Hooks that cover many bases

Varivas 2200BL Hooks

Fishing earlier in the week, flies were on the water, Black Knats, Hawthorns, LDO’s, Medium Olives and Mayflies.
The fish were looking up and rising, some were obvious and some were very subtle, just gentle sips.
So I started off with a Black Klink size 12 to cover the Hawthorns and it worked a treat, later on when there was more Mayflies about I switched to an extended body Mayfly and that worked as well, when it was obvious the the fish were taking Olives I switched to Olive Klinks, size 12 for the LDO’s and 14 for the Medium Olives. All of the flies were tied on the same hook pattern, just two sizes, if the fish had been fixed on the Black Knat it would have been the same hook pattern either a size 16 or 18 Black Klink. The hook pattern was the Varivas 2200BL, which has become my go to hook pattern for Klinks, extended body upwings and emerging sedge pupa.

Check out our full range of  Varivas Hooks and other Varivas Fly Fishing Products

Buck Tail for Salmon Flies

Turrall Buck TailsThe trouble with synthetic hair for some flies is the fact that when you want to mix several or many colours, the only real way to do it with synthetics is to layer the colours.
With Turrall Buck Tail you can put a few strands of each colour together, stack them if you want, and just roll them to get a great mixed wing or tail, something you just can’t do with synthetics, and you can buy them in small patches, you don’t have to buy a whole tail. The standard winging material for large streamers, Salmon and Saltwater flies. These are the finest selected tails from Minnesota and have been expertly tanned and dyed to eliminate oil and unpleasant smell. A Medium to coarse hair of 100-125mm in length.

Check out our extensive range of  Turrall Fly Tying Materials

Klink & Para Wing Posts

Tiemco Aero Dry WingWhen creating a wing post for Klinks or Paras I always use Tiemco Aero Dry Wing, having found it covers all my needs in
a wing post material. When you start to unwind it from the card,
you will find that it naturally splits into four strands, I find one of these strands doubled enough to form a post, then I don’t like bulky wings. I form the post by running the silk down to the point where I want the wing to be, I then take the piece of Aero Wing under the shank half way and pull both ends upwards, a couple of figure of eight turns then whip up the post for a couple mms, place the hackle against the post in position and whip back down, tying off the rest of the stalk as I go towards the back of the fly. I then complete the rest of the fly before winding the hackle and whip finishing to complete.
The choice of wing/post colour is one of personal choice, one guide I know swears by pink Black Para Midgeand says orange puts the fish off, other people use orange and seem quite happy with their catches, myself, I use med grey and find I can see it better than any other colour, in fact it seems to catch the light and almost glows.

Check out the complete range of  Tiemco Aero Dry Wing.

Dr Slick Titanium Bobbin 4″

Dr Slick Titanium 4" BobbinBobbins are the critical tool in tying since they must keep smooth tension on the thread spool and have super smooth inserts to apply the thread to your fly. To this end, Dr Slick have created two series of bobbins that handle these tasks with ease. Both series have delrin feet for smooth tension on the thread spool and have either dual ceramic or titanium oxide funnel inserts for smooth application of thread to fly. These funnel shaped inserts allow for a smoother application of thread as the bobbin is rotated and they cause less breakage than traditional pipe or straight edged inserts.

Titanium Oxide Inserts are a much newer generation of material that is more lubricious than ceramic. There is a raised micro pebbled or egg carton pattern on the insert that cuts down on surface tension. Ridiculously slick!

Check our full range of Dr Slick Fly Tying Products at  Fly Fishing Tackle Co UK.

Hemingway’s Fly Dubbing

Hemingway UV Dubbing PacketsOver the past few seasons
I have been giving my flies an extra bit of sparkle, more than just a flashback or an antron shuck. I’ve been mixing in Hemingway’s UV Dubbing on both nymphs and dries, I tend to mix it into the thorax, most of my dries have thoraxes, in small quantities, don’t over do it, use a colour that complements the colour of your thorax, about 20/80 will do it if you don’t twist your dubbing to tight, a little and light to build it up. Trout see into the UV range so even a hint will be visible to them. I use more in the bodies of sea trout flies! I find it makes a difference.

Check out our full range of  Hemingway Dubbing. 

Tungsten Carbide Scissors

Veniard Universal Tungtan Carbide ScissorsA good pair of scissors are a must if you’re serious about fly tying, sharp with a fine nose to get in close, any old pair will not do, save them for cutting lead and wires, even then I like them to be sharp, I just use heavier duty ones. The Veniard Universal Tungsten Carbide Scissors certainly fit the bill as very good fly tying scissors, according to one of our fly tying consultants these are one of the finest fly-tying scissors available on the market today.
As one of the most important purchases a tyer makes they cut with great precision and smoothness, and should last a lifetime.

Veniard Fly Tying Tools and Materials are available from Fly Fishing Tackle Co UK

March Browns & Large Dark Olives

Having spent a lot of time over the winter thinking about the start of the season and what flies to use, I decided to reinvent the wheel and crossed a Jingler with a Water Chicken! The Jingler is an old Tweed fly and the Water Chicken comes from Neil Patterson, the fly I ended up with works well for early season trout, bringing them up to the surface if there has been any hatch of MBs or LDOs, just a slight change of size and colour for the two different flies. These flies are designed to sit in the surface film and look as though they are struggling to get of, just like the real thing!
Mo March BrownThe March Brown:-
Hook: Size 12 Fulling Mill All Purpose Medium
Thread: Well waxed Hemingway’s 6/0 Yellow
Tail: Split Metz Cree Cock long
Body: Mixed Veniard olive and natural hares ear
1st Hackle: Metz Cree Cock
2nd Hackle: Veniard Brown Partridge
The Large Dark Olive:-
Hook: Size 14 Fulling Mill All Purpose Medium
Thread: Well waxed Benecchi 8/0 Olive
Tail: Split Metz Cree Cock long
Body: Mixed Veniard olive and Adams Grey Superfine Dubbing
1st Hackle: Metz Dark Blue Dun Cock
2nd Hackle: Veniard Grey Partridge
So far this season these two flies have caught more than a few wild Brown Trout up to 18″ in Wales and Devon

All the materials used in these two flies are available from Fly Fishing Tackle Co UK