Hillend Dabbler

Last night I got to experimenting with  a new modern material called Bush Baby from FNF which was brought to my attention just last week. From what I was told it's used to form egg flies which are very popular at small commercial fisheries and the like.  However I noticed that this material could have other uses such as forming  a muddler style head on Loch Style Wets. I really like the look of this and will look into getting some more of this material in more natural colours such as black and shades of brown if those are available. These look as if they could work well! To my knowledge I've never seen any bush baby muddlers before! Im very pleased with how they look but the acid test will be how they perform in the water! Be interesting to see if they push through the water in the same way that deer hair does!

Since the start of the new year I've been tying just as many variations of a few trout fly patterns as the Scottish Football Authorities  have of Covid 19 rules and regulations for their member clubs. However there is nothing unscrupulous in my flytying. I am acutely aware and very reluctant  to name my patterns just incase someone deems them irregular fly dressings. Pictured here are a few Alternative dressings of  patterns with my added twist.  Here is a reimagined variant of the Kate McLaren incorporating  a green collar hackle which gives the pattern a whole new look! Ive also tied a couple of alternative versions of the Sooty Olive! It is difficult to say for certain what the original dressing for these well known Irish Lough flies is as there is an abundance of variations to choose from!   Also pictured is a generic winged loch style wet pattern which has a bit of a Dunkeld look about it in there somewhere, which was unintentional at the time. I hope you like them! 

The Connemara Black fly pattern maybe of Irish origins but it is well known and used here in Scotland too. Its known as a great trout, Seatrout and Salmon pattern.  It's a pattern Ive used many times at Hillend and up North too in pursuit of Brown Trout. I suppose I could say that its one of my favourites. Whenever I'm by the loch side or when out afloat on the boat and I'm a bit stuck for inspiration and I'm wondering what pattern to try next! There is always a Connemara Black or a few of its variants to choose from among the contents of my fly box! I will often choose a Connemara Black when I'm undecided what to try next! However its not that it's a pattern guaranteed to catch you trout, no fly pattern can give you that assurance but it is a fly that gives me confidence! And that is a very important factor in flyfishing for trout! A flyfisherman has got to feel confident in the fly pattern he is fishing, not to mention his rod ree

The true source of the North Calder is the Black Loch just south of the village of High Limerigg which is approximately 700ft above sea level on the Slamannan Plateau, at the centre of the Forth/Clyde isthmus and on the watershed between the east and west coasts of Scotland.  It is a very short river, a distance of approximately 12 miles from source to the River Clyde. This gives an average drop of over 50ft for each mile of its length which is considerable for a lowland river.  All water courses in this area flow eastwards towards the Forth with the exception of the North Calder which takes that direction too but for a short distance before defying nature and turning south west. Like all rivers she starts as but a wee burn as she meanders through the peat of the plateau and it takes her many twisted and contorted miles before she resembles what we know to be a proper river. The North Calder enters the east end of the 345 acre Hillend Reservoir at Forestfield which stretche

Today my Hillend Dabbler flyfishing & Flytying Blog is eleven years old!  I never thought when I created this blog spot that all these years later I would still be sharing my observations, fishing reports and flytying! Back in 2009 Gordon Brown was the British Prime Minister and Barac Obama was the President of the United States. We even endured a pandemic back then too when Swine flu spread all over the world!. It's been a real joy to look back over the past eleven years at my fishing trips and days out and remember them as if it was only recently. It's also very pleasing to notice that my flytying skills have Improved and developed over the years too. This year the emphasis on my my blog has been mostly flytying due of course to travel restrictions and various forms of lockdown. Any fishing I have managed to do has only been to local venues. Ive really missed getting away to the highlands but hopefully if the covid situation improves I will get up North and over to the He

 As I've often said and many others have stated, trying to devise something new and original in flytying is a very difficult task indeed. However every now and again something will fire a flytyer's imagination and get him reaching for his vice! Recently I've been researching  fly patterns and the history behind them. Whilst looking through my bookcase of flytying books and fly boxes  a few names that sparked my imagination were the Soldier Palmer, Clan Chief, The Brigadeer,  Zulus in all their guises, The Bloody Butcher, The Watten Warrior, The Jacobite, The Culloden,.The Marauder, The Pretender, The Heillan Man, Harray Horror, The Cutthroat, Imposters, Extractors and many more. For me these flies conjure up images of famous and infamous battles and Clan Warfare! Therefore as I sat at my vice wondering what to tie next I was inspired to tie some Highland Clan related trout patterns and came up with idea of tying some flies in the colours of Scottish family Clan tartans The