If I could only have one fly...

Oliver Edwards Heptagenid nymph, a
staple fly for me in the past.

Having always had a predilection for close copy, realistic flies, I lent towards those patterns which may seem too much bother to be worth tying, only to possibly - or eventually - lose it in a tree or submerged obstruction. There's no doubt simpler patterns are equally and possibly more effective - depending on your view of things - and at times I used flies that were more impressionistic. Despite there being easier, quicker flies to tie, my preference was to use ones that could take up to twenty minutes to tie. It was possibly a confidence thing; we all fish better with a healthy dose of confidence and I guess I was guilty in the past of thinking scruffy, uncomplicated patterns couldn't be as good or better than the more realistic ones I used.

Oliver Edwards Baetis nymph, still regularly used
to deadly effect.

There is one fly that has completely changed my view. It hasn't diminished my love to tie intricate, realistic patterns, but they no longer dominate my fly-box. This fly has caught me a huge variety of species from the expected trout and grayling to a wide range of coarse fish species.

It was when watching the urban fly fishing DVD produced by Fish On productions, that I came across JP's caddis pupa. Without realising, I had been tying it slightly differently as I had been tying the hackle behind the bead rather than behind the thorax. This is certainly down to me not paying enough attention to the pattern on the video, although I have purposely changed the ribbing, abdomen and thorax to different materials - very much a variant - it is essentially the same fly and it's effectiveness definitely hasn't been diminished by these small changes.

My variant of JP's pupa, the hackle tied in the right place, behind the thorax.

The most successful colour for me has been the cream bodied one, the green version catches occasionally, though I often find myself fishing just the cream one. A thick brown coloured wire provides a high contrast against the light abdomen colour enhancing the segmentation effect. The hackle is partridge, the thorax is squirrel dubbing - grey or fox - it doesn't really matter which; again this is different to the original pattern which incorporates the same dubbing as the abdomen. As a rule I tie it in sizes 12 to 14 with 2.5mm and 2mm tungsten beads respectively. To give more options larger and smaller beads can be used; in fact this summer - because of low water flows - I was forced to tie some up with copper brass beads, as tungsten was simply too heavy and affected presentation; I ought to tie some without a bead of any sort for use in skinny water and low flows.

The JP Pupa has caught me three barbel this year, this first time I have caught
this species on the fly.

The versatility of this fly is further demonstrated by the many different ways you can use it. I have successfully targeted sighted fish, generally casting upstream and to one side of the visible fish. The plop of the fly landing alerts the fish to its presence - so don't worry too much if the fly lands off course - often this results in an immediate inspection, and with luck an immediate take. You can imagine what happens if that scenario doesn't unfold,  a flat refusal to engage, the trout then becomes suspicious and any repeated casts causing the fish to flee. Of course the JP pupa is not always the right choice, but its effectiveness gives confidence that the majority of times it will catch you that fish. Be mindful about the size of fly and tungsten bead; if you use it to deceive sighted fish, a lighter bead is beneficial in the slower, smoother surfaced waters.

Another grayling succumbs to the charms of the JP pupa

A plump chub, no other fly has caught me such a diverse number of species.

By far the best way to use this pattern is as a team of flies searching faster sections of the river, the technique matters not, be it Czech style, European leader or good old upstream nymphing. Often two JP pupa's occupy the leader, a larger heavier one on the point below a smaller lighter fly on a dropper. As advocated by John Tyzack in the urban fly fishing DVD you can use two different colours to determine which one is best for that day and swap the least effective fly, in productive waters it's not uncommon to catch more than one fish at the same time.

This smashing 18" trout was caught on the JP pupa fished with a french leader.

Not only is the fly simple to fish it is simple to tie.

A selection of pre-tied hooks with a floss under-body.

I perhaps add an unnecessary step but I build up an under-body with floss. This allows me to dub the abdomen tighter meaning the rib doesn't disappear making it more prominent. I often do a batch of hooks with beads and under-bodies ready for when I need to fill gaps in my fly box.

Take a ready prepared grub hook; this is a Tiemco 2487. You can of course start the fly as a blank hook and bead. Tie on the thread - I'm using UTC70 - securely tie down the wire rib. This is 0.20mm coloured copper wire, equivalent to UTC brassie sized wire.

Once the rib is securely tied in, apply the dubbing to the thread - I use Fly-Rite poly dubbing, the colour is no, 25 cream variant.

Because of the floss under-body you won't need so much dubbing to give the right shape.

Wind the rib in evenly spaced turns.

Prepare a brown speckled partridge feather and tie in by the tip.

Wind the partridge hackle where the abdomen ends; you normally only get a couple of turns.

Dub a good quantity of squirrel dubbing - this is fox squirrel but grey will work just as well. Ensure you have a good mix of guard hair and underfur, I pluck the fur straight of the hide.

Wind the dubbing to create a thick thorax and tie off with a whip-finish or a few half-hitches

Once finished give the fly a good rough-up with a piece of velcro or tailor made dubbing brush to give the fly an enticing scruffy look.

This year I caught my biggest wild brown trout of 5lb 6oz, this fish measured approximately 24", and what did I catch it on - a JP pupa of course! No wonder I could survive if I only had one fly.

2015, the year of the caddis

As a rule I rarely fish into the evening; it's something that needs to change this coming season. I fished late only once last year, it proved to be quite a productive evening, balloon caddis and Klinkhåmers were the successful flies. I didn't have any proper adult caddis patterns, something that will be rectified this year and I have started to tie some already.

A pattern that has been successful in the past is the G&H sedge, the deer hair body ensures it floats superbly and stays afloat too. There has been a large piece of roe deer laying in my fur drawer, it's intended use has always been G&H sedges - rarely fishing stillwaters means muddler patterns aren't much of a priority at present. If you need any well prepared and reasonably priced deer hair, my friend Mike sells it on eBay, have a look here for deer hair and other patches of fur.

The original pattern calls for a dubbing loop twisted with green seals fur for the under-body, most tiers omit this these days; the ones I have been tying haven't had an under-body, but I may do some with another time.

G&H Sedge
Hook: Partridge Supreme dry sizes 10-16
Thread: 55d GSP
Body: Deer hair
Hackle: Two Coachman brown Hebert Miner cock hackles
Antenna: Hackle stalks

Another fly I have been tying is a pattern I came across on the Flyforums. Kris (hydropysched) revealed this pattern after a good days fishing. Kris used seals fur to give the fly a shaggy thorax and after a combined brainstorm with Mike we modified it by changing the thorax to mouflon. For those of you who haven't heard or come across mouflon before, it's a mountain sheep with hair very similar to deer. I found a vintage hide on eBay that went for a reasonable final price, a fly called Prawu sedge led to the desire of wanting to try this material. You can find the fly here on Hans Weilenmann's excellent flytierspage.com website.

Best used sparsely in a dubbing loop, trim and kink the hair strands in your fingers.

Christened the Mouflon Marauder - I'm not sure if Kris ever named it - it will likely be taken for an emerging caddis although I'm sure with some crafty twitching and skating it could make a passable egg-laying female.

Mouflon marauder
Hook: Partridge 15BN Klinkhamer sizes 12-16
Thread: 55d GSP
Body: Fly-Rite poly dubbing no.19 light tan
Wing: Nature's Spirit cow elk back strip
Thorax: Mouflon tied sparsely in a dubbing loop

A close up of the shaggy mouflon thorax

I have used Nature's Spirit cow elk back-strip for the wing, it has thicker walls to the hair so doesn't compress and flare so much giving it a better shaped wing; you can find it here at Funky Fly Tying. As for the mouflon, I don't know where you could find it except eBay, I don't know of any suppliers that sell it, maybe as it is a continental species you might be able to buy some from a European supplier.

The balloon caddis is a fly that until last season never really did anything for me. I managed to catch a number of fish on it, not only in the evening, but during the day, in a variety of water from pockets in between boulders on the River Barle in Exmoor and smooth glides full of slashing, jumping trout. For extra buoyancy and to further enhance its float-ability I use Fish-on ultra dry yarn in cinnamon as an under-wing beneath the elk hair. A chartreuse green butt and brown body, both Fly-Rite poly dubbing complete the abdomen, with a thorax of fox squirrel dubbed thickly under a yellow foam head.

Roman Moser's Balloon caddis variant
Hook: Partridge SLD sizes 12-16
Butt: Chartreuse dubbing
Body: Brown dubbing
Underwing: Cinnamon Fish-On Ultra dry yarn
Wing: Natural elk
Thorax: Squirrel
Head/Thorax cover: Yellow foam 

A product that is new to me, are the very realistic sedge wings from Reel wings. Ever since I first read Steve Thornton's Listen to the River, have I longed to come across decent realistic caddis wings. The ones sold by Virtual nymph weren't great and the Lierfjord caddis wings used by Steve are unobtainable as far as I can tell, I've never been able to find them.

The Reel wing sedge wings look great once they have been coloured; they are made from white plastic, perfect for colouring any shade you want. I'm unsure whether the rigidity of the plastic will affect hook-ups, but they are by no means solid.

Again I have used mouflon for the thorax, trimmed in a way that the top follows the angle of the wing leaving hairs protruding from the side and rear simulating legs. The body is made from CDC feather that are twisted and wrapped around the hook shank, any stray fibers trimmed to form a close, slightly segmented abdomen.

Reel Wings Caddis
Hook: Tiemco 100BL size 10
Thread: 55d GSP
Butt: Troutline Select CDC caddis green
Body: Troutline Select CDC brown
Wing: Reel Wings Caddis wing large
Thorax: Mouflon tied sparsely in a dubbing loop

First fish of the year.

Went for a very brief trip this afternoon having finished work at lunchtime. The wind that howled the previous night had died down somewhat although rain greeted me on my way. I found the river in good nick, with a good volume of water flowing through and a slight tinge. This was certainly a fishing trip as the catching part I found particularly difficult and it wasn't until the end that I finally caught a fish.

I could see the fish holding station in the current, but my position meant I couldn't use the end of the fly nice to signal a take. Casting my team of two flies across the flow I watched as the grayling purposefully moved across the river and intercepted the fly; fish on. A lovely grayling fought sinuously in a strong current and although it would be small by national standards it was average for the river.

It was great to get out and even better not blanking, but the pressure was really on and I seriously thought I wasn't going to catch anything. Hopefully I'll fare better next time.

A catch of caseless caddis.

I haven't been tying much in the last few weeks. When I've found time and the effort to do so, I've been filling my fly boxes with caseless caddis.

Oliver Edwards hydropsyche and rhyacophila patterns are well renowned and I have had reasonable success when using them. The materials to tie the hydropsyche are easy to get hold off, the specified yarn for the rhyacophila is a little harder to track down. If you're not a fussy person you can use any wool or yarn of the right colour to tie them - being mindful that natural fibers darken when wet; I'm more of a fussier tier, I would rather use the specified materials.

A little bit of effort, has seen me source a large quantity of sparkle yarn that is probably equal to the original Oliver Edwards product. I have a small amount of the 1a rhyacophila sparkle and the new stuff is comparable to the original in its make up and the colour seems spot on. I also have a small amount of yarn in another colour; I have used this to make a variation on the hydropsyche using yarn for the body instead of nymph skin.

Oliver Edwards' Rhyacophila larvae

Oliver Edwards' Hydropsyche larvae

The two combined

I can never be accused of being a fair weather fisherman...

Walking in to Milldale

...especially after yesterday; in fact my last two trips have been during adverse conditions.

It took thirty miles of driving before I came across any of the snow that covered much of the country. Thankfully the roads were good, even those deep in the dales. I met up with Mike and Ant at Milldale to fish on LADDFA's water on the Dove. Although the river was running a little high it was still clear, continued cold conditions meant we didn't have to contend with snow melt, but the water was still frigid regardless.

The scenery was spectacular, hard frost gripped tight on anything that wasn't already blanketed by the snow, the limestone cliffs decorated with rows of icicles.

We walked to the bottom end of the beat, this served two purposes; firstly it was essential to warm up fully before we started - I have found that a good walk really warms you and sets you up for the day, making the low temperatures bearable - and secondly we got to see all of the available water, earmarking those pools and runs that looked tantalising.

The day proved to be as hard as it was cold. I fared the worst out of the three of us. I took a few hours before I finally caught something, two grayling and a trout was my end total. One grayling and the trout fell to the Utah killer bug and a red-tag jig back fooled the other grayling. Despite the seemingly poor return, it was a delight to get out and meet with friends, but I fear it will be some time before I'm out again.

The other fishing trip during adverse conditions was at the beginning of the month. I traveled to Pinkshrimp country and fished the upper reaches of post-industrial river. Heavy rain meant the river had risen considerably, although it was dropping slowly from its peak, the decision was made last minute; the river would be fish-able but not ideal. On arrival the river was high and quite coloured - a dark tea colour. As I was applying floatant to my indicator a small grayling took a fly as they dangled in the current, off to a great start without even starting yet.

Although not prolific we caught steadily. Successful flies included Danny's San Juan worm, pink shrimps and red tag bead-heads.

In the end I only fished for two and a half hours as the rain returned mid morning, the river rose again and coloured up further halting all action which had been steady up till that point. In total we had around 25 fish; Danny catching the bigger share. There were some nice fish amongst the total including some trout and grayling to a pound.

Danny at the end of the morning, you can see the state of the river which by this
time had become impossible to fish.

Pink shrimps and......

San Juan worms proving to be the consistent catchers that morning.

Using Collins Hackle...

Not only do I love the colours that Collins Hackle capes come in, the feathers are great quality. I want to show what they look like when wrapped so I have taken a feather from each cape and wrapped the onto a needle.

L-R Dyed barred dun, Brassy dun, Barred ginger, Med brown dun, Grizzly and Natural barred dun

Although the individual feathers aren't as long as on Whiting capes I have found they will tie the same size range.

To show how small the capes will tie I have tied a Griffiths gnat and a variant. The variant is tied with barred ginger hackle and pheasant tail body.

Griffiths gnat variant tied on a size 22 Partridge midge supreme

Griffiths gnat tied on a size 24 Partridge midge supreme

I have also been messing around with some of Joeseph Ludkin's Reel wings; the results are pleasing.

I used the brassy dun cape for this winged klink

The same as the klink above but tied on a Tiemco BL100

The hook shank has been kinked at the thorax

And to finish off a hare's ear jingler using the natural barred dun cape.

A scruffy, impressionistic dry; just the thing for early season trouting

If you're a hackle tart...

...Collins capes can now be bought in the UK.

I may be one of the first people who has bought Collins capes from the only UK stockist. I have always been a bit of a hackle tart, but choices in the UK are limited to the main hackle producers - Whiting, Metz, Keogh and our own home producer Chevron. There's nothing wrong with what is available of course although some people may take offence to the prices charged but quality comes at a price.

Anyone that knows me well will know that I love hackle! I can't help but buy capes in a myriad of colours, some only so slightly different to others I already have. I'm sure I'm not alone in having this weakness. I have wanted to own a few Collins capes because of the quality of the natural colours available. I have a fondness for dun coloured capes and the ones I've received from Funky Flytying are some of the best I have come across.

Although only a few colours are listed on the Funky website a quick chat with Toby saw three natural dun, a dyed dun, barred ginger and a grizzly cape delivered to me. I've taken a few quick snaps just to show them off although I haven't as yet used them I really looking forward to trying them out.

First up are a medium brown dun and a smokey dun.

A close up of the smokey dun.

And the medium brown dun.

These are a natural barred dun and a dyed barred dun.

Close up of the natural barred dun.

And the dyed barred dun.

The quality of the grizzle and the barred ginger is as good as any I've seen.

All the capes are grade 3 and cost £30 which is great value in my eyes. They will tie down to 20 with the main bulk of sizing being 12-16.

If there is anything specific you're after send Toby a PM I think you'll be pleasantly surprised with these capes, especially at the price. You can find the capes here.