Fly fishing in the Czech Republic

I am just home from a short five day fishing trip to South Bohemia, Czech Republic on the river Vltava. I went to this part of the World to practice for a Championship that will take place here in four to five weeks time. I have traveled to various places through out Europe similar to this trip and I find the short stay can be very productive in gaining experience and knowledge of fishing rivers, nymphing techniques, streamer and good dry fly fishing. The trips if well planned can be cost effective and you can access some cracking fishing and meet up with some really experienced anglers with out costing a packet. I will put up a post shortly on traveling to some of these destinations and tips I have found useful on how to get there, organizing your trip and value for money.

This trip was like most others I began in Dublin and landed in Prague, then a two and half hour drive through the countryside lead me to Pension Florian, Frymburk my accommodation for the trip. The cost of pensions in this region are very reasonable and good quality too.

A prearranged meeting on the Wednesday  morning for half five came quickly and once I grabbed a coffee I followed Milan Hladik to the lake venue for our first session. It was the first day of the trout season in this region and the lake was packed by the time we got there, but we squeezed into a spot and had some nice action pulling lures catching some rainbows and charr. For the afternoon I moved to a river section on the Vltava called the Devil stones, this section of the river runs through

woodlands  and the water is channeled through a gorge of boulders that offer great pocket nymphing for dark wild brook trout. There was a nice hatch of olives on this section and the fish were picking them off as they tumbled down the rapids, catching these opportunistic trout was good sport as I lost myself for a couple of hours jumping around the rocks to see what the next pool held in store.

Day two I focused on the middle sector of the competition water and after a spell of investigation of the beats I fished a section just outside Vyssi Brod. This area of the river is catch and release so it holds a nice stock of trout, some rainbows and grayling. The trout were freely rising to the hatch of morning sedge's in the sunshine and offering them something in the right size and colour they would oblige you with some sport. In the faster water the nymphs produced some good fishing also.

On the Friday I moved further down the river to the larger waters around Rozmberk. I have fished this sector before and know that some searching might have to be done to find some quality fishing as this section is heavily fished by anglers spinning and fly-fishing. But setting up a nymphing rod and a streamer rod while covering a section of water you will come across some good sized rainbows, browns, grayling and charr. The water here is heavier than other sectors and you must be comfortable with deep wading to achieve good results.

The smaller river sector you have to shorten up your leaders to be able to pin point where you want your nymphs to land and be able to maneuver them through the rapids while on the larger sectors a longer leader system will produce better results as the river opens up you can fish the nymphs much further away from you effectively.

The trip over all was well worth it for me and now I can take the information and prepare myself better for the coming championships. This location is worth a visit for all anglers and here you can have the opportunity to meet good anglers through nymphing schools and fish some different European waters. The average costing for the trip to this location was in the region of 550 euro including all costs with some beers thrown in there two. You would be advised to make contact with the local angling bodies to arrange you permits for the region before you travel and make yourself aware of the local laws to fishing.

With some key tournaments around the corner, Irish training days and the prep for the World finals entering the closing stages make sure to keep an eye out on the blog.

I hope you enjoy reading this post and if you have any comments or questions just drop me a line below, also you can sign in and follow us. Thanks for reading.

Quaility streets

Getting ready for a trip to Slovenia the year before last I was trying to match some shrimp nymphs that I had seen which were supposed to be working quite well out there for the Grayling. I spent some time trying to match the back on the nymphs that I had seen with no luck using the back materials I already had. Until one day eating a sweet I discovered the perfect back material for my shrimps it was the wrapping to a quality street.

This plastic coating was perfect for what I was looking for and it was in lots of interesting colours also. After stocking up on wrappers I hit the vice and sense then I have used this backing for many of my nymphs with great success. Here is a step by step of the tying of a quality street shrimp.

Firstly using a grub hook to your size a b100 or a partridge YK4A tie on some flat lead on its edge in two sections to form the shape of the nymph.

Then take some fine flat lead and wrap the body in the same, tie off the thread as normal and coat the under body in superglue and allow to set fully. 

Using a bull clip take your sweet wrapper and pinch the required width for your back and cut off by sliding a sharp blade along the bull clip. The wrapper can be any colour you wish to match the body.

Tie in some orange partridge as a tail and trap down your backing and some brown mono to act as the rib. Then create a dubbing brush with your thread and spin some dubbing I use three shades of orange spetra dubbing here.
Wind up the dubbing brush and tie of at the head, then brush down all the dubbing using a tooth brush with the bristles cut short.

Pull the wrapper over the back of the fly and secure it in, follow this by ribbing the nymph tightly with even spaces to create the segmented look on the shrimp. only once you have ribbed the fly should you cut away the waste wrapping.

Before you finish the fly add in some more fibers of orange partridge to the head and tie off the fly. Once your head cement has set then brush down all the dubbing again and trim off to the required length under the nymph and last using a black marker gently put some molting on the back of the nymph to help create the natural look the the fly. 

It is very important to keep the tying of this fly slim in the profile which allows it to penetrate fast into the deep water and pockets, using the shuffling approach while wading this fly will catch a lot of fish for you and try it in many other colours too and sizes. 
I regularly use materials that I have found that is not sold as tying and they can range from crisp bags, onion bags wrappers for cheese what ever it is once it gives me desired look and dose not break down in the water is good enough for me and the fish I catch, so don't be afraid to keep your eyes open and find some good stuff in strange places and enjoy the sweets. 
I hope you enjoy reading this post and if you have any comments or questions on any of the patterens just drop me a line below, also you can sign in and follow us. Thanks for reading.

Wild spring trout on buzzers

Over the last couple of days I have had some good sport on a wild fishery not to far from where I live in Kilkenny. The rivers have been slow at times this spring to get going with the cold breeze and rain keeping the hatches and fishing quite on our streams; so it is handy to have this place to feed the addiction and pick up some nice spring brownies at the same time.
The fish are beginning to move up in the water here and on a constant stream you will see fish gently breaking the surface picking off emerging buzzers and hatching flies. It is always nice to see rising and feeding fish after a long chilly winter and the impulse to select a dry fly might not pay off as much as it looks like it would. The fish over the last few days have been picking off the buzzers just under the surface while breaking the water in doing so. Fishing a clothes line with a suspended buzzer on the point and two buzzers on droppers puts your flies right where the fish want them. 

Here is some patterns that have been taking nice spring fish like the one above over the last few days. I have been fishing these on a midge tip to anchor the flies in a light gusty wind so the don't get dragged across the lake. I use 6lb Grand Max soft plus for my leaders and just keep in contact with the flies till you feel that magic pull from the trout. 

 The point suspended buzzer, its a simple tying with a primrose butt and black buzzer body wound up the hook to form the body. The thorax is peacock dubbing, spectra no 46. The foam head is a booby cord cut and tapered then coated in water shed to help float the buzzer.

The first dropper was this small black buzzer with antron wool at the head with the same body and thorax as the above fly. This fly was the one that took the majority of the fish and its a size 14. 

 For the top dropper I used this orange quill with several strands of antron at the back of the fly and sunburst cheeks all coated in UV resin to give it a glossy look. While this fly took a few fish it was not as successful as the other dropper buzzer. 

Hopefully the rivers will come to fruit next week at some stage but if they do remain dormant I will be quite happy picking up these lovely fish on buzzers also. With the Leinster Lake Championships and a trip to Czech Republic coming up in the next two week make sure to keep an eye on the blog to see how the fishing is going and the preparation for the World finals progresses.

I hope you enjoy reading this post and if you have any comments or questions just drop me a line below, also if you would like to see whats coming next just sign in and follow us. Thanks for reading.

Deer hair wing Olive

I love this time of year when the temperatures are rising and so too are the fish on our lakes. By mid April generally this species of fly is predominant on all fresh waters rivers and lake alike. As a fly tier the range of colours that would be considered as olives is mind boggling and getting the colour right can make a huge difference weather or not a trout will just chase the fly or take it with conviction. So I have many good dressings for this time of year that cover a range of colours and profiles to hopefully be able to match the natural hatches on the waters.

Hook: size 12-10 B175 Kamasan 
Thread: Olive twist thread 
Tail: Glo-brite no 12
Rib: Hends green wire 
Dubbing: Green olive spectra dubbing
Body Hackle:  Grizzle cock hackle dyed light green 
Wing: Olive deer hair and pearl Krystal flash strands  
Shoulder Hackle: Olive hen hackle 


When this fly is wet the wing and tail give the trout a good visible  target to aim for which can help them chose to attack the fly when there is a lot of naturals on the water also. I do tie this dressing in several tones of olive depending on the time of the month and the venue I am fishing. You will have good catching and sport with this pattern as I have had in the past seasons once you tie some for your box.

I hope you enjoy reading this blog and if you have any comments or questions just drop me a line below, also if you would like to see whats coming next for the olive hungry trout in April just sign in and follow us. Thanks for reading.

A handy little fly to have

This pattern is a productive little fly during the later part of spring when some hawthorns and the last of the duck fly is still about. It also can be a good fish catcher during the summer months when the trout are feeding on small dark flies in the subsurface of the warm waves on hill loughs through out Ireland. 

Hook: Size 14-12 B175 Kamasan 

Thread: Black twist thread 

Tail: Spectra dubbing teased out 

Rib: Sliver wire 

Dubbing: Black blend dubbing

Body Hackle: Soft black cock

Legs: Black daddy legs

Cheeks: Jungle cock 

Shoulder Hackle: Black Hen Hackle

I hope you enjoy reading this blog and if you have any comments or questions just drop me a line below, also if you would like to see whats coming next when the olives become the main course for the trout just sign in and follow us. Thanks for reading.

A versatile duck fly pattern

Here is a good dressing for this time of year on Irish loughs. Early April sees the development of the Duck fly hatches to their peak and trout are stuffing them selves on these little treats. The fish can be feeding on these flies as emergers, buzzers or adult flies getting this right can lead to regular hook ups during your day. The duck fly do tend to hatch in what is called a duck hole; where the weed and underwater conditions suit the hatching fly and once you find this location then you will be on the fish.

Hook: size 12-10 B175 Kamasan 

Thread: Black twist thread 

Rib: Flat mylar tinsel

Dubbing: Black blend dubbing

Legs: black daddy legs

Wing: CDC natural looped forward

Thorax: Orange spectra dubbing  

Shoulder Hackle: Black hen hackle

When you tie in the CDC by the tips then add in the orange thorax and loop forward the CDC over the thorax.

This fly is a very versatile pattern you can pull in on intermediate lines to pick up fish on the emergers or you can fish it dry to represent the adult duck fly. I have also caught a lot of fish on this fly during the Hawthorn hatches and during the Autumn months when hoppers and daddies are on the menu. This is a real fish catcher of a lough fly and I hope you have as much success on it as I have. 
I hope you enjoy reading this post and if you have any comments or questions on early season patterens just drop me a line below, also you can sign in and follow us. Thanks for reading.