Ring out the old and Bring in the New!

This will obviously be my last post of the year. For me personally it has been a year of change as I finally got my act together and made lifestyle changes which will benifit me in the years ahead because for too long I have been restricting myself and not fulfilling my life because of my health and weight etc.
Therefore I look forward with great relish and excitiment to 2015 on the fishing front as I intend to get out and in among the lochs and lochans of the Scottish Highlands in search of brown trout and a real wild fishing experience. Don't get me wrong I will be going along to my local loch , Hillend as often as I can too but my main aim this year is to get up north more.
I have many lochs and mountains in mind which I intend explore and hopefully get some wild camps too.
Inbetween trips my focus will as always be flytying, however its my intention to carry less flies, I say this every year and I have cut down , but hope to restrict myself to just the one box this year.
Its much more comfortable and satisfying going light into the wilds.
Tonight I was at the tying bench for a short time and tied my last two fly patterns of the year. I had the seatrout of the Uists in mind when I tied these tonight.
That trip will be at the end of the season but there will be a lot of fishing to be done before then.
So folks I hope you all have enjoyed your fishing in the past year and I hope you have enjoyed having a look in here now and again too, Remember I'm no expert by any stretch of the imagination, I'm just an enthusiastic flyfisher, flytyer and hillwaker that likes to share my experiences in this my blog which recently was 5 years old.
As I finish this post off Im currently enjoying the sound of the Vattersay Boys and savouring a big glass of Glenmorangie awaiting the bells. Hic. Happy New Year!

Now thats what I call A Selection Box.

Good afternoon and a coolyule to y'all.
Im now stuffed and enjoying a few after dinner drinks.
I thought I would share with you something which I'm certain you will agree is the kind of selection box all anglers and flyters would love to receive. Or perhaps it might be something the trout fancy . I certainly hope it is as this will be going to the Outer Hebrides with me next year.

Hillend Sedgehog

Recently I've not had fishing or flytying on my mind as other stuff has taken precedent. 

However tonight I got a chance to sit at the bench and I thought I might as well tie up some sedgehogs for the Uist fly box.

The first few I tied are in size 10's but will knock up some 12's too.

These are great patterns for wild highland broonies as well as rainbows @ Hillend. 

The Ultra Bumble!

I give you the Ultra Bumble. Nothing to do with football supporters groups you understand.
Yesterday I was in the GAC watching Davie McPhail @ his vice giving free fly tying demonstrations.
Inspired by the patterns I watched him tie, I walked the fly tying isles and picked up some new materials with a few new ideas in my head.
Once again I had Outer Hebrides in mind when I tied these tonight. I really like the look of the purple tails on these.
I tied one of them with a sky blue tinsel rib the other three have a blue wire rib. I think I prefer the blue wire.

A Bibio Quartet

A fly pattern which I have had great success with over the years at Hillend and beyond is the Bibio.

The Bibio is a fly of Irish origin and was originally designed for sea trout but over the years has proved to be a great deceiver of wild brown trout on highland lochs as well as rainbows from reservoirs.

As with most patterns these days there are quite a few variants of the original deressing going around. Its usually tied small and sparse for reservoirs but for highland lochs its tied big and bushy and usually with a hen collar hackle to create movement.

Its predominantly a bob fly and as such usually fished on the top dropper.

With this mind I tied this quartet of Bibio variants for use on the Scottish highlands and island's lochs and lochans particularaly in a big wave.

Black n Blue Bumbles.

Its on dark cold November evenings such as tonight that my thoughts turn to fly tying and spending a few hours at the vice with a warming glass or two of a smokey malt whisky or maybe sometines just a few good cups of coffee with various podcasts or music playing in the background.
On nights such as this its heart warming to imagine long summer nights in the North Western highlands or Islands out on a lochan with obliging wild brown trout for company.
As a consuquence I added a few more trad wets to my Uist box. I must have been subconciously thinking of sea trout with the black n blue bumbles that emerged from my vice this winter's night.

Six for a North West Archipelago

Tonight I was at the vice again. I set out to tie a another three dark mackerels with a red holographic body but soon realised I hadn't left enough space to tie in the wing before tying on the final hen collar hackle. So I just proceeded to carry on and form three claret bumbles of sorts.
The other three flies haven't got a name. The body is greenish holographic tinsel.
It has a sooty olive body hackle ribbed with silver tinsel and an orange partridge collar hackle
I'm sure these will be the ideal style to use on the Outer Hebrides. I cant get that archipelago out of my mind at the moment.

The Dark Mackerel

After picking up my copy of FF&FT this week I found within its pages an interesting article on an old traditional wet fly pattern called the Dark mackerel.

Its was first devised by a tackle dealer from Edinburgh called John Dickson and was said to be a great pattern for sea trout as well as brown trout in peat stained lochs. Through the years there have been many variations of this old timer. It became popular on Loch Leven too but is more synonymous with the sea trout of the North West Highlands and Islands of Scotland.

Hope you like my take on this old traditional pattern. Its a fly that will no doubt find its way on to my leader when I visit the Uists next year. 

Hebridean Flee Box!

Hello there . Its been a while since my last post. The reason for my absence from these pages is simple. I haven't been fishing or flytying.
However this weekend I will be tying as just this afternoon my fishing trip to the Uists next year was finally booked and my friends and I are in the process booking boats and arranging which lochs to fish. So suitably inspired my thoughts have been turning to fly patterns etc. So off I went to GAC this afternoon for some new tying threads , hooks and tinsel etc.
Looks like I will be tying my favourite style of flies, the Trad wets, as they would appear to be what is required on the Outer Hebrides. While I was in the GAC I purchased what is most likely the cheapest and handiest flee box I have ever had. It was only 55p. That's 50p more expensive than the carrier bag lol.
So folks, I will be posting a few pics of what ever falls from my vice over the next day or two. So please excuse me I'm off to tie some flees.

The Dabbler Live @ The Lily Loch

As the Lily Loch fishing season doesn't end until the the end of October I decided to have a few hours up at the Lily Loch this afternoon and as well as my fly rod and flies etc I took along the recording equipment and put together a very amateurish podcast. Give it a listen by clicking the link below!

https://soundcloud.com/hillend-dabbler/lily-loch-podcast

The Fly tying season begins! #winter

Ach! well I never did manage to have one last day at the loch today.
I've had a better than average season by my standards and have enjoyed every minute of it.
As always I never got away as much as I would have liked but did manage a couple of very memorable trips to the highlands. My bread and butter fishing was my home loch Hillend, where I probably had my best season from the boat. Nothing spectacular by any means but it was great for me.
Although the brown trout season has ended the fly tying season now begins. Here's a wee soldier to herald the start of the season. #winter