This is  a replica of a frame of flies that I was requested to do by the Irish department of foreign affairs ,
It was taken to the U K by The President of Ireland on his state visit earlier this year and was Presented to the Prince of Wales Prince Charles

That was one of quite a few fish yesterday great start to the season hopefully he will be a bit bigger next year if the cormorants dont get him I came across two on my local river yesterday.  something should be done about them i think they are doing a lot of harm to our rivers and lakes ?

Blae winged Sooty Olive

The Sooty Olive is a  very popular pattern and one that I always carry in the fly box it is one of the better-known traditional Irish patterns and more than likely one of the most favoured .

The name comes from the colour of the Seals fur body on the fly and this colour is used on a number of different styles from Bumbles to  dabblers etc .

It imitates a number of different species of Insects and is a very good fly to have up during a duck fly hatch . 

 it is a good all-round fly that can also be used for Sea trout in the summer months .

The original pattern has a wing of bronze mallard but this one has the blae wing , slips of teal wing feathers for the wing . 

I don’t know where this pattern originated from it is just another one of the variants from the original pattern  but it has become very popular . 

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