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Shuttlecocks
Sunday, 17 January 2010 at 10:26
'Shuttlecocks' - artificial (dry/damp) flies so-called because of their overall shape - are useful as patterns to fish in the surface film to represent emerging insects. I find them particularly useful when cast over grayling, though they're also good for wild brown trout during hatches of olives and in larger sizes (10-14) on stillwaters when cast over trout moving to hatching buzzers.
Many natural insects hatch by inflating their shuck as it lies in the surface film. The shuck then splits, and the adult (or pre-adult, in the case of olive duns) emerges from the shuck. Sometimes the adult (or pre-adult) rests for a moment on its discarded shuck, there in the surface film, before drying its wings and flying off. Other non-hatching creatures, but creatures nevertheless eaten by trout and grayling - reed-smuts, for example - carry a very tiny air-bubble underwater with them as they deposit their eggs. Certainly in the case of hatching duns, when seen from underneath there's often quite a perceptible streak or tiny flash of silver or gold as ambient light strikes the splitting shuck. This can be represented by including a small amount of tinsel in emerger patterns. (Many years ago, incidentally, and working on this hunch, I used to catch quite a few wild brown trout, when these were rising to caenis on lakes and lochs, on a very tiny Cinnamon and Gold (size 16-18) fished at sunset in or just under the surface film.)
The patterns shown are dressed specifically for grayling. The 'wing' in each case is a single plume of CDC. The leftmost patterns have bodies of green/pearl tinsel ribbed with a strand of red tinsel - a pretty effect, but also and more importantly a representative one; the rightmost patterns bear a striking affinity with many shuttlecock/emerger patterns, and I'd fish these almost unhesitatingly in hatches of smaller olives. All the patterns shown are dressed on size 20 Orvis Big Eye dry-fly hooks.
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More cover-boys
Tuesday, 12 January 2010 at 13:12
As Lady Bracknell might have said: To appear once on the cover of Trout and Salmon (November 2009) looks like accident. To appear twice smacks of carelessness.
I blame Lindsey Clarke (again) for this. Women all over the UK - not just all over Ireland, as in the November debacle - have been writing to me wondering about the hang of Lindsey's dibble and asking where they can get their husbands one which is similarly impressive. I've invariably replied that I don't know: I expect he was born with a dibble curved that way. But that's quite enough about Lindsey Clarke's double taper.
We had a splendid day out there on Lough Beagh last August. Stunning place, grand company.
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Remembering the bobble-hat
Saturday, 9 January 2010 at 06:44
What the nice manufacturers say these days about the efficacy of layered systems of clothing is quite right. Bottom layer; mid layer; outer layer.... If the mid and outer layers are made of synthetic fleece (and they should be) then it's worth bearing in mind that these work far better if the under layer is made from eg. a long-sleeved synthetic shirt and a pair of synthetic bottoms with elasticated, tight-fitting ankles. I also find ski-socks useful - they're long, warm and offer support to ankles and calves. I wear different outer layers depending on the temperature and (above all) the strength of the wind: either another windproof fleece; or a Barbour Linhope or Endurance jacket over a quilted liner; or a full Arctic-style anorak quilted over feathers (goose-down is best). Hats might again with advantage by made of fleece and should cover the (tips of the) ears. Gloves? Two pairs, one a pair of fleece fingerless mitts and an outer pair, again fleece, which is always kept as dry as possible. One further item I use is a fleece necker with elasticated top and bottom. This keeps the neck toasty warm. Boots should if possible be neoprene-lined and have thick soles. Main thing is to keep the amount of exposed skin to the absolute minimum. Wind and wind-chill have to be taken seriously in these temperatures. It also helps to treat e.g. hands with vaseline before going outside, and to rub lips and nose with a chap-stick.
The rest is commonsense but probably bears repeating: carry a hot drink; keep a towel, blanket and shovel in the car; keep an eye out for others and help where possible.
Gone are the days when we went grayling fishing in the bitter winters - and I remember a few of them in the 1970s and early 1980s, particularly the winter of 1981-82 - wearing ladies' tights, two pairs of pyjamas, an old pair of jeans and a woolly bobble-hat from the Army&Navy. We waddled and rolled towards the river like the piscatorial versions of the Pilsbury Dough Boy's brothers. I remember one spectacular winter day on the Tweed at Kelso, for instance - a bitter depth of January when the river was almost wholly frozen and was cracking and grinding with ice-floes ('grue'). Fishing was a matter of manoeuvering a float and gilt-tail into a hole in the ice. And we caught grayling - not many, but enough to make the taste of hot mutton pies (bridies) even more wonderful than usual. I also remember another occasion when a dear friend of mine totalled an MG on the way back over icy roads from Kelso to Newcastle. Still, we and our bobble-hats survived these experiences - but I'm glad neither I nor my pyjamas have to re-live them. Happy days.
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Bluewater
Saturday, 2 January 2010 at 19:06
For reasons which may or may not eventually become clear in this diary I've spent time recently making flies for what's sometimes called 'bluewater' fishing - fly-fishing in the ocean for species such as bonito, dorado, barracuda, sailfish and other ocean predators with splendidly resonant names. Typical 'flies' for such adventurous fishing are eg. large (4/0 - 6/0) Lefty's Deceivers, Clousers and so on. Illustrated is a sort of Big-Eye Hybrid. Massive Poppers are also used, among which is the wonderfully-named Bob's Banger.
Hooks are ultra-tough saltwater irons in sizes 2 (for the Clousers) through to 6/0. Tying techniques are in essence very similar to what you'd use in constructing pike streamers, but in the saltwater context I make liberal use of synthetic hair - Enrico Puglisi or Mirror Image fibres, for example, which come in 10-inch long hanks. To avoid the materials wrapping round the bend of the hook during casting I usually stiffen the hair by tying in a centre shank of synthetic materials and then stiffening it with some Softex, which I also apply in small doses to the overwing. You need to be careful: too much Softex and the fly gets stiff and loses action. I also include over-large eyes, applying epoxy between the stuck-on eyes and over the front part of the shank to finish the 'fly'.
Soon I hope to be making some big saltwater Poppers, and currently intend to construct very long, voluminous skirts, again of synthetic materials, on tubes, leaving the front end of the tube exposed so that a big Popper head can be pushed (or glued) on. I haven't the faintest idea whether any of these patterns will work for what I just might be intending to do, but it's certainly fun thinking about it and constructing the patterns among all the Maybes.
One source I find most useful, incidentally, in thinking through the construction of saltwater patterns is a US site, www.saltwaterflies.com. Another UK site to check out is http://www.uksaltwaterflies.com/
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The Lost World of Mr. Hardy (DVD)
Saturday, 2 January 2010 at 18:56
Guess who received what for a birthday present? The Lost World of Mr. Hardy (Trufflepig Films, 2008) has been around for a while now, so I'm afraid I got onto it rather late. But late is better than never: it's wonderful. The film's an hour and a half of sheer pleasure during which the history of the Hardy company - of Hardy rod and reel-making, together with Hardy fly-dressing - is detailed by a stellar cast of former Hardy employees and others. Beautifully shot and edited, this film has a resonance which goes well beyond angling and constitutes a threnody for this particular kind of English manufacturing. If you haven't yet got hold of a copy I recommend you do so. Further details, including ordering procedures, are available via
http://www.thelostworldofmrhardy.com/
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52
Saturday, 2 January 2010 at 06:00
Plus ça change...
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