What Trout Want!

As you may or may not know the title of this post is the name of a book by well respected flyfisher and Flytyer Bob Wyatt.

It's a book that I got just before Christmas and one that I am so late to the party with! So much so that everyone has probably grown up and stopped going to parties.

First published in 2013 it's Wyatt's second book and a follow up to his earlier work Trout Hunting.

Bob is a native of Canada but now resides in Scotland via New Zealand. Bob has a wealth of fishing experience in all three Continents and has shared that experience in the contents of this book. 

In this book Wyatt strips away all the conventional and traditional practices of fishing for trout that people like myself and others apply to our pursuit of trout.

Wyatt takes a no - nonsense approach to Flyfishing and the myths that surround it.  He also simplifies his flytying approach too with flies that are functional, simplistic and attractive to his quarry not the fisherman.

This book will change your views on flyfishing and will challenge your methods, practices and designs in flytying!

To accompany this book there are a couple of dvds available which I have had in my possesion for a good few years which were given to me by old Johnny Weir the one time owner of the sadly missed local handy angling shop here in Airdrie. 

The dvds are every bit as good as the book and displays Wyatt's flytying style obviously in a way that the book cant. 

Pictured here is my take on Wyatt's Deer Hair Emerger.

His writing has certainly given me food for thought towards fishing  and flytying and I Iook forward to applying aspects of his philosophy and principles to my approach in the forthecoming season!

Irish Mayflies

It's been a great Christmas Day here at the Dabbler HQ and I even managed to grab a little bit of time at my tying bench once all the family  presents were exchanged and Chistmas dinner was scoffed! 

As I sit here tonight enjoying a glass or two of wine I thought I would share with you the absolutely fantastic gift I received from my wife and son today.

As you may or may not know I have a great passion for angling and flytying books. 

One book I've been after to add to my library for a long time was Patsy Deery's " Irish Mayflies." I'd almost  given up trying to acquire a copy of it as everywhere I looked for it was sold out. I even contacted Patsy's son as I heard a rumour that he might have few copies of it but alas he got back to me to inform me that they'd all gone but he did take my details and told me he'd get back to me if any turned up.

To cut a long story short the book turned up today beneath our Christmas tree via Coch-y-bondhu books in Wales.

It's an absolute treasure trove of mayfly patterns compiled by Patsy Deery and photographed by Terry Griffiths. I've obviously not had much time to read it yet but did have a good look through it and managed to tie a few flies from it. I might give it a review in the future once I've digested the contents. 

In the meantime here are a few of the patterns from it.

Oh and I even found a new fishing jacket under the tree too which I was badly needing for next season.

Top two flies are Donald McClearn's Green Mayfly No.1.

Bottom two are A Carra May and a Silver Drake.

12 years of Dabbling!

Today my Hillend Dabbler blog is 12 years old.

Its been a real labour of love updating and sharing my observations, fishing reports and flytying over the last dozen years.

Looking through the blog archives  recently at my fishing trips and days out it brought  back so many  great memories. It also made me realise I'm getting on a bit now and that I should seize every opportunity I can to get out there!  and plan many more!

One very pleasing aspect of looking back through my blog is that my flytying skills have Improved and developed over the years.

It's also been very pleasing to note that many people from all over the world have dropped in over the years to have a look at the blog. I hope they found some interest and inspiration in my fishing and  flytying.

So here I will finish and raise a glass in celebration of 12 years of The Hillend Dabbler and heres to many more!

Flytyers Block!

Over the last few weeks I seem to have hit a brick wall flytying wise, as I have been struggling to find inspiration to tie something worthy of a place in my boxes. 

I usually find inspiration in my library of flytying books as well as  all the usual social media outlets.

However nothing has been firing my imagination of late. I seem to have exhausted tying all the fly patterns I will ever need. I'm really struggling and finding it difficult to create something new within my capabilities of flytying.

Is there such a thing as Flytyers Block? If Songwriters, Writers and Artists can suffer from a lack of creativity from time to time, it's quite possible and inevitable that flytyers will do to.

Recently Ive actually sat down at my vice just staring into thin air at times wondering what to do. I've even  gripped a hook in the vice run on some thread and tinsel and stripped it all back off as I just cant be bothered tying the same old styles! 

A couple of years ago the same thing happened to me after a spell of dabbling in watercolour landscapes. I just ran out of ideas and  now I havent lifted a brush or spread some paint for well over a year!

I've got a couple of highly recommended books coming soon over the festive period which I hope will inspire me.

In the meantime today I was looking through the archives of my blog which is almost 12 years old now to see if that would give me any ideas. 

I came across a post about a fly I got published in the Flyfishing & Flytying magazine 11 years ago which I named the Orange Grizzly! 

So I thought I might as well have a go a tying a few of these again.

I wasn't very pleased with the first couple of efforts and wondered why on earth it got selected for inclusion in the magazine at all.

Then I went back to my bench a few hours later and though it didnt look too bad after all. This attractor style did catch me a few trout at Hillend Loch from the boat on a few occasions back then when I first tied it. 

Through time I stopped using it and as all flyfishers and flytyers do I probably just moved onto some other new fly patterns that were all the rage at the time.

Anyway I digress, Im hoping that this wee pattern will get me busy at the vice again because even as I write this blogpost its  actually given me a possible idea on how to improve this pattern and come up with a variation.