Fishing Flies. Smalley

Fine gold wire or finest oval tinsel.

      Thorax: Hare’s ear.

      Legs: Few fibres brown speckled partridge hackle (optional).

      Essentially a lake pattern that is very effective in the evening – fished along shores onto which waves are breaking.

       FUR-BODIED HYDROPSYCHE

      Hook: Curved caddis hook, sizes 12–14.

      Thread: Light brown.

      Abdomen: Grey or light buff fur.

      Rib: Fine gold wire.

      Thorax: Hare’s ear.

      Legs: Few fibres grey partridge hackle (optional).

      These two flies are most effective in fairly shallow, turbulent, bouldery water where the trout are most likely to find washed-out or drifting natural larvae.

      Gorjan Franko lives in Tolmin, a small town on the Soca River (Slovenia). The Soca is full of trout, grayling and Hydropsyche, and the three come together well with Gorjan’s imitation.

       HYDROPSYCHE (GORJAN FRANKO)

      Hook: Wet fly, sizes 10–12.

      Thread: Brown.

      Body: Mix of ¹⁄₃ brown and ²⁄₃ cream fur (fine textured).

      Rib: Fine gold wire.

      Hackle: Brown speckled partridge.

      Upstream of Tolmin there are some very rapid stretches of river. To fish there, tie some with a tungsten bead at the head to get the fly down to the fish!

      The following is a slight modification of one of Roman Moser’s caddis larvae for the River Traun.

       HYDROPSYCHE

      Hook: Wet fly, sizes 10–12.

      Thread: Brown.

      Tails (to represent the short tassel-ended ‘prolegs’ at the end of the body): Few fibres grey partridge hackle, cut short.

      Body: Light grey or buff wool.

      Shellback: Brown raffine.

      Rib: Thick brown thread.

      Legs: Brown speckled partridge hackle fibres.

      Head: Hare’s ear.

      Gary LaFontaine wrote the important textbook, Caddis Flies (1981), in which he explored North American caddis species and their life cycles, and created some fine imitations. The following is a useful general pattern – change the abdomen colour to buff, grey, brown and olive to match other species.

       BRIGHT GREEN FREE-LIVING CADDIS

      Hook: Curved grub/shrimp, sizes 10–12.

      Thread: Brown.

      Underbody: Fine lead wire.

      Abdomen: Mix of 50 per cent olive and 50 per cent bright green fur or wool.

      Rib: Brown cock hackle stalk.

      Thorax: Dark olive-brown fur.

      Hackle: Speckled grouse hackle fibres.

      The next two tyings are by Oliver Edwards, whose book FlyTyers’ Masterclass, videos/DVDs and tying demonstrations have inspired many around the world of fly-tying, from Japan, through Europe to the United States.