Drowning Beetle

With the trout season progressing to its close (and prime Grayling fishing drawing near, muhawha....!) the terrestrials are becoming more and more important.

This fly truly made my day on a recent trip to my favorite small stillwater. A light breeze brought a steady fall of all kinds of bugs to the water, and the resident rainbows were munching on them as on some sort of rare delicacy.

The tie:
#12 Tiemco 2487BL hook
8/0 UNI Thread black
1/0 UNI Neon Burnt Orange tag
two fibres of Peacock Herl for body
very thin copper wire ribbing
Tiemco Aero Dry Wing tied cross wise (as when tying spent mayflies)
low quality black rooster feather (to add movement rather than flotation)

August on Střela

Late August - it is still hot, with the temperatures around 30°C - but the summer is clearly ending. This was possible the last really hot weekend this year.

For the weekend I headed west to Střela, my favorite small stream. Due to its smaller size it regained fishable level after the recent floods faster than bigger rivers. The waters were still a bit higher and more colored than I would like, but the river was clearly fishable.

I fished with my good friend Vlado, who has a small cabin on the river. We originally struggled to find the right fly - in the end Vlado selected a big juicy Stimulator, and was rewarded by some fine trout.

I for my own part stuck to the Barbie dun pinkish mayfly. The pattern proved to be just irresistible to both trout and grayling alike.

At the end of the day a very late Mayfly dun floated by me, as I was wading the river. I don't know what it was looking for, but it surely was way past May today :)

Grey Dust

A couple flies for the time when Grayling become obsessed with hatching "grey dust". All tied on #20 Hanák 130BL hooks, with body of grey Muskrat or Eagle Owl feather.

Pink Bug Variant

With the current water conditions unsuited for fishing I am left at the tying table preparing for fall, the main Grayling season of the year.
The Pink Bug has performed well for me last fall. It seems to do its best fished under an indicator - either French style spiral or a bushy dry fly.

The tie:
#16 Tiemco TMC 2499BL hook (short shank hook, length is about normal size #18)
2,3mm Tungsten pink beadhead
Orange Hends Grall thread
Red rooster hackle fibres
fine copper wire
Opossum dubbing mixed with UV flash

Flood on Jizera

I was planning to fish the Jizera river over the weekend - but the rain had me check the online peg first. The river is at its dry fly best at flow just above 10 m³ per second - and right now it about 370, no doubt causing serious problems to people of Železný brod. Uh oh...

Looks like a rewarding tying weekend ahead of me.

The scary picture was taken from pages of Povodí Labe (Labe Watershed Servicing Co.), a very helpful site for anyone fishing in the Czech.

Alexandra

I have a soft spot for the Alexandra, despite fishing it very rarely. For it was from Alexandra of Denmark, the lady to whose honor the fly was named, that Edward VII hid with his mistresses in Marienbad in Austria-Hungary, now Mariánské Lázně in Czech :-)

Easy Daddy

The time of Daddy Long Leggs (Tipula sp. for those of Latin inclination) is getting near. For the time it comes I propose the following simple and easy imitation made almost entirely of Pheasant tail.

The tie:
#10 Tiemco TMC 100BL hook
8/0 UNI Thread Tan
Pheasant tail body ribbed with leftover body thread
Pheasant tail legs (I used 4, but 6 or even 8 are a valid option)
Polypro yarn wings
Hare dubbing thorax