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.