What Have You Been Tying Today?

[Robert MacDonald-Lewis]

A little spider pattern that has served well when the Caenis are on the go

[Sandy Nelson]

I'm nothing if not predictable
Having spent a couple of days reading the Stazicker and Hayes book 'the flies that trout prefer' and seeing lots of the amazing underwater photos of cripples and spinners, it reinforces what Kelly Galloup says and what my own observations have been about prey items.
I tried some of their cripple/spent style curved hook flies that are designed to lay flat




This a cool concept and gives the right  silhouette however it's a pain to tie. Made me think perhaps just my cdc spider on a curved hook gives me some extra variety if they are being fussy. Much easier to tie






I've been looking at Gary Lafontaines sparkle pupas too and the curved cdc spider should adapt well to that too. Watch this space for more experiments

[James Laraway]

very interesting Sandy....Will be interested to hear if the hooks do allow the fly to lie flat in the water or whether the point of the hook pulls the fly vertically

[Sandy Nelson]

It will be fun to try. I'm not entirely sold on the hook flat on the surface making much difference, it might even have a negative effect on hook ups. But the curved body is definitely something  that might add to the appeal when the standard one isn't as popular.
I don't think our fish are that fussy, might be different on the hard fished American mid west rivers and the southern chalkstreams.
I guess I don't know until I try 

[Mike Barrio]

I like the look of the CDC version Sandy 

[Daniel Mckay]

[James Laraway]

So, after much time away from the vice I'm back....
Arthur MacDonalds loch flies are amazing so I took some inspiration from his 'G10' fly

It is simplifed from a tying point of view with less materials -  using straggle fritz for the body rather than a palmered body for example to make it really durable.

I also did a non-muddled version which i quite like the look of

[Mike Barrio]

Nice looking flies James 

[Robert MacDonald-Lewis]

Those look great James, can see them fishing brilliantly.

[Robert MacDonald-Lewis]

Not quite a Zonker, multiple fur wings instead of the hide stip.

[James Laraway]

same muddler but in yellow as opposed to orange..

[Robert MacDonald-Lewis]

A little something for the weekend.

[James Laraway]

A couple of wee hoppers

[Robert MacDonald-Lewis]

Those are very nice James. Sure fire fish takers.

[Sandy Nelson]

Some lovely flies appearing 

I scaled up the triple wing spinner to a March brown size (12). It's accounted for a few fish this week.

[James Laraway]

Although the front hackle looks like grouse its not. I got a full golden pheasant skin from a charity shop recently as part of a 'package' which has an amazing range of feathers on it - the front brown / speckled hackle on this fly being one of them - result !

Those are very nice James. Sure fire fish takers.

[Sandy Nelson]

With the grannom starting  to appear I thought I'd finally make some of La fontaines sparkle pupa tweeked naturally

So a deep one with the weighed underbody



Surface one with an additional hackle and no weight



I'll give them a whirl tomorrow 

[Mike Barrio]

Looking good Sandy, will be interesting to see what the fish make of those 

[Robert MacDonald-Lewis]

Playing with a combination of a Diawl Bach and a shrimp type pattern.

[Bryan McDonald]

Did not tie it today but it took 3 large rainbows this morning

[Sandy Nelson]

This is a tungsten version of the grannom pupa. Which proved rather succesful last week when fished like a normal nymph

[Magnus Angus]

Finished a piece about a Kingsmill Moore Bumble

[Mike Barrio]

Some crackers in there Magnus 

[Robert MacDonald-Lewis]

Playing with the Gorgeous George style of flies.

[Lucian Vasies]

Hi guys,

here is a yellow and partridge spider, I hope you like it.