Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Red Fox & CDC

A simple variation on well known F Fly theme. I like the structure of fox hair body: spiky, grubby and unruly. Suggestive...


The tie:
#16 Hanák H130 BL hook
Grey 16/0 Veevus tying thread
red rooster hackle fibres for tail
body of red fox dubbing, wound tightly
throax of the same material, wound loosely
tips of 3 CDC feathers

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Starting the 2015 season

For my starting my 2015 season I decided to visit the river Úpa. This river has given me great fishing memories - both at the very end, and the very beginning of the season. This year I was not so lucky.


The river was high, and better suited for whitewater canoeing - in fact I did meet a few canoers, and they had more fun than I - than trout fishing. I struggled, with the fish present but put off by the high water and recent weather changes.

To crown my awkward start of the season I managed to lose my footing on a slippery rock and take a short swim. The fishing was over for the day.


As I had a change of clothes ready in the car I took a while to shoot some pictures of the river and nature in general, but I will have to wait a while longer to catch, and release, my first fish of the 2015 season...


Thursday, April 16, 2015

Violently Violet

Tommorow is the trout season opening day. Like many Czech anglers I am trembling with anticipation and will be hardly able to sleep.

Will my new Violently Violet pheasant tail nymph make a difference? I can only hope so... Will it improve on the all important Angler's Confidence? No doubt!


The tie:
#10 Kamasan B160 short shank hook, debarbed
3.5 mm tungsten bead, copper
tan elastic tying thread
pheasant tail tail & body
counterribed by thin gold wire
Hends microflash  #18 collar

Thursday, April 9, 2015

Olive Goose

April 16th - the official start of the Czech trout season - is getting close. I am finishing my new season's fly box. I expect the first weeks of the season to play on the nymphing note, as usual. But the spell of cold weather seems to have been broken, and this evening I even saw the first bats flying in Prague parks.

It is possible that some dry fly action could be had on the opening day. Remote as the possibility is, it pays to be prepared. And so I have tied a couple of largish BWO imitations in expectation of a Baetis rhodani hatch. The spring generation is larger than the Autumn one (for which I select #18 hooks) and so I decided on a size #16 hook.


The tie:
#16 Dohiku 301 dry fly hook
Grey 16/0 Veevus tying thread
tail of cream rooster hackle
body of goose herl, dyed Veniard dark olive
tips of 3 CDC feathers for wing
shaggy hare fur for thorax & hint of legs
a few turns of purple 70 dernier Danville's thread to make a prominent head