~Dave

Uffe's Killer

Superb fly tyer, real ale connoisseur and good guy, Sweden's Ulf Hagstrom has just had an article published by Hatches Magazine. It includes a tutorial for tying the Uffe's Killer.

This fly looks simply great and has a awesome profile. Changing its size allows you to match all of the up-wing duns you'll find on our waters.

Enjoy the article here: Uffe's Killer - Hatches Magazine



Nice work Ulf.
~Dave

In the pink

Pink is a great attracter for Grayling and I have regularly found pink flies to out-fish more sombre patterns - Sometimes in coloured water, but also in crystal clear but very cold water.

Here's a version of the tungsten back shrimps, bringing a splash of colour to pattern:


These shrimp imitations fish 'upside down':





Hook: Partridge YK4G #16
Thread: Moser Powersilk 10/0, olive
Underbody: Hare's mask, light
Legs: Grey squirrel
Ballast: Tungsten shrimp back, pink

~Dave

Fast, deep water calls for heavy flies, especially when targetting grayling. As the temperatures start to decrease, the need to get down to the fish increases. I enjoy fishing heavy bugs. OK, it's not summer-evening dryfly fishing, but trundling (sometimes dredging!) bugs through the flows and watching the leader hesitate as the flies are picked up can be alot of fun. Further, it can be very, very effective.

Over the last couple of seasons I have been using tungsten backed shrimps for some of my fishing. Whilst they are not suitable for every situation, they allow you to get deep with a very suggestive imitation. Even a small fly packs the weight - and the larger versions - well they are nothing short of a depth charge. Kick sample the rivers and streams you fish and you'll find the average freshwater shrimp (Gammarus Pulex) is actually pretty small. Therefore, these heavy weight shrimp backs have a place in any river fisher's fly box; especially those early season and grayling fishers.







Hook: Partridge YK4G
Thread; Moser Powersilk 10/0, olive
Legs: Grey squirrel
Ballast: Tungsten shrimp backs.

These are also well worth a swim with pink or olive tungsten backs.

~Dave

Whilst a sparsely dressed paradun is my preference for those fish taking duns, I am increasingly carrying traditionally hackled patterns and finding success with them when all else fails. Further, some sort of wing seems to be essential and playing around with the colour, size and material allows you to explore the effectiveness of this style of dressing.

Possibly my favourite, a CDC wing can tied without a hackle, but for faster, more boisterous water, the addition of a hackle is useful:


A Poly-yarn loop wing has also served me well this year:


The wing here is tied using 'DNA' in olive. This is the same material used for the spinner wings in the previous post. Tied in and looped through the hackle, this is a useful version for those flies that are riding the surface waiting for wings to dry:


A short session at the vice allows a few variation to be produced. When tyying several patterns in a session, it's a good idea to keep them ordered in a compartment box before adding them to the main fly boxes:


~Dave

Sunken Spinner

Fished in the surface or allowed to sink, sparkling wings can be very attractive when imitating spinners:




If the fly sinks, or you choose to fish it wet, make sure the first few feet of the the leader beynd the fly line a lightly greased. Any twitch or hesitation should be met with a lift.

~Dave

The Little Avon with BIG potential.

As a youngster, there was a river I used to peer into and watch the trout feeding below a bridge. A couple of decades on, and I finally fished it... but with a fly rod in search of grayling. My thanks to my host, Peter Anderson for his kind invitation to sample an absolute jewel of a stream in South Gloucestershire.

We started the day with a quick look at the water. Nicely coloured and at a good level, prospects were good. It was pretty mild, but there was a brisk breeze. Peter kindly let me fish the first beat, and with a couple of casts, trundling a cased caddis through the runs, I connected with a fish.


A couple more takes followed, although keeping on the hook was somewhat easier said than done. The fish were very forgiving of our presence and even with the shorter rod, short lne nymphing was perfectly possible. Despite some fantastic looking water though, the fish were not fully playing the game. We were having to scratch a little.

Perfect to look at, this run suprisingly didn't deliver:


We split for the latter half of the day, and I picked my way through some lovely looking water, this time with the 10' #4 rod. This gave me the perfect control. A few fish obliged; changing to two flies helped: a cased caddis and a shrimp pattern.

Look at the tail (paddle!) on this beauty:


After a few more takes (and a few more lost fish...) I found a few rising grayling. With initially little sign of fly activity, it was a #20 CDC Shuttlecock that brought the fish up - and some great rises too, watching the fish appear from the depths and assault the fly!

It soon becamce apparent that there were a few spinners about - checking the spiders' webs can be a superb way of identifying the hatches.

A crumpled Pale Watery spinner. Note the length of the tails:


Pale Watery (Baetis Fuscatis spinners were evident. However, these spinners crawl down into the water to lay there eggs, meaning a well presented spider pattern is often what is called for. However, perhaps for another day.

Peter had caught some superb fish and certainly knows his way around this little stream. And what potential it has.

Some handsome grayling for Peter:



A good sized, out-of-season Brown for Peter, carefully released in the water:


~Dave