Another in the series of quick & effective flies. There are a myriad variations of the shuttlecock emerger with body materials of dubbing, stripped quill, moose mane or in this case turkey biot. You can also use a variety of hook patterns, below is a simple version that is great for feeding trout & grayling. Hook - Partridge K4AY Grub sizes 12 – 20 Thread – 14/0 Shear in primrose Body – Turkey biot – light olive Wing – Light brown CDC Thorax – Argentinian long hare in olive Lay a bed of thread down the hook to where you want to tie the turkey biot in. For extra resilience apply a thin layer of head cement onto the thread before winding the biot on. Wind the biot on, trying to maintain a nice

A new series of very effective flies that are simple to tie, flies you can quickly fill up a box with. I like the term used by Bob Wyatt of ‘trout ammo’, when casting under a tree, I don’t worry about losing my fly if I have plenty in my box. Pearly Butt F Fly A Paul Procter pattern, no further recommendation needed although Pete Tyjas also sings it’s praises on his fly culture podcast. Hook – Partridge K4AY or Kamasan B100 grub, 12 – 18 Thread – 14/0 Primrose Shear Butt – pearl tinsel Abdomen – Superfine dubbing, BWO or any of your choice Wing – Brown CDC Thorax – Olive hare dubbing Lay a bed of thread down to where you want the tinsel to start and tie in. With me, the tinsel would form abo

On Thursday 24th June’20 I had the opportunity to fish at the Barton Court Estate. I had anticipated fishing a stretch of the River Kennet, what I found was a much more interesting mosaic of Kennet carriers. Although not the same venue, it did immediately put me in mind of the Fishery map at the front of Neil Patterson’s book ‘Chalkstream Chronicles. I found myself eagerly awaiting similar challenges. Nick Richards, the river keeper, has done a lot of work in restoration. I liked his golf analogy to describe the fishing on each of the beats. He ranks them from par 3, fairly easy to the par 6 which is overgrown and challenging. When you arrive, a fantastic landscape opens up in front of you.

The lockdown has given me the opportunity to not only expand on my fly-tying techniques i.e. Catskill dries & sea trout flies, I also have been able to explore new fly-fishing venues, one of which was the Adwell Estate. The Adwell Estate Fishery in Oxfordshire, consists of a series of seven connected lakes covering an area of seven acres of water in total. On Monday (1st June) I had the opportunity to visit the Estate for the first time in the company of two friends. My first impression was that I have never fished a venue that was so manicured. As a keen gardener and the manager of a Fishery. I certainly appreciate the amount of effort that has gone into maintaining the grounds. The lakes t

Not intended to be a complete treatise on the subject, but I thought I would share a short introduction to a fly-tying subject that I have found very interesting. The Catskills are in New York State between the Rivers Delaware and Hudson, it is just a 2-hour drive from New York City. It is also considered to be the birthplace of the American dry fly. This area encompass the Rivers Beaverkill, Willomec, Esopus, Neversink, Schoharie and West Kill Creek. Stock photo of the Beaverkill In 1904 Theodore Gordon (1854 – 1915), known as the father of American dry fly fishing, described the fishing: “We refer to the five well-known historic streams, having an almost common source, but following on wid