Let's Go Fishing!

The nights are definitely fair drawn oot! And at last the five month wait is over, the 2021 trout season is upon us!

My ever increasing number of fly boxes are full, my rods and reels have been checked and cleaned, lines and leaders are at the ready and I can only hope that my waders still fit! But I doubt it! 

I am full of enthusiasm and I've had my first Covid vaccination, however the latest travel restrictions are somewhat disheartening!

I'm lucky I suppose that I have Hillend Loch within the limits of this authoritarian Orwellian Scottish Government's travel restraints.

Trips to the highlands and beyond will have to wait for now! 

Its pleasing to note that my local fishing club have now stabilised and put some of the past troubles behind them.

Over the next few weeks it looks like I wont be travelling much further than Hillend Loch's North Shore, Mound, Boathouse Bay, Lowe's Bay, Woodside, Narrows,  Eastercroft Bay, Big & Wee Moss, Braco Burn and Shields Burn which to be honest I'm really looking forward to as over the last couple of years I havent fished much or appreciated my local Loch as much I should have!

Let's Go! 

Greenwell's Glory!

I recently tied a few Greenwells/Glory for the forthcoming season, put them in my box and never thought much else about them until I posted a pic of one of my patterns on a well known social media page!
That was when the confusion started!
As I was told that the pattern I displayed was not a Greenwell's Glory at all as I had included a few light furnace hackles for a tail. I was informed that the original dressing of the Glory didnt have a tail and that I had infact tied a Greenwells wet which includes a tail. Perhaps someone was just having a laugh?
So off I went to my bookshelf to try get a definitive answer on the correct dressing!
Stan Headley's book of Scottish Flies and John Reids Clyde Style Flies both suggest a tail.
However there is no mention of a tail in Bert Sharpe's Let's fish the Clyde and Tom Stewart's Fifty Popular Flies.
Still confused I reached for A.Courtney Williams' Dictionary of Trout Flies in an attempt to clear up the puzzlement.
As you will probably know the Greenwell's Glory is a very old pattern dating from the middle of the 1800's of that there is no doubt.

it is well documented that the pattern was devised by Canon William Greenwell of Durham and tied by Tweedside flytyer James Wright.

However within the pages of this book is the description of the Greenwells Glory which is beyond all dispute as the following dressing comes from a letter handwritten by Canon Greenwell and dated 1st June 1900.
Wing. Inside of Blackbird's wing.
Body. Yellow silk.
Hackle.  Coch-y-bondhu
Hook. 14.
So there you have it! For the attention of the Flytying Police (Vice Squad) The pattern I tied is just a Greenwell's Glory Variant! 

The Blae & Black

Recently Ive been filling a row in my fly box with these wee fellas! The Blae & Black.

Trout flees dont come more traditional than this.

A Scottish wet fly pattern of great repute for early season brown trout!

Its origins are hard to track down as they appear to have been lost in the midst of time.

It is however believed to be centuries old and used extensively not only in Scotland but South of the border and across the Irish sea too.

Its famous on the Clyde with the wing in the usual  Clyde style upright position and as the season progresses a lighter shade of blae is preferred.

It is a recommended pattern for the top dropper on lochs when midge pupa are hatching!

The Old Timers at Hillend swear by it early in the season. However this probably dates back to the time before our club water introduced rainbow trout.

A fly worth having where ever wild brown trout exist!

It's a very simple dressing that is basically a black pennel with a wing and is the third fly in a trio of patterns that the novice flytyer is advised to start with when tying for the first time. The first two patterns being a black spider and the black pennel. Learn the tying methods entailed in all three patterns and you will almost certainly be able to tie most other wet fly patterns! 

Get tying and get fishing! 

Heres to the start of the 2021 season! 

Lockdown Flytying Day!

On Sunday I popped in and and out of the virtual flytying day  that was organised by Lindsay Simpson  and other fantastic flytyers on you tube. It was a really great event and much food for thought from the fantastic patterns and styles that were on display. 

A couple that caught my eye were Davie McPhail's detached Green Peter and Stevie O'Neills Claret Georgeous George!

Suitably inspired I had a go at Stevie's pattern this morning.

I didnt have a claret grizzle cape for the body hackle so substituted that with a fiery brown grizzle!

This pattern will be a welcome addition to my box!

Big Wave! Big Flee!

If you're experienced enough, brave enough or daft enough. Fishing in a big wave on a boat on a wild highland loch can be extremely rewarding! 

I recall one such night a good number of years ago on Loch Watten with my fishing buddies, Scott the Toonheed Tiddler and Tam the Clarkston Tangler. 

Yes the three of us were on a boat each taking turns on the oars. 

To be honest we really shouldnt have been out for that last hour that night as the wind was really high and the waves, rather scary at times. But it was the last night of our fishing holiday and we didnt want to leave.

Sitting getting rocked back and forth in the boat in the lashing rain, pulling our big bushy flees through the waves was an exhilarating experience  as the trout were leaping through the waves and aggresively taking our flees.

It was a fantastic sight to see so many eager trout take our patterns in such wild conditions.

I recall we were using big leggy trout patterns that night.

Never has that old flyfishing cliche "Big Wave, Big Flee" been found to be so true! 

To be honest we were really stupid to be out in such dangerous conditions and wouldnt really recommend it. We got away with it that night, on another night it could have been so different! So it was a lesson learned.

The other lesson learned that night was that wild brown trout absolutely love bushy leggy flies.

Since that night I always make sure I have that style of pattern on my cast whenever im fishinig in a strong breeze all be it  not as wild as that night.

With this in mind and hoping to get to the Outer Hebrides later this year where the wind is a constant feature in the weather  I tied these patterns, which I'm sure will be a good addition to my box! 

Books & Flies.

One of the benefits of Lockdown restrictions if such a thing can be said is that I've spent more time at the vice than ever before!
It's no exaggeration to say that I've been tying flies every day and as a result I've filled quite a few fly boxes.
I also believe that my flytying has improved considerably!
Due to having plenty time on my hands these days,  I've also been delving into my sizeable collection of Angling literature and refreshing my mind with the influential sage advice and over looked fly patterns to tie and try contained within my books!
In my last blog I focused on a fly pattern from the Excellent "Fisher in the West" by Eddie Young. It really has some great patterns in it which are well worth tying.
Today I received another excellent new addition for my bookshelf.
Emyrs Evan's " Plu Stiniog."
This regional book is a wealth of Information and a great source of inspiration on which to base further work at the vice.
It's a book Ive been meaning get hold of for a few years now after reading an article  about it in a flyfishing magazine!
Although this book deals with fly fishing and
flytying in North Wales
It has to be said that I've no great desire at all to fish among the Hills of Wales. Theres far too many places here in Scotland I've yet to visit and fish.
However I do enjoy reading about the social history contained in books like this as well as learning of the tradition and history of regional fly patterns!
Im really looking forward reading this book and picking out a few more patterns from it to tie and add to my box.
With the new trout fishing season soon to be upon us It'll be interesting to see how these patterns fair here in the Lochs and Hill Lochs of Scotland and elsewhere for that matter!
The first pattern I chose is a simple one.
The Petrisen Corff Coch (Partridge & Red)
According to the author this is a great pattern for the summer months of June and July and should be fished on the top dropper!
Until I make that first cast of the season in March I'm looking forward to reading this book in more depth and tying more flies from it.
I will also be on the lookout for more regional flytying books to add to my shelf.
I'd be grateful of any recommendations!

The Solicitor!

Heres a pattern that was brought to my attention by Martyn White aka @ Flickingfeathers on his  excellent flytying youtube channel. Martin is a Scottish Flyfisher, Flytyer and Blogger living in Japan. Martin's flytying tutorials are a wealth of information and well worth checking out!
The flee is also mentioned in Barron's book! "A Fine Line" He got the pattern from another book called "A Fisher in the West" by Eddie Young! Which was published by the Stornoway Gazette which focuses on Hebridean fishing and flies! Happy to say I've tracked down a copy which has just arrived this very morning! Looking forward to reading it as I just love books on regional flyfishing and flies! 
Sorry! I digress. Heres the flee. The Solicitor!!

Meddling with Muddlers

This weekend I have been quite lazy as I had planned on doing a fair bit of walking to try and reduce the Covid Beef mountain I appear to be accumilating!

I did venture out once over the weekend for a cold and icey walk around the Lily Loch.

However most of the weekend has been spent sitting at the vice, tying mostly muddlers! 

I'd been tying a few Blue Zulu Muddlers which apparently, are great patterns to have in your armoury when fishing out on the Outer Hebrides! Where I hope to going in August Covid Permitting!

So after tying a row of these I had a look online for any unusual or obscure muddler style patterns to tie.

A pattern which caught my eye was the Voshimid Muddler which to my eye looks like a Teal Blue & Silver Muddler.

Apparently this is great taker of sea trout & salmon.

I'm sure there is a great video kicking about of Paul Young fishing on Voshimid. I cant remember if he was fishing that muddler though. I'll need to check it out and find out.

I'm never that happy with my muddlers as it's always  a bit hit or miss how they look after Ive taken the scissors to them for a trim.

However I'm fairly satisfied with these three on show.

Its probably down to me practicing  and tying so many this weekend.

I suppose lockdown has its advantages in having me stuck at my vice these last few days!

The Jingler!

I noticed on a social media page that some angling friends have been tying some lovely versions of the famous Jingler fly pattern recently. An excellent early season dry fly pattern of great repute for the likes of the River Clyde! 

I believe this famous old pattern originated in regions of the River Tweed over two centuries ago and is very popular on many other Scottish Lowland rivers too. 

I was rather impressed with my friends tying of them, so I thought I would throw my fishing bunnet into the ring, so to speak. Heres my take on a couple of Jinglers I tied this morning! Hope you like them and it gives you the notion to get to the vice and tie some up too! 

Bush Baby Muddler

Last night I got to experimenting with  a new modern material called Bush Baby from FNF which was brought to my attention just last week.

From what I was told it's used to form egg flies which are very popular at small commercial fisheries and the like. 

However I noticed that this material could have other uses such as forming  a muddler style head on Loch Style Wets.

I really like the look of this and will look into getting some more of this material in more natural colours such as black and shades of brown if those are available.

These look as if they could work well!

To my knowledge I've never seen any bush baby muddlers before! Im very pleased with how they look but the acid test will be how they perform in the water! Be interesting to see if they push through the water in the same way that deer hair does!

Alternatives!

Since the start of the new year I've been tying just as many variations of a few trout fly patterns as the Scottish Football Authorities  have of Covid 19 rules and regulations for their member clubs.
However there is nothing unscrupulous in my flytying. I am acutely aware and very reluctant  to name my patterns just incase someone deems them irregular fly dressings.

Pictured here are a few Alternative dressings of  patterns with my added twist. 

Here is a reimagined variant of the Kate McLaren incorporating  a green collar hackle which gives the pattern a whole new look!

Ive also tied a couple of alternative versions of the Sooty Olive!
It is difficult to say for certain what the original dressing for these well known Irish Lough flies is
as there is an abundance of variations to choose from! 

Also pictured is a generic winged loch style wet pattern which has a bit of a Dunkeld look about it in there somewhere, which was unintentional at the time.
I hope you like them!