Fly Tying

The last fly into the box this year is the hare's ear which has more variations than perhaps any other fly. I like that I can use up odds and ends of materials in this pattern and still call it a hare's ear, it doesn't really have to stick to the traditional materials. I've tied this fly for years with hackle fibres for the tail because I don't keep masks in my material cabinet, I'm also not bothered which hackles I use and if none are available in a half used state I'll just tie the fly without a tail.

Trying to decide which lure to include in the flybox left me with a choice of two, My favourite, the Woolly Bugger or the first lure I fished on rivers the Baby Doll. Both are extremely useful patterns on the Almond making it a tricky choice, the major advantage to the Woolly Bugger is movement, every twitch is transmitted to the tail making it seem almost alive however the tail is also it's major disadvantage in that quite often the fish will take the fly just as you strip and catch only the tail and not the hook leading to many missed takes.

This is the heaviest fly going into my box this year, loaded up with wraps of lead to help get it on the bottom but missing a few of the extra materials usually found on this style of fly. The most notable absence is probably a shell back, then I guess legs and tinsel. I've chosen to tie the fly with as few materials as I deem necessary for convenience sake and because I don't believe these additions make any difference to the fish. Ask yourself this, is a fish checking how many or even if a fly has legs ?, my guess is that the answer is no.

In this video I'm tying the Klinkhamer and it takes compartment number nine in my flybox for the year. This is a fly I avoided fishing for a long time, while everyone was singing it's praises I was concentrating my efforts elsewhere, once I finally caught up to speed though it was rarely out of my box. It's a very effective pattern and it makes a great indicator fly which is perfect for those starting out with upstream nymph.

As some of you are aware I'm a big fan of Tenkara and over the last few years I've put a lot of time into learning about this style of fixed line fly fishing. For that reason I've included a basic Sakasa Kebari fly in the box, while I'm happy to fish any fly that won't overpower the rod tip and I'm far from a purist where Tenkara is concerned I do like this style of fly and it's been effective for me on many occasions over the years.

The Partridge & Yellow is an excellent North Country Spider that along with Partridge & Orange, Snipe & Purple and Waterhen Bloa could easily see you through much of spring and well into the summer. It's the P&Y that's made it into my box on this occasion however, you can easily make a fly darker but it's not so easy to lighten it's colour. Should I want a darker fly a quick lick with a brown or olive marker will sort me out. This probably won't be necessary as in the past this fly has rarely let me down when olives are knocking about.

This fly bring me to the halfway point in this video series although I'm sure many anglers would argue that this should be the first fly in any box. for me it's one of the most important flies I've ever fished with and I've fished lot's of variants before returning to the original patten. I've cut out the beads, tags, hotspots, legs and all manner of other additions and found myself back to wire and Pheasant tail fibres.

In this video I'm tying another simple dry fly that uses only two materials, the F-fly. To me this is an essential fly to have in your river flybox and it's one that you can spend the whole day fishing. Whether there's a Caddis, Stonefly or Mayfly hatch this fly seems to cover it. It's such an easy fly to modify too, add a shuck, tails, ribs, dubbing it's all good. Colours are also great to use in this fly, got some pink CDC ?, great! use it. An all round top fly!

Here's number 4 in the flybox, Black Spider, a great pattern to have from day one till the season closer. It's a fly I've spend many a great day with and will get plenty of use this season. If you have been followinig this series of blog posts you'll have noticed a theme to my flybox for 2016, simple flies. I've spent years tying all manner of flies using a huge range of materials but over the last few years I've steadily worked my way back to basics thining what I can remove from a fly rather than what I can add.

This fly has been a regular for me for many years and as well as being one of the simplest flies to tie it's name doesn't lie, it kills like no other fly I know. I once hit ten fish on the bounce from the tennis courts using this fly during one of my most productive fishing sessions ever, I have never repeated this feat but it's a memory I'll not soon forget.