Hot weather

First outing with Lorna and a beautiful summers evening following a sunny day. Not one sign of a fish at loch in by Nibon. Ended up at Buraland where there were many small fish rising but none would touch my offerings. Then at 10.30-11 went cold and fish stopped.
Went to nice loch Sand Water and could not touch the few small fish rising. Water temperature at the surface very warm.

Tied up some Half Hogs and went to fish Houlland. But other angler there so Framgord where there were a few rising fish the other evening. But much slime so went down to Gerdie. Two divers with two chicks so abandoned that idea and went to Brechon where I caught two stockies of about 10-12 oz. at heel shaped cairn. One in calm water at edge of reeds on green tailed Kate top dropper and another on Half Hog. Ventured further along the bank and a diver seemed to be constructing a nest. Lorna had remarked at number of divers without chicks. Could be the wet spell earlier flooded many nests. Left and went to West Loch. Much weed with very few places to cast and was surprised to hook 1lb 10oz on Half Hog. Still time left on this overcast night so tried Muckla Water to find it full of sprats -stockies that looked white and struggling.

Cat or Kitten?

Used a white cat with some success. Got a good pull at nice loch Sand Water. But fish took fly. Decided to put chenille to the test and tied one up using seals fur. Fished chenille on top dropper and seals fur on point. Chenille took 3 Houlland fish and seals fur took one. Not conclusive evidence but it does tell a story.

Competitions

Managed a 5th and 6th position using Cortland 6 line and Cats. Make sure to go for over the stones or fish the holes for the daphnia feeders.

Blooming flowers.

Three hours at Houlland and fish started feeding in last hour after 5pm. Two over the pound on top dropper Claret Bumble and one from Nursery on T&S Bibio. Killed one from level with broch. Female with size14/16 olive shrimp in stomach. Start of blue star flowers, orchids and ham and egg flowers. Sea pinks by lighthouse.

Lesson's Learned?

First competition at Tingwall. Sporadic rises lured me off the fast sink lines to early. Caight two sprats in the last hour on slow sinking camo line. Josh got 5 chasing daphnia feeders in the South Loch. You would think I had learned something in all the years fishing Tingwall. I have, but it is unprintable here.

First fish of the season

Early success

Houlland in April.

April 3, in nursery area, caught 14 oz fish on Soldier Palmer Muddler on top dropper. Coloured male had eaten a pebble cased caddis.
April 10, in nusery area, cayght 2lb 4oz, on filoplume hare's ear cormorant with mirage butt on point. Half the gill cover on one side was missing. Temp. 10 degrees, but weather getting cooler next week.

The Henry Ford attitude to colour

What flies to try at the begining of the season? Any as long as they are black. My box is full of a range of sizes and styles of Bibios, Bibio Muddlers, Watson's Fancys, Kate McLarens, Clan Chiefs, Black Magics and Black Cats. There is a row of Claret Bumbles and another of Hare's Ears which stand out in splendid isolation. What am I missing? I posed the question on the forum I recommended and it seems black is THE colour. The red in the Bibio and the green in the Cat seem only to serve to make the black stand out.  Perhaps a touch of colour acts as a trigger point.
I am now working on my Kate McLarens. I found an old tying in my box that I liked. It was slim and inspired confidence whenever I had it on a cast. I have tried to replecate the style. Body and tail were no problem; pheasant topping, seals fur with a silver wire rib, hook B170 *12. Perhaps the wire could be thinner. An old bronze grade natural black Metz cock cape supplied the best hackle for my purpose. My other cock capes are dyed and thicker in the fibre. The head hackle poses a problem, mainly to do with colour. I tried John Haddland's dyed golden olive cock cape and a natural Keoch hen cape but I am still not satisfied. I will try a cheap natural red game cock which seems to be the answer. All my collection of expensive capes and the cheap ones are more fit for purpose - wet flies. I will have to tie a lot of dry flies to justify the expense. At least they look bony.
I have started a treasure drawer of materials that suit my purpose. It is difficult to view materials living so far from fly tying retailers.
Photos of my experiments to follow when weather is better.

Deerhound development stage 1

I wanted a fly I could use at the start of the season. I will have to concentrate on the photography because the photo does not do this fly justice. The rib I saw Davy McPhail use in one of his flies.
Hook: Kamasan B175.
Body: Black seals fur.
Rib: Red holographic with pearly on top.
Wing: Black dear hair.
Head: Black claret hare and seal mix.
I am not sure of the purpose of the deer hair on these heavier hooks and I intend to use fur from the dogs to see how that works.

Keeping it simple.

I thought I better record my Deerhound flies because this is the last one in my box. It is tied on a size 10 B175. I normally prefer smaller and lighter size hooks. I have been developing theses successfully for a number of years. Nothing startling in the tying, but fish takers in the summer months.
Hook: Kamasan B170 or 175 in a variety of sizes depending on conditions.
Body: Flat silver tinsel.
Rib: Silver wire.
Wing: Natural  deerhair with 2 or 3 strands of Krystal Flash.
Head: Hare's fur.
The fly should be slim like my dogs.

Norski Lad

                                                                Norski Lad

Started tying up my stock of Norski Lads. I am begining to prepare my competition flies. The fly was invented by Steven Breivik and is known throughout Scotland as an excellent fish catcher.
Tail: Black marabou and couple of strands of Pearl Krystal Flash.
Body: Medium Opal Mirage Tinsel.
Rib: Silver Wire.
Wing: Black Marabou with a couple of strands of Pearl Krystal Flash.
Wing flashes: Silver holographic tinsel.
Head: Roe deer (Natural).

Top dropper contenders.

Orange Hedgehog
The original Hedgehog was invented by Sandy Nicolson and used by the Orkney anglers in an inter county match on Vaara to devastating effect.  I have found an orange version to be paricularly useful. Normally I fish it with a floating line but it can make an interesting addition to a sunk line cast.
Hook: B170 or B175 when after the big boys.
Body: Fluo Orange Blaze.
Wing: Deer hair.
                                                                  Orange Hedgehog

Claret Bumble

Claret Bumble

If you have not already done so, do yourself a favour and read A Man May Fish by Kingsmill Moore. In his book he describes his Bumble series designed primarily to capture sea trout. The Claret Bumble is one of my favourite flies that has served me well for brown trout. When asked by the museum to send in an exhibition to encapsulate what living here means to me I had no hesitation in choosing a Claret Bumble for their display.

Hook: B170

Body: Claret seal's fur.

Butt: Flat gold tinsel.

Tail: Golden pheasant tippets.

Rib: Gold wire.

Body Hackles: Black and Claret cock hackles wound together.

Shoulder hackle: Blue Jay. 

Cased Caddis

                                                  Filoplume Cased Caddis

                                                    Cormorant Cased Caddis

Hook: Kamasan B170
Body: Hare's mask dubbed on black thread. The Cormorant has the addition of a touch of pearl green Lite Brite.
Hackle: Black filoplume. (small fluffy feather that pulls away from cape along with the hackle you select for other flies).
Wing: Fluff from the bottom of black hacle you select for other flies.

As mentioned in previous post, early season trout have a penchant for cased caddis. The beasts in question make their houses from particles of sand. Previously I have used Simple Palmers with a gold bead on the point to entice these trout. This year I hope more fish will  be encouraged to munch down on these imitations.

Simple Palmers

                                                         Original Simple Palmer
Hook: Kamasan B160
Body: Hare's mask dubbed on yellow thread.
Rib: Silver wire.
Tail: Original tail of Glow Brite 10. Low light conditions Glow Brite 2. Also Glow BriteFlou. Multiyarn 11.

I kept a fishing diary for more than ten years until my children were born. Now they are old enough for me to start again, using this modern technology. Looking through my old diary I noticed how many early season trout had a fondness for cased caddis. This may explain the success of the Palmers illustrated here.

Colour

Orange Palmer
Hook: Kamasan B160
Thread: Uni Fire Orange.
Body: Orange wool.
Rib: Oval silver tinsel.
Hackle: Furnace hen.
This fly will liven up any cast and is especially useful once the daphnia are on the go. It is straight forward to tie and is one of a series of simple palmers I intend to introduce on this site. A longshank size 8 version has been the downfall of above average size trout.