Trout flies

Murdoch

Another old fly this little beauty has its origins on the salmon and trout streams of Ireland probably around the 1820's. Its alternative name of 'hares ear and red' gives away its ancestry. Early versions of the fly presented were no more than a gold ribbed hares ear with a woodcock type wing tied on top. Over time the recipe has evolved.

Read the rest of this entry »

Dunkeld – Chatto’s fuzzeled variant

The Dunkeld is certainly one of my top 5 middle dropper flies for lock style fly fishing. Until 18 months ago I was using a version of the Dunkeld that had a hackle Palmered along the body as in the original. At that time I was experimenting with "fuzzeled" bodies an an alternative to bodies with a Palmered hackle and applied that technique to this fly with immediate success.

Read the rest of this entry »

Bredbo variant MK2 – Chatto’s original

The MK2 is a great alternative middle dropper lock fly to my tie of a Dunkeld for those bright full sun days and also a very formidable wee wet for faster or discoloured rivers.

Read the rest of this entry »

Bredbo variant MKI – Chatto’s original

The Bredbo fly is accredited as being the first Australian designed and made fly and whilst the originator is not known with certainty there is highly persuasive evidence that suggests that it was conceived around 1896 as a grass hopper imitation for targeting fish on the Bredbo river just outside of Cooma NSW. The evidence points to the fly being created by Mr C.R. Burnside and Dr A.J. Brady who along with Howard Joseland are amongst the pioneers of fly fishing for trout in New South Wales .

Read the rest of this entry »

Bredbo

o here you have a fly that fishes well as a formidable traditional river wet fly is now vying for a position as a very effective middle dropper for loch style fly fishing ... and its only a couple of hundred years old. One of my favourite flies in that situation is a Dunkeld and over the last two seasons I have found the Bredbo to be a very comfortable alternative particular in summer months when fish are turned onto the wing colour of the dominant local grass hopper the yellow winged hopper.

Read the rest of this entry »

Sparkle bugger

Woolly buggers and their variants would have to be close to the quintessential wet fly. This woolly bugger version is one of my favourate late season still water flies.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tassi bugger – Chatto’s version

I was introduced to this variation in the lead up to the 2002 Tasmanian One Fly which by chance I won. Whilst I was not comfortable enough to use this fly in that contest I have used it many times since to great effect.

Read the rest of this entry »

Mark II woolly bugger

The MK 2 woolly buggers evolved from standard black and olive woolly buggers as a fly that would imitate an American frog that had bright red between its hind legs. The red is a great trigger point and I find the MK2 as a great generalist search pattern. In southern climes the hot spot is tied in any of the 'roe' colours and is widely accepted as one of the best early season search pattens.

Read the rest of this entry »

Skirted woolly bugger – Chatto’s original

Whilst not tied to imitate any natural food source it's a very buggy looking fly with heaps of trigger points including the marabou tail, the soft body and front hackles as well a the skit itself. In particular I like to incorporate blood red or orange skirts which are suggestive in the case of a red skirt as bleeding from around the base of the tail or the claws depending on what the fly is taken as or in the case of an orange skirt as a fish roe.

Read the rest of this entry »

Bibio bugger – Chatto’s original

There are a few flies that I have absolute confidence in and consequently have no hesitation in tying them on if I am in unknown territory and am up for a bit of prospecting. This fly is really a merging of two of them and it is so consistent that its has earned its own place amongst my top 10 or so trout flies. The two flies that were merged to form this fly were of course the bibio and the standard black woolly bugger. Whilst the bibio still holds its own place in my top 10 or so trout flies this bibio bugger has displaced the standard black woolly bugger.

Read the rest of this entry »