Dyeing with picric

A cheeky inquiry with Gareth at Cliff-Harvey Angling - about paying for some materials to be dyed in picric - led him to kindly offer to send me some.

As soon as it arrived, I set about transferring the liquid into a larger container. As there were still some undissolved crystals in the bottom, I knew I could increase the volume of liquid, allowing me to dye larger items.

L-R Picric dyed melanistic, dyed yellow, natural and natural dyed picric

I only had a couple of materials I really wanted to dye, these being deer hair and heron herl. Once I got started I couldn't help but put more stuff in the solution. In the end I dyed half a dun grizzle cape, a normal and melanistic pheasant tail feather and a bleached elk hair patch along with the intended deer hair and heron herl.

Whiting dun grizzle dyed in picric

A close-up

The results were mixed, the heron didn't turn the expected olive shade, however the deer hair went better, it turned out to be absolutely right on the money in colour for the wing in the mohican mayfly.

The heron herl didn't really take on much colour, despite leaving it in the solution for several days 

Picric dyed roe deer

Picric dyed deer, natural roe and bleached elk dyed in picric

After the initial lot of materials I moved onto half a squirrel skin, some peacock eyes and a piece of woodchuck with good results.

Thanks to Gareth for sending me the picric solution to experiment with.

A few pictures from Exmoor

I managed only three short sessions whilst away on Exmoor; two on the Barle, one on the Exe.  My first trip was a very short, one hour, spent flicking a balloon caddis between boulders in pocket water. It was such a contrast to the sedate, smooth surfaced rivers I usually fish. The action was instant and constant, actually hooking and landing fish proved problematic. Three trout and a salmon parr came to hand, many more missed, but I had a great time and remained in the good books as I kept to the agreement of one hours fishing.

The next trip was just as short, but for different reasons. It rained everyday at some point, some days it rained most of it. So arriving at a rising river it didn't take long to become un-fishable, although I missed a couple of nibbles on a woolly bugger.

Having such a great misses, she allowed me a chance to fish for a bit longer when we went to Tiverton. I fished the Exe years ago - I knew exactly where I wanted to fish - a long pool with the main current running along the near bank; trees and bushes prevent much fishing from the bank. In the past I had plenty of trout and grayling and this time proved no different.

I intended to fish the pool using long leader techniques, I rarely get the chance on my home waters, they're simple not suited to it. Arriving at the bottom of the pool the fish dictated otherwise. Plenty of rising fish all over the tail of pool, slightly altered my intentions. Most of the rises were small affairs, nothing visible hatching and a gusty wind pointed towards something small and terrestrial being taken. A very small black Klinkhåmer tied onto a 0.10mm tippet proved successful enough and landed me several small trout including a particularly silvery one - a sea trout perhaps?

I worked past the rising fish heading up the pool and changed over to a french leader. A strong flow and reasonable depth saw me chose a size 12 JP pupa with a three millimetre tungsten bead on the point, a hydropsyche larvae in the middle and a baetis nymph on the top dropper.

A size-able trout started things off and I caught a succession ranging from 6-10 inches. I only started to catch grayling as got near the head of pool, again a mixed range of sizes. I caught on all three flies, with the JP pupa taking the majority. Fishing this one pool left me more than happy and it proved to be the last session of the week.

My view for the week

I'm staying a cottage for week at Hawkridge on Exmoor. Three hundred yards below the cottage is the River Barle, Tarr steps is a short walk away.

The Barle runs along the edge of the trees

Looking forward to fishing - I have access to seven miles of river - but I'm constantly reminded that it's NOT a fishing holiday.

A second fish of a lifetime; in one season

A mere three weeks after catching an extraordinary wild brown trout, I have succeeded in catching another, bigger one. Unlike last time I hadn't left my scales in the car, this one has a figure to it's weight rather than an estimate.

Unbelievably I caught this fish in exactly the same place as the last one, but just to shake things up it was fooled by a different fly. A size 14 JP pupa with a cream body and standard copper bead, proved the winning combination for this fish.

On this occasion I found there to be a lot more lesser fish present, this provided even more of a challenge than usual; although a little extra patience, along with a slightly tinged river from overnight rain helped.

I am beginning to think it may be time to invest in a newer, larger net, my Leeda scoop net proving invaluable normally, but significantly under-sized for these trophy fish.

With a little anguish, this fish shouldn't have been alone, in fact it wasn't, I caught three trout, but I did hook and lose another very large trout. I have been pursuing this particular trout for sometime, I first saw it last year, it hasn't moved and despite my best efforts it hadn't been caught either. Needless to say you can imagine how inconsolable I was, having succeeded in deceiving the fish, only to lose it during the fight and this was before I caught the other fish. It did however take the shine of the second capture a little and I cannot help but think how I could have landed two exceptional fish in one day. Maybe next time.

Unfortunately I had no audience this time and had to collar some chap to take some pictures for me. A finger across the lens affected all the pictures he took for me, I can't grumble, at least there are some pictures.

And the weight of the trout?
5lb 6oz, 24" in length.

Missed out on the mayfly, but I still had a ball (part three)

By the time Friday had arrived - the third and final day of fishing in a row - I was completely knackered. As a result I wasn't especially eager to get out fishing early, although I was certainly still going. A leisurely drive saw me returning to my club river. I had already decided I wanted to fish the last pool of Wednesday evening that Tom finished the day on. Tom lost a sizeable trout and I felt the pool had more to give; largely due to the unexpected depth I saw Tom wade to.

With the success French nymphing had given me this week, I wanted to try the method in this first pool. The pool is open and wide relative to most of the river, I would rather have some space whilst still trying the method out.

Seems I still haven't cracked this pool, a lost grayling and a single trout were all that I caught, I will have to try again.

Rising fish up ahead distracted me from my original plans. I opted to stay with the 10ft rod despite a succession of over hanging trees. Changing over to a fly line I crept into position and removed the last section of the rod - it is a three piece so gave me a working length just over 6ft. A small pod of grayling and large dace were ahead of me and although I could see a couple of fish move to the small nymph I was using I couldn't get one to take.

A well chewed DHE

I moved on. This brought me to the bottom of a pool that held a fair depth, but lacked much flow except for at the head of it. Working up the pool with a DHE, it wasn't until I reached the faster water that I caught a small sized grayling.

Upstream, ahead of the pool, was a fantastic smooth glide; half a dozen or so rising fish finally gave me some targets. Scanning the river surface as it flowed past I couldn't see anything trapped in the surface that could be tempting the fish up. With this in mind I kept the DHE on for it's generic food impression. I caught two more grayling - one of which took a size 18 adams paraloop emerger - a trout and lost a fish too.

Adams paraloop emerger

Another smooth but slower glide produced another trout after a rise revealed its location.

I made my further upstream, this was all new water for me, I was exploring as much as fishing. I found a cracking pool that had been created using some log jams and probably a little excavation. I could see from the high bank the pool had a good number of fish in it. Creeping in down stream, I set up as I had previously broken down my tackle. This pool proved tricky to fish, the tail quickly shallowed and using the duo method it took several attempts to get a decent drift. A couple of missed chances, including a rise at the klinkhamer frustrated me. As I begun casting at the top of the pool I hooked a substantial fish, a fantastic wild fish of around 13".

I explored a little more and found a dismantled weir. I landed a dace and a trout and lost another fantastic fish which shot downstream after I had played it for a minute or two; holding on too hard hoping to turn the fish resulted in a snapped tippet, I finished there feeling pretty cross with myself for allowing that to happen.

As I walked back to the car I was more than happy with the day. I was pleased I had explored more of the river and I'll certainly be having another look at this section.

Dyed mallard flank

The Phd tied with the original natural mallard wing

In the past, when I have been tying Phd's, Barbour paraduns or any other patterns requiring mallard flank, I have used marker pens to colour where necessary. Normally I have only used various shades of grey depending on how dark I wanted the wing. Results were mixed, the flank took the colour well enough but I didn't feel it would last. An alternative is of course commercially dyed feathers.

Being a fan of Nature's Spirit products, it was inevitable I would end up trying some of their dyed mallard flank. Medium dun and summer duck are the colours I have used so far, the results are good. A wing made of the medium dun makes a fly look darker overall compared to natural mallard. The summer duck substitute is quite good, not as subtly coloured as the natural carolina wood duck flank, but certainly acceptable.

I have tied up a Phd.

The dyed mallard flank really adds to this fly, in my eyes anyway

Some Catskill style dry-flies. Summer duck is well used in the States on the Catskills pattern, the Hendrickson is one of the best known.

The summer duck sub is a deep rich colour

A hendrickson with a medium grey dun hackle, tied short at the eye in the tradition Catskill style

This is tied with a dark dun hackle

A generic blue dun with medium dyed mallard flank, muskrat body and medium dun hackle

Just for fun I have also tied up a Phd in the Hendrickson colours.

This is a colour combo for the Phd that I like

You can find Nature's Spirit dyed mallard flank at Funky Fly Tying here.