How to tie The foil Gammarus pattern

After many requests regarding my Gammarus pattern and where to obtain the foils heres a up dated re post with a little more info. This photo was taken last week, while on a fishing trip to Shetland. Some of the small Lochs had huge amounts of gammarus and the fish refused everything else! Every fish we took in such Lochs where full to the gills with these small fresh water shrimp. Having a good imitative pattern proved to be seriously effective! The fish that where feeding on Gammarus where in exceptional condition! Some of you may have seen, that a … Continue reading How to tie The foil Gammarus pattern

Step by step tutorial for the Ammonite nymph

My apologies to everyone doing the fly tying course, but the last few days have been busy making step by steps for magazines, but now I’m all done and ready to post a patterns for the the tyer that is a little more advanced, but of course you can always give this one a go even if you are a beginner.  The original Ammonite nymph, if I am not mistaken, comes from the vice of UK tyer and photographer Steve Thonrton. Getting this great looking nymph right is all about proportions! So if you are going to give this a … Continue reading Step by step tutorial for the Ammonite nymph

Virtual Nymph

My first attempt with some of the great Virtual Nymph products I received at the weekend and Bug Bond. Not 100% happy with the results, but when I have played a little more, I will be making the full step by step for this Stone fly nymph. Hook:  Mustad Slow death 33862NP-BR Thread:  Dyneema Tail:  Porcupine guard hairs Underbody:  Natural seal fur Dubbing Body:  Natural nymph skin Wing cases Virtual nymph stone clinger wing-buds and heads coated with Bug Bond Legs:  Turkey biots coated with Bug Bond Antenna:  Porcupine guard hairs Continue reading Virtual Nymph

How to tie Shrimp for all seasons

From late autumn until early spring the majority of bait fish around our coastline leave the shallows and head out for deeper water where they will be protected from the bitter cold of winter. Many of the species of shrimp that can be found on the other hand move into deeper tidal pools and onto shelves were the coastline is steeper. Therefor shrimps are on the coastal sea trout’s menu the whole year round, and are found in great numbers all over Northern Europe’s coastline.  These are particularly important to fly fishermen because they mature in the shallows where we … Continue reading How to tie Shrimp for all seasons

Yabba Yabba Hey!

Although I don’t fish with realistic patterns, I do enjoy tying them every now and then. If you are starting from scratch, as I did with this crayfish, it takes a little time to actually work out the fundamentals, scale, hook size, proportions, materials and techniques. I always start with a morphology  image from the visual dictionary, this gives you the basic shape, scale, body segment and leg count. Once this is established I select the materials and then try and plan the correct order to put them together. This can be rather like building a piece of IKEA furniture … Continue reading Yabba Yabba Hey!