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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( Story ) How I started Fly Tying in the 1940’s

Stories & Poems
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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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( Story ) Start of a lifetime of Fly Tying

Stories & Poems
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( Story ) A Severe case of Fishing Pox

Stories & Poems
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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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Days Before Monofilament

Articles
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Today few anglers can even imagine fishing without monofilament, be it floating, sinking, fluorocarbon or any of the many derivatives available to us today. Sea anglers, coarse anglers, specimen hunters or game anglers all take it for granted to be able to buy the brand they want in a wide range of breaking strains in […]

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The Jersey Herd

Beginners Lessons
The Jersey Herd

  The Jersey Herd was created by Tom Ivens for reservoir fishing in the early 1970s . It derived it’s name because the early pattern’s body was made from the gold colour foil on the milk bottles known as gold tops. At that time the Jersey cows were the ones milked to give the best […]

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