBH, UV spine & orange butt

Because of the lack of body dressing and the epoxy body this fly sinks quickly and the mirage tinsel spine that I have added flashes, in a way I am confident will be enticing, to stocked rainbows in particular, as the fly is being worked back to the boat or shore are very enticing.

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Last Updated: May 18, 2018
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Categories: Flies, Loch flies, Trout flies, Woolly buggers & variants
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Gusto – sunburst variant

This is my variant of Peter Morse' Gusto fly and is one of my go to flies when targeting barramundi in Lake Awonga.

It's dressed on a #3/0 34007 stainless hook which is quite a heavy hook and that creates an effective "keel" effect. It has a long marabou tail and a dense hackle collar which creates plenty of currents around the fly that really get the marabou moving.

The overall length of the finished fly is around 10cm long.

sunburst-p
Hook Eyes Thread Tail Tail Flash Body Front hackle
Tiemco 34007 stainless in size #3/0 Spirit River 'real eyes' 7/32" My preference is white cotton Yellow marabou blood plume Sure Strike violet krystal flash - 6 strands FNF jelly chenille in Picricish colour One red saddle hackle and one grizzly hackle died deep red

Process

A
  1. Starting at a point a little back from the eye of the hook wrap the thread in tight touching turns down the front 1/5 of the hook shank.
 sunburst-a

B
  1. Tie in your bead chain, dumb bell or real eyes on top of the hook shank half way along the thread base using figure 8 wraps. To tighten the connection wrap the thread around the base of the eyes on top of the hook shank. My preference is Spirit River 'real eyes' 7/32" with double pupils of black inside red.
  2. Continue winding the thread to directly above the point of the hook.
 sunburst-b

C

    Making the tail is a 3 step process

  1. Select two matching blood plume marabou hackles and tie the first one in on top of the hook shank. Make sure that the marabou is tied in horizontal not vertical.
 sunburst-c

D
  1. Select a couple of long strands of krystal flash and tie two along the front side with equal amounts projecting behind and in front of the fly.
 sunburst-d

E
  1. Take the strands projecting in front of the fly over the shank of the fly and face then back down behind the fly and lock them in that position with a couple firm wraps of thread
 sunburst-e

F
  1. Select the second blood plume marabou hackle and tie it in on top of the first blood plume marabou hack and the krystal flash.
 sunburst-f

G
  1. Trim off an excess hackle butt and lock the tail made up of the first blood plume hackles, the krystal flash and the second blood plume hackle in place along the top of the hook shank to a position directly above the point of the hook.
 sunburst-g

H
  1. Tie a length of FNF jelly chenille in on top of the hook shank directly above the point of the hook
  2. Take the thread forward half way between above the point of the hook and the back of the dumbbell eyes.
 sunburst-h

I
  1. Wind the jelly chenille forward in tight touching turns to the thread./li>
  2. Tie the jelly chenille off at that position and trim away the excess.
 sunburst-i

J

    This fly need a dense array of hackles that fill the remain free space on the hook shank so select hackles that have some fluffy barbules and a majority of hackle barbules that are about 1.5 times the gape of the hook. For this fly I have selected a red saddle hackle and a grizzly hackle that has been died red. Depending on the length of your hackles you may need up to 4 hackles.

  1. Tie the red saddle hackle in directly in front of the jelly chenille body.
 sunburst-j

K
  1. Tie the grizzly hackle in directly in front of the first hackle.
 sunburst-k

L
  1. Pull the grizzly hackle aside and wind the saddle hackle forward in uniformly spaced turns in the space between where it is tied in and just behind the dumbbell eyes.
  2. Lock the saddle hackle in behind the dumbbell eyes with a couple of firm wraps of thread.
 sunburst-l

M
  1. Trim away the excess tip of the saddle hackle with a sharp blade.
 sunburst-m

N
  1. Take up the second hackle and wind that forward through the saddle hackle in uniformly spaced turns.
  2. Lock the grizzly hackle in place between the saddle hackle and the dumbbell eyes with a couple of firm wraps of thread.
 sunburst-n

O
  1. Trim away the excess tip of the grizzly hackle with a sharp blade.
  2. Build up a neat cone shaped beak in front of the dumbbell eyes.
  3. Trim away any excess thread.
 sunburst-o

P
  1. Varnish the beak and the tie in of the dumbbell eyes with a couple of coats of red nail polish.
 sunburst-p

Last Updated: April 28, 2018
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Categories: Big fish flies - temperate & tropical destinations, Flies, My fly boxes, Saltwater - tropical, Trout flies
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Black epoxy bugger – silver TBH, UV spine & red butt

This fly is my take on one of the flies that was promoted by our 2018 Northern Ireland Commonwealth Fly Fishing Championships team guild as being a productive fly for use in the lakes that we fished there. Because of the lack of body dressing and the epoxy body this fly sinks quickly and apparently is great option for stocked rainbows in particular.

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Last Updated: April 28, 2018
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Categories: Flies, Trout flies, Woolly buggers & variants
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Chatto’s blue water minnow

This is a larger blue water version of my very successful 'Flats minnow". It's a very fishy looking fly and has a little blood spot that adds to the appearance of the fly being a wounded fish.

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Last Updated: January 22, 2018
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Categories: Big fish flies - temperate & tropical destinations, Flies, Saltwater - offshore, Saltwater - tropical
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