River Windrush

I fished the River Windrush yesterday morning and took two nice Brownies. The first to a Sawyer Pheasant Tail and second on a Black Klinkhammer. The Sawyer really is a great fly, so simply yet so effective. It was a very wet morning and I saw nobody else on the river. Although there is still a good flow on the river, this rain is much needed and will freshen everything up.

Sawyer Pheasant Tail and Stuie's Olive

I have been tying a few more flies this week for Keith Passant's Fly Tying Marathon in August. The first is Stuie's Olive, featured by Charles Jardine in the April 2009 Fly Fishing and Fly Tying Magazine and the second is the Sawyer Pheasant Tail. The Sawyer really is a very underated fly, so simple but so effective, often overlooked in favour of more complex patterns.

Griffith's Gnat

Griffith’s Gnat

Hook – dry fly, size 14
Thread – black, 14/0
Body – peacock herl (x3)
Rib – grizzly cock saddle hackle


I have started to tie a few flies for a Casting for Recovery fundraiser. My friend Keith Passant will again be undertaking a 24 fly tying marathon in aid of this great charity at the Orvis shop in Burford. Any donations in terms of sponsorship and raffle / auction prizes would be gratefully received by Keith.

Not much posting recently. The final results of the Fly Tying League were published last month, I finished 7th in the Open Class, I was over the moon.

I have been tying some Mohican Mayfly's from Oliver Edwards Masterclass. The flies not only look superb, they sit on the the water upright every time and they are great fun to tie.

I'm looking forward to putting them to use in the next few weeks.

Klinkhammer

I have been tying a few Klinkhammers this week. The body is black supperfine ribbed with black holographic Mylar tinsel, with a thorax of peacock herl. The wing is white antron and the hackle a Herbert Miner Dark Brown dun Rooster Saddle.

Vulnerable Dun

I have been tying a few Vulnerable Duns (a Chris Watson creation) in preparation for the new season. The fly has been tied on various sizes from 14 down to 22 using Aero Dry Wing with a few strands of Krystal Flash UV Pearl for the wing, a body dubbed with Superfine and ribbed with thread (ropped and coloured with permanant marker), a shuck of white McFlylon with a few strands of Krystal Flash UV Pearl and a hackle, in this instance, from a Metz Grizzly Hackle.

FF and FT League Round 4

Round 4 of the League required three Quill Dries. Dressing as follows:

Hook: Partridge Surehold Dry Barbless

Thread: Black 8/0

Wing: Mallard Feather Slips

Tail: Cock Hackle Fibres

Body: Stripped Peacock Quill

Hackle: Whiting Brown Saddle Hackle

This fly proved more troublesome that at first glance. I tried several methods of stripping the peacock quill satisfactorily including hair remover which seem to weaken the quill itself and make it impossible to tie. I eventually opted to soak the quills in water for 24 hours and strip using a very good quality rubber. The slip wings were not easy, are they ever, and after a couple of weeks of tearing my hair out, I tied them in as I usually do with the wings lying along the hook and after one loop of thread moving the waste end in a seesaw motion to create a valley in the slip.

I am third after Round 3 so have high hope of a good finish.

Back to tying some flies for the new season.

Wally Wing Mayfly

At the Fly Fair last year I was impressed by the Wally Wing Mayfly tied by Chris Watson. I have been trying to master the technique on and off since then and contacted Chris who was kind enough to help. The picture is of my latest effort. On this particular fly I have used Fly Rite dubbing, #38 Pale Watery Yellow, from Niche and a Dark Smokey Dun Hackle from Collins in the US.

Fly Tying League Round 3

My second fly for round 3 was a The Green Nymph Variation. This was tied on a size 14 wet fly hook. The body is flourescent green floss overlaid with monofilament, the hackle brown Partridge and the head Peacock herl. The hackle was very difficult to get as full as the fly in the magazine even if it was doubled using conventional tying. I decided to cut hackles from the feather and tie them in forward over the eye and then stroke them back once I had formed the body. The picture shows more of the thread at the end of the body than I would have liked but the hackle looks nice.

Fly Tying League Round 3

After round 2 of the league I am equal 2nd, can't quite believe it!

The 3rd round flies are Czech Nymphs. These were tied using the following materials.

Hook: Partridge Fine Wire Czech Nymph, size 12

Underbody: 0.015 Round Lead Wire

Outer Rib: Monofilament

Shellback: Clear Thin Skin

Inner Rib: Sulky Gold Holoshimmer (from sewing shop)

Body: Rabbit Dubbing in Olive and Rusty Brown

Head: Thread colour with marker and varnished

Not totally happy with these flies, I should have paid more attention to the number of ribs on each fly to be more consistent and the head can be difficult due to the bulk of materials to tie in. The lead underbody has the thread ramped up at either end to give a smoother outline prior to adding any other materials. The shellback is coloured using Stazon Timber Brown ink from a craft shop. I have also started to paint the head with a small brush and several coats of head cement to get a better finish, particularly on flies similar to this