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.

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.

Outer Hebrides Stravaig

A couple of days ago I returned from a very enjoyable  week of flyfishing on Benbecula and N&S Uist with five enthusiastic wild fishing friends.

The fishing was tough for me. I caught a few but nothing of note, however a couple of my companions did strike some Hebridean Gold 

The weather was favourable all be it a bit blowy at times.

As ever the digs, the food, drink, patter and company in the evenings was first class, we also made new fishing friends with a couple of fishermen who were staying in the hostel with us.

I found the week a bit tiring with all the late nights and getting up early to fish every day! 

Maybe it's an age thing but to be honest I know it's a fitness issue and If I want to do similar trips in the future I'm gonna have to address my fitness issue! 

Despite my fitness woes I had a terrific week and I'm sure my companions did too,

Sheena & Jacko

Early on Friday morning my mate and I travelled north to the Highlands and arrived at the upper reaches of the River Spey even before the birds began their dawn chorus!

We had booked a boat on Spey Dam which sits above the source of many a fine malt, for the first time in a couple of years due to the awful pandemic and it was fantastic to see Jacko and Sheena again after such a long  time.
After a stretch of the legs and a rest we bailed out the boat, affixed the engine and battery, loaded our gear, strung our rods, then off we went out onto the Loch with Jacko, Sheena was out if commission and in need of maintenance.
It was a bit bright but there was plenty clouds around that would give us much needed intermittent  cloud cover. As we headed off to the west end of the Loch. There was a gentle westerly breeze blowing down the Loch which was ideal for our first few drifts.
We had two successful drifts  from the west end down the back of the Island where we had two trout each with many more missed and lost.
Then we had another two drifts in front of the island with the same results. A claret Dabbler and leggy claret bumble did the trick for me on those first four drifts. Scott was on the bibio and Ordies.
Around midday the sun was quite intense so we decided to go ashore for a break and have lunch.
Feeling refreshed we went back out on the Loch, however the wind had picked up considerably and we now had less clouds and more sunshine!
We made a few troutless drifts so I changed my flies and we changed the locations of our drifts which resulted in just one further trout for me which was fooled by a Loch Ordie while Scott got another two trout.
The wind was quite strong now which didnt suit our boat as it is quite narrow and was getting rocked back and forth  by the frequent swells that were hitting us side on. I felt a bit uneasy to say the least so we decided to head back ashore
However our electric engine wasnt coping very well in the brisk wind and it seemed like an age getting  back to the shore.
Relieved to be back on terra firma we decided to take a break and wait and see if the wind would calm down. However the wind just got stronger so we decided to tie up the boat and call it a day!
We then just sat around for a while chatting about days gone by and future days to come. We agreed that we had a fairly decent day with eleven fish for the boat, 6 for Scott and 5 for me with quite a few missed and lost too.
On the long drive back home we also came to the conclusion that perhaps it was now time that Sheena and Jacko retire and that the Badenoch Anging Association replace both with a couple of more sturdy vessels as this old couple certainly are not suited to strong winds.

Over the hill @ 60

On Monday morning the 1st of August I was four days into my 60s and sitting at home after a fantastic few days away celebrating becoming a sexagenarian.

I was now in possession of a bus pass, some new fishing gear, a new android tablet and a fitbit.
I still had one free day before returning to the mundane routine of the working week.
I thought of making a bus pass road trip to some far off place somewhere north but decided I'd take the car and try out my new waders and wading boots and go fishing locally instead.
With Hillend Loch pretty much unfishable due to the continuing critical low water levels, I decided to head over the hill to the Lily Loch as there are no such problems up there.
So off I went knowing I'd be clocking up plenty steps on my new birthday present gadget.
The walk up to the Lily wasn't too bad but I was a little uncomfortable in the new wading boots.
After visiting the club hut and having a chat with the bailiff I made my way along the south shore up to just beyond the broken wooden jetty where I noticed a Grebe sitting in its  nest with its family.
Not wanting to disturb the Grebes I stayed clear of the nest and sat on the nearby bankside iron seat stringing my 5# weight Snowbee Diamond 2 rod with a floating line and attached my two flies to a12 ft leader of 6lb clear maxima.
On this occassion I placed a Clan Chief Cormorant on the point and a black Zulu on the dropper.
I was soon casting into the margins after which I entered the water and began working my flies out into the main body of the loch and gradually waded my way down the Loch parallel to the South shore. My intention was to fish all the way down to the footbridge
About halfway down the shore I was into the first fish of the day however after a few brief tugs and dives the fish was frustratingly off and as expected it was away with my full leader and flies. It looked like a decent sized trout (the ones you lose always do) as it made several leaps clear of the water trying to dislodge my fly.
I must learn to check and tie my knots more securely.
It's bad enough when a trout swims off with your full leader and flies but what frustrates me more is not knowing which fly it actually took a fancy to.
At least I knew I probably had the right flies on, so I quickly  made up a new leader and tied on the same patterns.
I slowly made my way along down the south shore and soon had another offer but again the splashy rise didnt stick.
I soon reached the bridge, got out the water and sat on a bench watching a flotilla of Canadian Geese cruise about the Loch while I sat drinking a coffee and enjoyed a well earned rest.
I was pleased to note that my new waders and boots were working as intended all be it I reckoned the boots need more breaking in.
Feeling refreshed I walked back up along the shore to my starting point and noticed the Grebes were no longer in the nest, perhaps mum and dad were away teaching the young ones how to fish for food!
As before I was soon in the water and making my way down towards the bridge parallel with the south shore.
Feeling enthusiastic and hopeful I really enjoyed casting and wading my way down the Loch.
There was as fair old westerly breeze blowing down the Loch creating a nice wave which was ideal for pulling my flies through.
All of a sudden there was an almighty splash a second or two after my leader landed on the water, and I was into another trout.
As expected this fish was fooled by the black Zulu.
Despite its greatest efforts this trout wasnt coming off, as this time I was in control, I let it run when it needed to, and applied pressure when I needed to.
It was a great joy to land a nice plump Lily Loch  rainbow trout in my net.
I briefly considered returning the fish but decided I would dispatch it  to give my wee Belle a culinary treat.
My Cat ate well that night!
I didnt continue fishing after that as I was delighted with my capture and considered my work done for the day!
I clambered my way ashore and sat on the bank enjoying the tranquility of the moment and making the most of that feeling of fulfilment that we fly fishermen know so well after fooling a fish.
So with a great feeling of satisfaction, I broke down my rod, packed away my reel, flies, leader and trout into my bag and headed off down the loch to make my way back over the hill. 
However just as I was passing the sluice at the east end of the Loch I met a local chap from a nearby village who anyone who fishes the Lily Loch and Hillend Loch will be familiar with ! Hes up there every day of the year walking round the Lochs and local back roads no matter the weather.
Hes a bit of an enigma and eccentric to say the least.
If I'm being kind, I'd say hes a couple of nymphs short of a full fly box!
Usually he blanks me when I say hello but on this occassion he was up for a chat and really keen to tell me one of his ridiculously imaginative stories that hes so well known for.
Incredibly he told me the Loch was in danger from a disease that a bunch of kids from a sanatorium in England brought up on their boots and infected the Loch.  He then went on to infom me that the Loch's built in alarm system was alerted to the danger and as such activated and opened up the tanks that are built into the bottom of the Loch which then lowered the water level and brought the fish down into them for their safety. Aparently most Lochs in Sotland have these tanks. I swear that's what he told me! 
He wanted to talk some more but I said I was in a hurry and off I went back over the hill.
I dont think Ive ever laughed so  much in all my life as I made my back to my car.
I thought to myself well at least the next time I blank at the Lily or elswhere for that matter,  I'll know the exact real reason why the trout never showed up!!