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.

My Bogey Fly

The Bibio is a fly pattern of great repute and many anglers will tell you of their success and reliability of this proven Brown Trout catcher.
At one time I'd go as far as to say that it was on my cast as often as my favourite fly The Kate McLaren such was my confidence in the Bibio.
Whilst I still regularly  use a Kate,  these last few years I've fell out of favour with the Bibio as it wasn't doing as well as it used to and as a result I pretty much stopped using it in favour of other flys.
It actually developed into my Bogey pattern such was my mind set when I failed with it.
Perhaps my recent failings with the Bibio are down to a number of things such as size, fishing depth, venues, time of year etc etc.
Whatever the reason my distrust in it remains.
However this morning as I looked out my flytying room  window I noted that this was proper flytying weather.
A howling gale and torrential rain is the perfect conditions for a flytyer to get to work.
So what to tie?
I recently bought a few packets of Spectra Dubbing which I've found to be very good indeed it has great sparkle and lustre properties and looks fantastic if appied correctly to add subtle translucency.
Therefore this morning when I was thinking about my Bogey Fly the Bibio and what I could do to this pattern to change my fortune, I decided I would tie a few Bibios using the spectra dubbing for the body. I really do like the look of this material especially after teasing out  the fibres with velcro.
It's unlikely that I'll get to use these Bibios this side of the year as the end of the season is now less than a week away.
However I look forward to resolving my Bogey Fly issues with the Spectra dubbed Bibio sometime in the future.
Do you have a Bogey fly? If so I'd be interested to know which fly and why!

GAC Autumn Open Day!

As the end of the brown trout fishing season is rapidly coming I'm hoping to get out for one last time in the next day or too. 

Today however I  popped along to the GAC open day today mainly to top up on tying materials for the forthcoming dark winter tying nights from the excellent Cookshill  flytying Company.

However I stopped and had a chat with Barry Ord Clark who gave me some useful advice on tying with deer hair and tyed me a deer hair pattern.

It was also  great to meet Alex (Wilkie) Rook who I hadnt spoke with for a  good few years.  Alex used to be a member at  Hillend but fishes all over the world these days and has really made a name for himself in the fly fishing and flytying world.

Alex is a fantastic flyfisher and a pretty decent tyer too and does demos at all the usual shows.

Oh and I also claimed my free cap light!!! 🤣

The Veyatie Black

Heres a pattern that once intrigued me for a while until I found its definitive dressing, The Veyatie Black!
It was the name of it that caught my attention  a number of years ago when I was planning a trip to fish Loch Veyatie and other lochs in that area.
The pattern was a bit of a dissapointment when I discovered its true dressing as the name conjured up images of a unique dressing and something perhaps special and particular to the Loch of its name.
However to my surprise it just looks like a variation of a Kate McLaren.
Im led to believe it was devised by well known flyfisher, flytyer and author Bob Wyatt.
I've found it useful as a wet pulling fly and just a general suggestive pattern, not representing anything in particular on various Scottish Lochs and of course on Veyatie too where it caught me a few modest trout.
I've always tied it with a body of seals fur but it can also be tied with a body of Ostrich herl or rabbit fur.
The dressing is as follows.

Size 10 Kamasan B175 Hook
Black Uni 8/0
Golden Pheasant Crest tail
Silver rib.
Body of black seals fur or ostrichnherl or rabbit fur.
Body hackle of golden badger hackle
Hen Pheasant Wing covert head hackle.