The Bob’s Bits

Beginners Lessons
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This fly has been a favourite with the Stillwater fly fishers for several years. Originally it was devized by Bob Worts for fishing Grafham Water when reservoir trout fishing was in its infancy. It was not long before its popularity spread to other stillwaters. The white hackle wing is intended as a ‘sighter’ rather than [...]

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The Humungus

Intermediate Lessons
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This lure has been around now for several years and at the moment is having something of a comeback. It has always been a good early season lure for the ‘stockies’. It was one of the first flies to use chain beads for the head. Once you have tied a couple it gets easier and [...]

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The Copper Wire Nymph

Beginners Lessons
The Copper Wire Nymph

The Copper Wire Nymph. This is an under-rated fly for rivers, sometimes known as the Copper Nymph, and usually confused with the more popular Copper John Nymph. Not only is it a very easy fly to tie but the basic materials are all readily available. Charles Jardine in his Directory of Fly Dressings advocates a [...]

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The Taser Bug

Intermediate Lessons
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This fly first came to my notice in an article in the Total Fly Fishing magazine written by Chris Reeves. The component giving the fly its name is the recycled wire from the Taser gun used by the Metropolitan police. It takes very little practice to produce a lifelike and durable buzzer or nymph. With [...]

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The Vibrating Daddy

Intermediate Lessons
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This is not an accepted fly pattern (none of the experts have devised it yet). Over the years the use of vibrating rubber legs has become popular with some anglers. The early flies used flexi floss which did the job but were not as good as the modern materials. Their success on the stillwaters for [...]

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The Prince Nymph

Intermediate Lessons
The Prince Nymph

This fly is a popular American pattern which is not tied to represent any particular nymph. It has found favour with quite a number of stillwater fly men here in the UK. The use of paired goose biots to represent the tail and wing is unusual but should not present a major obstacle in the [...]

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The Green Beast

Beginners Lessons
The Green Beast

The green Beast is an old pattern devised by a gentleman called Alan Pearson. He enjoyed a reputation for catching a lot of big trout in small still waters. It is a simple fly to tie and I thought you might like to give it a try. Originally it was supposed to imitate aquatic beetle [...]

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History of the Buzzer

Articles
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Buzzers (chironomidae) made their first appearance on the flyfishing scene in the 1920s. The first pattern I can find recorded was the Blagdon Buzzer devised by a Dr. Bell. It was devised for fishing Blagdon Reservoir. It  featured many of the elements which are similar to modern dressings in use today. It was tied on [...]

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Introduction to Buzzers

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Buzzer is a common name given to the larval stage of the midge which spends the greatest part of its life in the water. To a great extent this stage was ignored by the early fly fishers. They tended to concentrate their efforts on fishing the dry fly, probably unaware of the existence of the [...]

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The Water Beetle

Beginners Lessons
Water Beetle

This fly is one I have devised after getting some dark green straggle fritz and struggling to find something to do with it. In past years I have had some success with snails which I have tied using black plastazote foam.  I know that some waters do well with terrestrial insects and beetles blown on [...]

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