New life in old dries & flies

Recently I was in a friends house and we were rooting some old fly boxes searching for dry's he uses and wanted copied.

Upon opening his fly box I was greeted with a bunch of drys that were according to him only fit for the bin, as the hackles were all bent up and out of shape due to being stored in the box for a long period of time.

This is not an uncommon sight for anglers and can be frustrating on the bank of the river when you select a dry and before you tie it on, the hackle is all out of shape and you confidence is lost before it hits the water.
Here is a simple little trick that I was shown years ago of how to restore the original shape to your dry fly's.
Using a tweezers hold the fly by the hook and boil a kettle, then place the fly over the steam and watch that hackle come right back, just as if it just came off the vice.
Boiling kettles several times to restore a bunch of dries can be costly though, so with a saucepan bring to the boil and normally on the lid there is either a space at one side or a whole in the lid where the steam can escape, this will do just as good.

So root them old dries and have them ready for the coming season, this is also a good job for the wet flies that have been stored up all winter that could do with a face lift.

Here is the fly's once they had a quick blast of steam.

Getting down to business with Javi Beads : Nymph fishing in Spring Rivers

For these early weeks of our trout season we often find that  rivers can be high from spring floods; the trout can lie in the deeper water and can be hard to reach with the smaller nymphs that they will be prone to take.

Sacrificing a point nymph and put on a big lead bomb to drag down the smaller nymphs will get the job done. But I do find that these nymphs will reach the depths, fished well they will also pick up the bigger fish that lurk in the deep and to look at they are not huge bulky nymphs.

Using that extra tungsten that comes in the javi bead form can be more than enough to get your nymphs where they need to be. Tying your nymphs following the aerodynamic shape of  the javi bead will have little or no restriction on that fly hitting the bottom.

Casting up stream and allow a free fall through the water, try hold up the trot of the nymphs downstream until they hit their target, some anglers including myself can tend to drag the nymphs to soon and preventing them from fishing correctly and getting down to the bed of the river.

A good three dimensional leader is a key here too, I make up my leaders with what I call a locator in it two sections above the indicator;  this has several purposes for me and one of them is to allow my indicator to sink when I am fishing deeper pools and use the locator as my indication of a take. it has also a lot of spring in the material so when I am fishing deep and hitting bigger fish I don't crack off due to the spring in the leader giving me tippet protection and taking the shock of the take deep under the surface. 

Here is a  few dressings that I use to get down to the lies in the deep pools.

These nymphs are generally on the point of my leader but it is also worth trying these in the nymphs on the top dropper and put the smaller nymphs on the middle and the point, this can create a different approach to the deep lying fish and often very effective bugging.

I tend to find the best hook for these beads is the Dohiku 611, I use the size 16 for the small size javi, 14 for the medium and 12 for the large. I have seen other fishermen use jig hooks for them, but for me and for the purpose I am tying the nymphs for, I find the 611 the perfect hook for javi beads.

This first javi nymph is tied on a size 14, 611 and once the bead is secured on with some very strong silk and superglue I add in a few fibers of partridge dyed yellow and a length of pearl tinsel.

I cover the body in the white silk and using coloured markers I colour the body as required; I then wrap the pearl up the body in over lapping turns and tie off at the last knuckle of the bead.

Whip finish and add some further touches of your preferred markers and finish the fly with a good coat of UV clear resin. you have a very heavy nymphs, very strong and not to big for the punch it carries.

For this Nymph again a simple dressing once the bead is secure I use black thread and tie in the tail and Glo-brite butt. I use a fine sliver oval tinsel for the rib and to finish the nymph I put on a few turns of pearl tinsel at the top knuckle of the bead. I like to coat the fly in UV resin for one to secure all the materials in and secondly to add to the speed in which the nymph will get down to the bed of the river.

The third dressing is one that a good friend of mine introduced me into, Noel Molloy form Noreside Fly-fishing. Again once the bead is secure tie in you tail, what ever your preferred tail is for the nymph you are designing. The body here is a thin strip of olive thin skin and wound up the body in over lapping turns to the top knuckle of the bead. I like the natural partridge legs on either side and a tiny pinch of Hare dubbing mixed in with the whip finish leaves you with a natural looking bug. finish by adding some brown marker down the back of the nymph and a few black spots to imitate molting on the nymph.

There you have it folks three crackers for the depths of spring river fishing for trout, well worth a go this season. Some top tips would be to make sure to use super glue to help set the bead on the hook, keep the nymph as best as you can to the shape of the bead, this is a crucial aspect to the nymph fishing correctly.

I hope you enjoy fishing and tying these nymphs and thanks for reading my blog, if you would like any other information please feel free to drop me a line on my contact details here and if you are looking for Dohiku hooks or top quality Tungsten Beads feel free to give me a shout for the best prices. 

 If you would like and of these or other patterns tied for the coming season my contact details are on the right of the page.