BFFI 2023 ( part 1)

Sunday12th of February I attended the British Flytying Fair International @ Stafford.
However I travelled South the night before for an overnight stay in Penrith at my brothers place to break up the journey to the West Midlands.
We then travelled down on Sunday morning to the Stafford showground.
It was a fantastic day of flytying indulgence with oor George and meeting a couple of fishing and flytying friends such as fellow Hillendener Ian Drummond who was tying on the FF&FT stand and also a surprise meet up with my fishing/Stravaiger friend Robert MacDonald-Lewis who is a fantastic tyer in his own right but on this occassion he was assisting Corsican Dave at his stall.
As always it was great to see the flytyers in tyers row.
In particular Melvyn Wood who's flies and style I'm a big fan of. He not only gave me one of his flees but also a nice wee peaty dram of Ardbeg while I chatted with him as he displayed his skills  on his vice!
It was also great to meet and talk to Peter McCallum Flyfisher and Desmond Paul  another two flytyers whose work I'm a fan of.
I enjoyed looking at the trade stalls too in particular my attention was drawn to a vintage flytying stall which was very impressive and also some of the stands displaying framed flies and prints etc.
I also took a welcome rest of a seat for an hour or so in the fly tying theatre watching Barry Ord Clarke.
Another good thing was I didnt spend too much on materials and much to my surprise also resisted the temptation of the coch-y- bonddu books shelves but I did treat myself to a new pair of flytying scissors.
It was my first time back at the fair in over 10 years and thoroughly enjoyed it!

Looking Ahead

Recently I've had horrible  thoughts of visiting a local bashery just to remind myself of what its like to hook and land a fish! 

I even turned to the dark side one evening and tyed up some lures!

However common sense prevailed and my thoughts soon turned to the new season ahead. 

We are now into February and don't have too long to wait until the trout season begins.

I'll be picking up my membership from the A & DAC at Hillend in a  couple of weeks and I have to say that I'm not happy with the price increase, it's a bit steep especially in the current financial climate. I look forward to hearing the reasons for it.

All could have been explained and debated at the AGM last week but the meeting was cancelled and will now take place in April when the season is well underway and all the members will have purchased their memberships. That just doesnt sit right with me.

I'm fortunate I can just about manage with the increase but I'm sure there will be many who cant! 

Anyway I digress. I'm really looking forward to the season ahead at Hillend as the water levels are at the best they've been for many a year. I just hope that the level can be maintained and that the fly life has not been affected too much by the record low levels at the Loch last year.

I've also got a  couple of trips to look forward to, a weekend away to Caithness in July and a week on Benbecula and N & S Uist in August.

So as ever I've been busy at the vice tying with these trips in mind as well as patterns to use at Hillend.

Heres a few of the flies ive been filling my boxes with.

Hats Aff!

As you may be aware I'm a bit of a flytying enthusiast! 

And I do enjoy watching fly tying videos.

However there is something that irks me about American flytying vids! 

Why in the name of Bloody Butchers do most tyers from across the pond wear baseball hats in their flytying vids?????

C'mon!! they are indoors sitting at a table in what I can only imagine is a comfortable and warm room without the sunlight in their eyes and cold winds bothering their baldy heeds!

Perhaps I'm being naive and maybe its just a sponsor thing!

And while I'm having a bit of a rant! Am I the only person that hates the phrase of trout "eating flies" ??? its seems to be an American thing that's creeping into UK flyfishing writing, podcasts and videos! 

Straight Outta Hillend

Yesterday I had a walk up by Hillend Loch to see for myself that the water level was back at capacity for the first time in many years.
It was interesting and pleasing to see that the much discussed dam repairs had been successful and repairs made to the footbridge below too to assist with the flow of water. I now hope that Scottish Canals dont not let the dam fall into such a state of neglect ever again.
I'm actually very surprised that the Loch has returned to normal levels again so soon. The Loch was almost dry in the summer and in a real sorry state.

Time will tell how much the fly life and fish habitat has been effected by the low levels.
After yesterdays walk I'm encouraged and look forward to the 2023 Hillend  trout fishing season which is only 71 days away.

Happy New Year!

Now that all the glitter, tinsel and wrapping paper of Christmas has been trashed or packed away until next December or is it October? I would like to wish everyone who reads this blog a very prosperous and Happy New Year!
I'm looking forward to the new year and hope that all our dreams and aspirations come to fruition on a personal level and angling front.
Angling wise I've not really got much planned other than a weekend trip to Caithness in the summer. I'm looking forward to that as it's been a good few years since I last cast a line in the far north east.
I will renew by membership for Airdrie & District Angling Club again and can only hope that the fly fishing at Hillend Loch will improve after such a disastrous and disapointing season last year.
I will also probably get my UCAPA ticket for the Clyde and maybe this year actually use it as river fishing is something I'm very Interested in and want to learn.
As ever I will most likely be as busy as ever at the vice.
I'm actually thinking of heading down to Stoke to attend the British Fly Fair International in February with an overnight stay at my Brothers place in Penrith to break up the journey.
Its been over ten years since I last attended that event and really enjoyed it last time. One of the highlights back then was meeting the Master Flytyer, Oliver Edwards give what he said then would be his last flytying demo at the show. It was a bit of a shock to recently hear that  Oliver is not in the best of health and is now in a care home. He has been such an inspiration to many.

Last night before the Bells of the new year rang out I tied a few  flees in a couple of my favourite styles. Dabblers and Bumbles. Whilst not true Dabblers they are similar and can see them working well for trout that are in the hunt for fry! The Bumbles as ever should be good in a rolling wave.
So once again have a Very Happy New Year.
In the meantime I'm way to prepare the steak pie for the family New Year Dinner!

A Bakers Dozen!

Thirteen years ago today I started the Hillend Dabbler Blogspot!
It's been a pleasure sharing my fishing trips, observations and flytying with a wider audience.
Although fishing blogs and forums  are probably viewed as old fashioned and dated these  days I'm still as enthusiastic about The Hillend Dabbler as I was when I first started out on this venture!
To celebrate a bakers dozen years of blogging I'm at the bench tying a few Dabblers and having a glass of Malt.

Heres to many more! 

New Beginnings

After a month  or so away from the vice I'm back at it  now that my tying station and room has been refurbbed and organized.
Its  new beginnings for me.
My collection of  materials etc had outgrown my old tying chest, which my good friend hand made for me and was previously sitting on my old desk with numerous boxes piled up either side of it. It was a bit of a clutter to be honest.
I'm delighted with my new set up but it will take a wee bit of time to get used to it as everything is now in organized boxes packed neatly into desk drawers and in the bottom of my bookshelf on the other side of the room so I dont have everything to hand so to speak. This could impact on my creative process as my fly patterns wont come natural to me.
I will now have to select specific materials to bring to my desk and be planned, deliberate and prepared.
One thing I'm very pleased about is that I now have my angling and flytying library organised and on display and can now easily get access to my books for reference.
With one half of the room dedicated to music and the other flytying I'm looking forward to many relaxing winter nights listening to music and tying.
To complete the room  Im going to get some angling related prints or framed fly patterns hung on the walls. I really do admire the art work of David Miller here and David Miller
With Christmas  coming up I should  perhaps highlight David's work to my family and hope they get me one of his magnificent prints for Christmas.

The Silver Invicta

Tom Harland is a flyfisher based in Peebles by the River Tweed who contacted me recently to inform me that he admired my Hillend Dabbler fishing blog and flytying too.

Tom is also the author of a wonderful Scottish Fishing book called The Slver Invitca.

Tom very kindly offered to send me a copy of his book which I was more than happy to accept.

The title of his book pays homage to that well known traditional fly pattern which, Tom fooled his first ever salmon with.

I'll give the book a full review here on the Blog once Ive read it in full.

Going by the titles of the chapters I just know I'm going to enjoy it!

An Epic Short Film

Now the trout season is well and truly behind us and my flytying room is out of commission for a few weeks due to a total refurb and all my flytying gear is packed away in a cupboard I've been getting a little bit frustrated at the lack of vice time! 

As a result of these circumstances I've been doing a lot of reading and searching for good flyfishing videos for inspiration online.

However there is a lot of substandard stuff out there, but I do have my favourites that I look forward to watching and catching up with such as Davie McPhail, Martyn White, Tom Rosenbauer and Tim Flagler to name but a few. 

However I now have a new favourite Flyfishing YouTuber that I've been enjoying following for over a year now, Southside Fly-Fishing. 

His fishing videos are very professionaly filmed and produced and are a real treat to watch.

I reckon what appeals to me most about these videos is that the content of Sean's films who is based in the Southside of Glasgow, hence the name, is that most are of a Scottish angle if you would pardon the pun.

It's fair to say that Sean's films are among the best out there and its not just the Scottish content that I enjoy its the passion and enthusiasm that he has for flyfishing and the obvious talent he has for expressing and capturing it on film.

In his latest video he truly raises the bar as far as  Flyfishing  films go as he has created something here which is truly exceptional. 

Titled "Dream Stream" Sean truly captures the essence of Flyfishing for Scottish Wild Brown Trout in the best thirteen and half minutes you will experience today if you watch this epic short film.

Heres the link and don't forget to have a look at his other videos I can't recommend them highly enough.

Southside Fly-Fishing

The Ingredients!

Ive stated many times that I find great inspiration from old flytying books, magazines and articles as I often find old, odd or forgotten fly patterns among their pages.

Recently I was having a rummage through my boxes of old T&S and FF&FT magazines in my loft when I discovered a pile of FF&FT suppliments which I had long forgot and had tucked away in a document box.

I really enjoyed reading through them especially the Scottish suppliments as they carried some fantastic articles about lochs and areas that at the time I had never been to, but have since over the years now experienced. So as you can imagine they were an interesting  read.

While having a read through one of the Irish suppliments dated 2002, I came across an interesting article about fly patterns for the Waterville area of Ireland.

One pattern that caught my attention in this write-up was a pattern that is ridiculously named "The Ingredients." 

As you can see from the photo of one of the few I tied this afternoon it certainly appears to have all the right ingredients to fool troot.

The dressing for it is as follows.

Kamasan B160 size 10 hook.

Black Uni 8/0

A mix of red tinsel/flash tail.

Body of 1/2 red and Black seals fur.

Black hen hackle 

Folded Church window feather.

(This one is not very well marked)

Flat silver rib.

One point of note regards the pattern is that I think this fly's creator could have been a bit more imaginative in naming the fly.

Regardless of its name I look forward to giving this pattern a go next year especially on the Highland lochs and lochans as well as Hillend too.

The Flytying Season

Well the 6th of October has come and gone and that's the Brown Trout fishing season over for another year.
I have to say 22 has been a rather disapointing season for me, mainly because I didn't do much serious fishing and when I did manage to leave North Lanarkshire in pursuit of Salmo Trutta my landing net didnt smell of fish very often.
However as another fishing season ends I take great solace in another flytying season beginning.
I have to confess that I do enjoy flytying every bit as much as flyfishing, Is that wrong?
The pleasure of tying good looking successful fly patterns to me is just as enjoyable as fooling any brown trout.
Flytying in the UK and Ireland has a rich history and is something that inspires and excites me.
There are many volumes of literature on the subject and I have to admit that I have a fair old collection of flyfishing and flytying books in my bookcase.
I especially have a keen interest in regional flytying.
My interest in regional flytying involves studying the history and  tying of trout flies.
However, recently I have taken an interest in tying salmon and seatrout flies and have got really interested in the rich history of Spey Flies.
It truly is a fascinating subject.
As the cold dark winter nights approach us with alarming speed I look forward to spending many hours at the vice in the warmth of my tying room filling my boxes with the usual favourites. However I have an open mind with regards to flytying and I'm always on the lookout for something new and  unique to fire my imagination.
To kick start  the 22/23 flytying season heres a few flies I've tied recently in a Salmon and Seatrout style which I do hope you find interesting.