Flies

Stimulator variant

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Whilst not tied to imitate any particular insect this down wing style of fly can be tied with your favorite materials and in your favorite colours to imitate a range of insects. It is a good prospecting fly when nothing appears to be happening. In larger sizes it can be twitched or fished dead drift to imitate a hopper, cicada or other terrestrial insect that has found itself in the water or in smaller sizes can be danced across the surface to imitate a caddis fly.

Shuttle cock brush

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Emergers which resemble a shaving brush became popular a couple of years ago and continue to get support in the fishing press. They are tied to represent a nymph that is trapped in the surface film just at that point of time when it is opening its wings.

Mallard and claret

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Whilst it has been tweaked at the edges a little this Mallard & Claret pattern remains remarkably similar to the original fly pattern that has its origins in England some 500 odd years ago. In contemporary Australia whist still popular as a wet pattern for stream fishing it is also one of my favorite top dropper or “Bob” fly for lock style fishing.

Mrs Simpson

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We don’t have Cockabullies here or an equivalent native fish but despite that they are one of our most successful flies around weed beds in both lakes and rivers. They can be fished from dead drift to “roly poly” but my favorite retrieve is a reasonable fast figure eight.

BBH fuzzy nymph

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This is the lightest of my bead heads and has its place in both river and still water environments. In rivers they can be fished in the current with as little line drag as possible, can be retrieved at various speeds or can be fished on the drop or through the lift in slower water and pools. In still water that can be fished as an anchor fly in a team or alone. I tie this fly in a couple of sizes in black and olive versions.

Soft hackle winged bob flies – Chatto’s version

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Whilst it has been tweaked at the edges a little this Mallard & Claret pattern remains remarkably similar to the original fly pattern that has its origins in England some 500 odd years ago except for the introduction of a fuzzeled body rather than a hackled body and a soft wing instead of feather slip wings. I carry both the mallard and claret and an olive version of this fly in my lake fly box.