Thank You Vicuña Dubbing!

I first became aware of  Vicuña Dubbing about five years ago when this dubbing material came to my  attention on various flyfishing and flytying media pages.

Based in Essex Vicuña Dubbing is an entirely natural product made from Alpaca wool which has been dyed and processed by hand to achieve a dubbing which adds that essential buggy effect to your fly patterns. 

I was very kindly sent some samples to try by David Lloyd to try back then.

I was very impressed with the material as a sub for seals fur and used it in quite a few of my loch style wets and cruncher style patterns.

I recall going along to a GAC Open day round about that time  and noticed a few of the tyers were using this which at the time was a new dubbing material.

I particularly remember talking to Geroge Barron that day and we spoke about Vicuña dubbing and how impressive it was.

Since then I have used it off and on for a lot of my flytying.

At first I started collecting the basic colours for my fly patterns but as time went by I started blending different  colours together to come up with some interesting combinations.

Over the last few years The company have put together some lovely blends too and introduced fine dubbing for dries and specially blended boxes as well as my favourite, the SLF Blends.

This year I have fortunately been asked to tye at the Scottish Game Fair at Scone Palace.

This event takes place in a couple of weeks time. 

This will be my first time ever tying at such an big event in public and although I'm feeling nervous I am equally very excited to be tying alongside some very talented flytyers.

Whilst preparing for this event I was given some good advice and was told to relax and enjoy the experience and to tye what I do best. 

Therfore it was an easy decision to choose and focus on loch style wets.

So with this in mind I thought it would be an ideal opportunity to once again highlight vicuña dubbing in my fly tying displays at the Game Fair.

I must thank David Lloyd at Vicuña Dubbing who has provided me with a box of their fantastic SFL blends which I will definitely be utilising at Scone.

In the pattern below I've dubbed the body with the Fiery Black SLF blend from Vicuña Dubbing.

The picture here doesnt do the material justice. 

Best to see it first hand and you will appreciate the colours that come together to form the fiery black 

If you are attending the game fair do pop along to the flytyers marquee and see the flytying demos. I'll be the slightly nervous guy tying loch style wets with Vicuña Dubbing.

Scottish Game Fair 2023

Good Day on a Badenoch Loch!

Sunday 11th June What a fantastic memorable day in the Scottish Highlands.

Myself, the two Tams and Scott had a great time in the Upper Spey area on a Badenoch Loch catching fiesty brown trout whilst the net was closing in on an indignant  Sturgeon elsewhere! 

We travelled North in the afternoon at a leisurely pace as our intention was to fish into the evening.

Some two and a half hours later we arrived at the loch where we met Sheena & Jacko for the first time this year.

Last year Sheena was out of commission for some maintainance so it was good to have both boats available once again.

As the four of us set off afloat out on the loch, the weather wasn't the best for fishing but it was great for the  tourists and sightseers I'm  sure!

We had bright sunshine and occasional cloud cover  for most of our time on  the loch  however we did had a lovely warm gentle breeze blowing  from the west which switched to the south, and thankfully the rain showers and  thunder & lightening which was predicted didn't materialise.

Despite the bright conditions the trout were very obliging taking a wide variety of patterns. Leggy hopper patterns, Muddlers, Sedgehogs, Ordies and various other Palmers fooled the trout.

Twenty six trout were caught between the four of us.

We had twenty to the boat, twelve for Tam and eight for me whilst Scott and the other Tam had thee each.

We called it a day about 8.30ish and reluctantly went back ashore.

After all the he pelava of carrying our engine and gear back to the cars we were soon heading back down the A9 and made our customary stop at Pitlochry for a very welcome bite to eat.

It was just past midnight when we got home and I learned of the latest Scottish political scandal.

A great day was had by all!

Too Darn Hot!

I should have been fishing yesterday on a boat on a Highland Loch.
However my fishing companion, Tam The Clarkston Tangler decided he would rather go for a walk somewhere near Edinburgh pinging golf balls up and down fairways and possibly the long grass too.
Therefore I was rather frustrated as the fishing season is moving along at pace, so for me it felt like another weekend and opportunity wasted.
Nevertheless given the mini heat wave we are experiencing at the minute it was perhaps not so bad an idea to give the fishing a miss.
The heat and the blazing sunshine on a flat calm Spey Dam would not have been condjusive to good fishing. It'd  be too darn hot!
So with the Scottish Game Fair at Scone coming up in a few weeks time I got some flytying practice in at my vice tying up various fly patterns for my display stands.
This will be my first time ever flytying in public. To say I'm nervous would be an understatement but is something I'm very much looking forward to.
As well as flytying I decided to tidy up and clear out  my numerous flyboxes! It was a daunting but rewarding task as I ended up with three new empty fly boxes!
This weekend I hope to make that trip up north flyfishing.
I can only hope that the fishing weather improves and that Tam will swap his golf clubs for a fishing rod! 

Down The Upper Clyde

When I set off down the M74 I'm usually heading south to visit my brother in Cumbria however on this ocassion my journey south was much shorter as I was going fishing.
I therefore cut off at Abington services , first for a coffee and   then continued on the short journey through Abington onto Crawford by the River Clyde.
I arrived just after midday at the Camps Rd nearby the ruins of Crawford Castle.
The weather was a bit mixed with bright sunny intervals interrupted  by periods of blustery wind and rain showers.
However I was prepared and soon I was on the river swinging my spiders across the current.
I had a great afternoon managing to net 1/2 a dozen small but fiesty brown trout which were great fun to catch. However I managed to rise and miss a few fish too.
All but one of them took a size 14 waterhen bloa. The exception being the trout that took a grouse & orange!
The Upper Clyde is a beautiful area to fish,  today I got the river all to myself and it was bliss! 

Good Result in Perthshire!

On Sunday the last day of April The Clarkston Tangler and the Hillend Dabbler travelled north in search of good sport on a Perthshire loch as I wanted to avoid and blank out the high profile sport being played in the southside of Glasgow.
As it turned out we made a wise choice, however at least we got the  result we were after with 9 fish for the boat. 3 for the Tangler and 6 for me.
It was a slow start though as on our arrival at the Loch it was a bit misty and flat calm.
I fished with various spider patterns and caught one small brown trout and had a few rises and takes to them too. The Tangler had a couple of offers too but didnt fish much as he didnt fancy the conditions at all.
As the day progressed there was not so much as a ripple, the only disturbance on the water was the  rain hitting the surface. The rain was off and on for most of the morning.
We tried various areas of the Loch on the wet and difficult glass like surface all morning without any further trout.
After lunch we tried another couple of spots although the weather brightened up a bit he lack of wind was a problem as we couldn't get a drift!
The loch has a good head of brown trout which are very obliging in the correct conditions,  however the  local angling club who have the 3 boats on this Loch also stock it once a year with rainbow trout.
So in the afternoon we switched tactics. Yes we turned to the dark side which is alien to  me, however the lures changed  our fortunes . The Tangler managed a small brown trout and thereafter a further two rainbows. And we both got broke and dropped a few.  I managed to hook and net 5 more  rainbows.
We kept 4 trout and released the others as these alien trout were getting used as a bargaining tool for a haunch of venison from one of the Tanglers friends. Now that's a good result! However the après fish n chips in Creiff was rank rotten! 

Oliver Edwards

This evening I have just heard the sad news that Oliver Edwards has passed away. Oliver Edwards was a great inspiration to so many people. I was inspired by his articles in the Flyfishing & Flytying magazine, his flytyers masterclass book and of course his wonderful series of Essential Skills dvd's. 

I was lucky enough to be present at one of his flytying demos at the BFFI in Stoke back in 2010 when I recall him telling the audience that this would be the last time he would attend such a show. I liked his no nonesense approach. He truly was one of the greats! 

He will be such a loss to the flytying and flyfishing community.

North Country Spiders

Ive recently purchased my season permit for the River Clyde and look forward to spending some time on the upper reaches of the river. I'm hoping to make my first trip of the season to the river next week.

Influenced by Robert L Smith's modern book on the old North Country Fly tradition  I've been at the vice topping up my spider box for the Clyde.

I'm attracted to the simplicity of river patterns and also find the tradition of the North Country Spiders very interesting and intriguing.

Another aspect of the North Country Spiders I find fascinating is the use and history of the traditional silks and threads.

To let you understand many of the old traditional threads and silks  used in the old spider patterns are very much sought after and can be quite costly to buy, specially the quintessential north country spider material of Pearsall's Gossamer silk. 

Unfortunately I've only got two or three spools of the original Pearsall's silk and so began searching for an alternative or better still even looking for the original Pearsall  at a sensible price.

I soon noticed semperfli are doing a material they call "Pure Silk" So I sent off for a couple of spools. Unfortunately however my package got damaged in transit and I only received the one spool. 

Over the last few days I've been using the semperfli vintage orange pure silk. It has a thicker gauge than Pearsalls but is a decent alternative.

All weekend I've been tying spiders making use of the threads I've got. 

As much as it's very aesthetically pleasing to use the original materials it doesnt matter a jot to trout however I will keep looking out for that elusive bargain of original Pearsall's silk In the meantime I will just have use what I've got and try a few other alternatives.

Opening Day 2023.

At last its here! The Glorious 15th.
Its been a long dark winter.
The rods are ready. the reels have been greased and the flies have been tied.
This is always an exciting time for anglers as we are full of optimism and dream of red letter days by the lochside.
Hillend is once again open for trout fishing for the next 8 months and I wonder what the coming months have in store for me? Memorable days and most probably forgetful blanks!!!
Last year my first cast of the season was thwarted  by my time in the covid Jail and this year its been delayed again by work commitments and icey weather.
As I left for work this morning the temperature gauge was showing -3°
However I'm hopeful  that the temperature will rise and I'll get up to Hillend for an hour or so after work at the weekend..
As well as the bread and butter of the club water fishing this year Ive got a cuple of fishing breaks  arranged to the Outer Hebrides and Caithness as well as day trips to the highlands so there is a lot to look forward to.

A Colourful Bumble

Its been a while since I last made a tying video. Heres a link to a wee pattern you may have seen pics of recently on my blog.

A Colurful Bumble