I have been trialling a Hends French Nymphing leader over recent weeks, searching skinny water with tiny nymph patterns - a super effective method for finding success with spooky fish. I aim to put a full report together in the near future, but for the time being, let's just say I'm impressed by the Camou nylon leader.

A lovely brown trout, falling to the subtleties of a French leader fished micro-nymph:


The weekend of the 18th and 19th of June saw the British Fly Fair 2011 at its venue and time of year. I had the pleasure of tying next to Sea-Trout expert (and all-round fish-bum) Steffan Jones.


Steffan was a pleasure to watch tie and he talked me through several pattern, including some clever mounting solutions for fly trebles etc. Here are a couple of his flies. The first being a fly he uses early in the evening and often on the dropper later in the night:


... and an altogether larger offering for fishing in the dark:


Infact, I've started to get the itch to get out sea-trouting. Roll on July and August!

~Dave

How to deal with with today's less than ideal conditions?: the reading on the car was suggesting it was over 31 degrees. The nymph seemed the obvious choice and I tackled up with a 10' 4" rod with the plan to switch between French and Czech nymphing styles. A tungsten beaded PTN on the point and an 'S-Loop' emerger on the dropper hopefully allowed me to cover the water efficiently.

It wasn't long before the furled indicator flickered forward and the rod tip bounced into the first fish:


Clear, warm water allowed for some sight fishing. It is always pleasing to be able to watch a fish move to your nymphs. The longer rod gives superb control over the line and allows a near perfect drift of the nymphs.


The PTN tied with a tungsten bead and a with copper wire in place of thread gives a highly effective nymph that gets down quickly to the right depth. An induced lift persuaded several takes - not that they all stayed on though!



My last fish of the day was an absolute power house that grabbed the PTN just as I started the lift. From a deep pool, this fish had a superb paddle-like tail:



~Dave