This is my favourite. I have absolute confidence in this fly and it’s my default point fly in fly fishing competitions. That of course doesn’t mean that I don’t fish other woolly buggers or woolly bugger variations with specific applications in particular fisheries but it does mean that if the buggers that should work (eg a Magoo in Purrumbete or a Tassi bugger in Arthurs lake) isn’t working then I will always give my brown bugger a swim.
This is my favourite damsel fly imitation and ticks all the boxes. It is quite representational of an emerging damsel with its overall form and function and has a neat little hot spot in the form of the red eyes. It’s a great fly to fish at any time when there are midge or damsels around as most importantly the trout love it.
The cormorant fly is a popular loch fly and particularly in rainbow trout waters. The original tie has a peacock herl body with silver rib whereas this competition version has been jazzed up a bit by substituting clear holographic tinsel for the herl body.
Well the river season has opened with a blast and there have been great reports in relation to most of our local rivers and lakes. For the rivers – I have spent quite lot of time fishing the Eucumbene River either side of Providence Portal. On the lakes it has been fantastic with plenty of double figure days. this year has been the best polaroiding season we have seen for years. The ‘doom sayers’ predicted that the flushing of the Snowy River with water from Lake Jindabyne would kill the fishing off for a few months. They were so wrong …
This is my latest addition to the genre and it’s more of a polaroiding fly than a stripping fly. I like to use it to ambush sighted fish by casting well in front of patrolling fish and generally a little closer to shore and then let the fly sink and lie doggo.
This “must have” pattern was first tied by James Wright in 1854 for Cannon William Greenwell as a river wet fly. Over time it has been translated into a nymph and of course into a dry fly which is a must have fly when olives are around. The tie below is a modern version of the original wet.
A similar fly to a Shrek or Bloody Mary this fly is distinguished by the bands of fuzelled seals fur and holographic tinsel along the full length of the body. This is a particularly good point fly early and late in the season when the browns and bows are getting ready to make their spawn run. Brown with red or gold tinsel as well as olive with green tinsel also work well.
I have fond memories of this fly from my early days of fly fishing. One of my favourite destinations was ‘Frying Pan’ which is the closest lake Eucumbene destination to Cooma where the TC was designed by Cooma resident Frank Tarlington. On one of those memorable trips to ‘Frying Pan’ I was introduced to one of the ‘gun’ regular fly fishers named Stan. When the mudeyes were on Stan would forgo all other flies and stick to a fly that he absolute confidence in , the TC. I have had a lot of respect for that fly ever since.
This fly is similar to a Craig’s nightime but in my view has a wider day time application. The Craig’s is highly respected as a night time fly when mudeyes are around whereas this fly works well in that situation but also more than holds its own during daylight hours during when either mudeyes or midge are around. Why it works when fish are on midge is any ones guess but it does.
A popular fly in the United Kingdom this fly is equally at home early and late in the season in Australia. We don’t have any burgundy coloured hoppers that I am aware of but this buggy looking fly often works when the first and last of the seasons terrestrials are around. Whilst not a strong floater this fly ticks all the boxes for those that want an enticing fly that will sit in the surface film.
