Pike Fly

There are so many pike fly patterns to choose from and they are not that difficult to tie once you have the right materials , of which there is an abundance of synthetic materials to be had in every colour that you can imagine .
If you use your imagination you can come up with some very nice patterns to imitate bait fish
If you can come up with something that resembles a fish that is dying or dead  and you put it in front of  a fish that  is in feeding mode it will definitely trigger a response .
This is just something that I came up with while trying out new materials it moves really nice in the water on the retrieve

Black Gnat

The black Gnat ,What can be said about this small insect.
It can be the dread of every fly fishermen and fly dresser , it can be a tricky fly to imitate  and get right  for use when trout are feeding on them on those warm summer days when this insect can be prolific in there numbers over Rivers and lakes.
I think the name black gnat can cover a list of different small black flies hence all the different patterns and sizes that are tied.
I like to fish dry flies that sit nicely in the surface film I think it makes them more realistic to the trout  I have come up with a  dry pattern that has given me some joy  on my local rivers  during the day  it needs to be fished   in water that is  not moving to slow casting the fly into the channels and the small pockets can sometimes produce a nice fish .

Blue winged olive

The Blue winged olive is one of those patterns that has frustrated many a fisherman and fly tyer over the years.

It is one of those flies that  can be so hard to imitate  at the tying vice, and many a fly tier has tried to come up with a successful pattern that will work.

There are so many good patterns out there to imitate the Blue winged olive all of which that will work at some time or another .

But it is such a frustrating  fly to copy as one pattern might work on a given night and go back the next evening and the same pattern might not get looked at .

It is also a fly that if you are not in the right place at the right time you will miss the rise as it is so short 

So a little local knowledge is a good thing as the fly does not hatch on the entire length of the river only in certain areas and if you can get to know these stretches of the river some fantastic sport can be had .

The blue winged olives really come into there own during the summer months of June July and august. 

And there are hatches of this insect  right through to the end of the season.

I have come up with a pattern for the Blue winged olive Emerger that has been very useful for me during a hatch of blue winged olives, it really works well at the start of the rise when the emergers are floating down the trout tend to take this fly before the hatch really starts up and I have caught some really good trout with this pattern .

 The body colour varies on this fly and can be an olive shade or brown colour as the season goes on I have had more success with the brown shade, but this could vary from river to river .

Emerging sedge

I have been tying flies for many years and during my time as a fly tier I have come up with a few patterns that have given me some fantastic River and Lough fishing.
Some of these patterns are quite straight forward to tie and some have had  a bit more work in them .
I like to tie my river flies as near to realistic as I can and I think I have got this pattern  just right  it is one of my favourite patterns when the sedges come on .
I like experimenting with different styles and  materials there is so much material on the market at the moment that we are spoilt for choice.
One of the materials required for  the fly is flexi body  this is quite easy to use you just cut at an angle to create a tying in point, and wind up the hook shank in overlapping turns this gives a really nice segmented body , The flexi body material is  almost the  same as an elastic band only not as thick , it comes in a huge variety of different colours  and widths , You can create some nice realistic nymphs with it .

This is how the fly sits under the surface of the water the cdc loop wing holds it perfectly in the surface 

Hares ear

 The Gold ribbed hares ear is more than likely a pattern that has been used by most fly fishermen  at one time or another it is a pattern that I would imagine is known worldwide .
It definitely is a pattern that I always carry in my fly box I think that it was one of the first flies that I used when I started fly fishing and one that I have fond memories of as it has given me some good days when the conditions were right . The hares ear is a pattern that I have copied  and used frequently when fly fishing .
There are a lot of variations of this pattern These are two different versions of the hares ear  that I use. It is a pattern that I always carry in my fly box in a variety of different styles and sizes The wet , and the nymph.

Blue Quill

One of my favourite wet flies for my local river is the blue quill this pattern has worked well for me over the years  tied in both wet and dry versions .

it is a fly pattern that gave me a lot of good sport many years ago  on my local river Nore and is a fly that I always carry in the fly box it is one of those patterns that has worked for me when everything else has  failed , I have even caught sea trout on this pattern to my surprise  when I was fishing up in Dundalk  some time ago for brown trout .

Red Sedge

The Red sedge or Brown sedge are quite common on my local rivers and this is a pattern that I often use when  they are about  it floats very well and you can give it a  slight twitch with the tip of the rod to give it some movement when covering a fish  it floats very well and sits nicely on top of the water .

This is probably my favourite time of year when the sedges  come in to there own , there is nothing better in my mind than a moonlit night on a river or Lough when the sedges are hatching and the trout  go into there feeding mode and you can sometimes fish into the early hours .

There are so many different patterns to choose from But once you have the right shape and colour to match the natural insect you should be OK as I find the fish not to be that fussy when they are feeding on sedges as they really attack the fly.

Golden olive mayfly

This is a pattern that was given to me to copy for lough Corrib I think It is a very nice looking mayfly pattern But I don't know the name  or if it has one if anyone has seen this pattern before or knows the name of it please let me know , it is definitely a pattern that I will hopefully get a chance to by step guide in next months edition of  Irish angler magazine.

Spent Gnat CDC loopwing

May flies are tied in an enormous number of styles from detached body’s to fan winged  patterns some Gnat patterns tied with just a wider Hackle with no wings all of  which  will work well on there day.
This fly  is a very simple tying but again very effective when mayflies  are on the water . It is a great floating fly and really looks the part when tied in the fashion which I like to tie the fly.

You can also dap this fly  because there is CDC in the wing and a hackle in front it floats very well and is very visible.
The fly is tied with the hackle done half moon that means that there is no hackle underneath ,  This allows the fly to sit in the surface just like the natural fly, and this gives the fly more buoyancy as you do not cut the hackle fibres underneath ,but stroke them upwards this way  you are using all of the hackle.
 I have come up with a couple of patterns that  have become very popular on both river and Lough , the mayfly have started a bit of a comeback on some of my local rivers over the last few  years and hopefully it will get better as it is a  fantastic time when the fish really  do come and attack the fly .

The Olive CDC loop wing is a fly that I tie an enormous amount of for Lough  Corrib, and   has become popular on Lough Derg  with people that I have tied it for and I had good reports over the last couple of years one person that I tied it for caught a six pound trout on Lough Corrib.
The Gnat style is a pattern that I have used on the rivers and is  a super fly that just looks like the real thing as it floats along the trout really attack it .
 I have had trout come clean out of the water when they take it . I like to rough up the body of the fly by plucking out the seals fur fibres with a dubbing needle.
I have Just put one very light  olive CDC feather through the middle of two white ones as it gives the wing a very nice tinge of olive .

Wet Mayfly

It is almost time for the mayfly again and this is a wet pattern which is a favourite of mine when the mayfly come on .
I like to experiment with different colours sometimes you get lucky and come up with a pattern that  gets a few takes and then there are times when nothing happens this is what keeps us at the fly tying vice trying to make that fly that will fool the trout.
This is a  variant of a good pattern  that  I have just added a little  bit extra to without going over the top and I try to keep the tying of the fly as near as possible to the original as I can.
The  pattern that  I have chosen is  the Corrib Grey this is  a very good pattern that has caught its share of fish over the years.
I like to add a touch of orange or red to a lot of the wet patterns that I tie  for both Lough and river, I think it sometimes gives that little bit extra to the fly.
That is all that I have done to this  pattern  just added an extra bit of colour to the fly without over doing it .
I also think that it is important to use good quality hackles in your fly patterns if you can obtain them  I think it will  give an added advantage,  and gives the fly that nice lifelike pulse  when it is being retrieved  through the water hopefully this pattern will get its share of trout this season .

Iron Blue Dun

The iron blue is a great early season fly with hatches of the insect  coming on in late march  through to may and into the summer months , the first two months are the best times to fish the dry fly .
On my local rivers there are normally some very good hatches of the insects towards the end of march  and into late may and beyond and some good fishing is possible .

It is probably one of the first good hatches of fly and it will be seen right into the summer months but the dry pattern will fish best in the early part of the season when trout  don’t tend to be as choosy .
The Iron blue is an insect that is fairly widespread across Ireland and well known to most fly fishermen

Olive Nymph

I really look forward to the start of the fishing season on my local rivers and doing a  bit of Nymph fishing .
Unless it is going to be very mild at the start of the fishing season and we get good hatches of olives but I haven’t seen this happen for quite a number of years.
This is definitely one of my favourite patterns for the start of the season.
I have had some fantastic sport with this nymph even in the coldest weather when only the foolhardy would venture  out with a fly rod .
not big heavy nymphs but something that is a bit more natural looking , I still like to weight the nymphs that I tie but only enough to get the fly through the surface as I don’t like the nymph to sink to fast
I  really enjoy this type of fishing as it can be done right through the season  especially on those days when nothing is happening and the fish are lying low.
I would definitely recommend this pattern

Dry Duck Fly

This is a dry fly pattern for the Duckfly that I came across  Quite some years ago and is probably the only duck fly pattern that I tie for the fly box as there is normally  more of a call for the Duckfly patterns to be tied  in the wet style.
This pattern can be  altered  quite simply to imitate the wet fly by making a couple of changes with the hackle by that I mean just put on a soft hen hackle for the wet pattern .
It pays to carry a few wet and dry patterns in your fly box as conditions can dictate which fly to use .
I cant even recall where I came across the tying for the fly  as it was quite a few years ago ,but it is a tried and tested fly pattern  that I have tied up for many Anglers with good success on the western Loughs

Wet duck fly

This is a tying for the wet Duck fly I will post a dry pattern soon .

Fishing the wet pattern is I think more popular amongst a lot of anglers   some good sport can be had  and this pattern has worked quite well over the years.

paraloop

These patterns a are really fantastic to imitate small Emergers and if you can present them to any fish that will spook easily they can sometimes take a fish as they are patterns that look so realistic with the body of the fly sitting in or under the surface.

I have been using these patterns for some years now  and have found them to be very useful as they  represent the natural insect very well indeed and they can be tied right down to very small sizes.

This fly floats very well and you decide what way you want it to float by setting the hackle at different angles , either in the surface or under it by the way in which it is tied .

Angling Show Dublin

I have a stand at the  angling show in Dublin at the weekend hopefully there will be a crowd there. it is on every year and there is normally big crowds there
I will be be doing a few fly tying exhibitions and meeting a lot of fellow anglers and fly dressers and hopefully pick up some new tips  so it should be good .

Olive Mayfly

These are superb mayflies when they are tied and are very realistic .
They come in a huge variety of sizes and colours and you can tie everything from the very small olives to the mayfly .they are also very buoyant and the fly its nicely on the surface as there is a pocket of air in the detached body when you have secured it to the hook shank which gives the fly more buoyancy.

I was given some samples by pat Cullen from Avonmore Tackle products  a couple of years ago to see what I thought of them and I really think they are  the business they are very lifelike but also flexible and  don’t break up very  easily . The hackle would go before the body I think and if so it is only a matter of replacing them with new hackles .

Golden Olive Dabbler

I love experimenting with different styles of fly tying and when the chance arises  I like to have a go.
Some times I could spend a  full day  fiddling around with different materials and feathers  trying to come up with something different there are the odd time when it pays off and a lot of times when you say why did you bother , this is the beauty of fly tying we will always keep trying to get that elusive pattern that does the business.
The dabbler is one of those patterns that you can play around with quite a lot as there are so many different  patterns and styles in the tying of them that the fly allows you to do this  as you can add or take away from it .
Dabbler patterns come in many forms everything  from black claret silver pearly the list goes on and on
It is more than likely the most sought after flies  for Lough fishing  and a good dabbler pattern  will more often than not take a nice trout for the angler .
Some time ago I was given a full skin from a Menolistick cock pheasant from a good friend of mine Seanie Kelleher from County Cork we met up at the game fair this year and he duly obliged and what a thing of beauty it was .
The  skin from this bird  was the biggest from a pheasant that I had ever seen and the colours on the feathers where absolutely beautiful with all the different shades I could only admire it and imagine how I was going to put it to good use ,
And as I love to try and experiment with different materials and colours this fell right into my barrow and I could not wait to try and  use some of the feathers from it .

I used one of the body feathers as an under wing with bronze mallard over the top and came up with this creation