The Octopus

The Octopus trout fly is one of those flies that I remember from my youth and was a fly to fish in September and October when trout are feeding in the deep, but these days I would fish them throughout the season for brown trout on Irish loughs especially when there is a nice rolling wave.
There is many variations of this bright fly and below are some of my successful deviations from the original pattern. I generally always fish this fly on the top dropper of a three fly team, on a slow intermediate or preferable a floating line.

Hook: 10-8 B175 Kamasan
Thread: Black Hends Twist 
Tail: Glo-Brite no 11
Rib: Gold Wire Med
Dubbing: Hends Spectra Yellow 
Body Hackle: Sunburst Cock Hackle 
Under Wing: Several Strands of Hends Krystal Flash Yellow
Sholder Hackle: Golden Pheasant Body Feather 

Very similar to the fly above bar this dressing has no Krystal Flash and has a pair of jungle cock cheeks. The small variations in these flies I do find make a difference on days so it is worth making small changes to patterns. 

This tying has all the same materials as the above two only I add a bit of yellow deer hair wing in, also the jungle cock is tied in slightly different, in this dressing you take a large jungle eye and split it then tie it in on top of the fly and allow it to slightly fold down over each side of the wing. I find that on a windy day fishing this fly on a floating line fishes higher in the water and attracts more takes.

This dressing has the same hook and tail as the first fly after that it is:
Rib: Hends olive wire rib
Body: Green holographic tinsel
Hackle: Grizzle cock dyed green
Under wing: Several Strands of Hends Krystal Flash green
Wing: Hends Deer Hair


These flies are worth tying and will produce some good fishing on the right days, don't forget to dabble them just before you lift them off the water this can produce a take to a following fish. 
Follow this blog and see more good dressings of flies that catch fish coming soon.