Red Ribbed Pheasant Tail Nymph

Flashback Pheasant Tail Nymph

Doubling up under the Dry Fly. Early season Dry Dropper on The Blackwater Co Cork.

So I headed down South today to meet up with a friend and my fishing buddy David O Donovan for the first time this year and we had planned to fish some rivers in County Cork. After some breakfast and a catch up, we decided to head to the Blackwater for a cast and went out past Mallow. We have had bit of a regression weather wise of late and the morning frost was still around as we began to set up. The river wasn't high but it was still pushing on and the cold air made it feel like a February morning rather than early to mid April heading to the river.

Dave's choice of method was his trusted wet flies that he is renowned for fishing and I set up a nymphing rod and a dry dropper set up.
If you want to get some insight to Dave fishing wets here is a link to a post he co-wrote on wets last year and worth the read: https://peterdriver.blogspot.com/2018/01/wet-fly-spider-fishing-productive.html

My Best Nymph on the Euro-nymphing Rig 

We both began in the same beat, with Dave moving down stream sweeping the water with his favorite Kelly green wet fly line and a cast of wet flies; he had a beaded wet on the point to get the flies down to the fish. For me I began to fish the sides of a run with the dry dropper; with limited success only picking up a pair of browns. I switched over to the nymphing rod and fished a little further out and met some better fish but it still wasn't prolific fishing by any means. The fish were stuck to the bottom and were not interested to move to far for a snack. After fishing the first run and picking up some 11 or 12 trout I moved to a glide down stream where Dave had fished the wets already. He had picked off a few trout with the wet fly but he had a lot of plucks

and takes with only a few transferring to the net. It looked cracking water, knee high and a a nice flow on it, once began to dry dropper the section I realized the flow was pushing through a bit too much and my nymph under the dry was not getting down. Now while I could have put up a heavier nymph to try get deeper, but this would have resulted in drowning the dry as I was already fishing a 3mm bead and to go 3.5mm or 4mm I wouldn't have had a long enough drift on the rig to cover the water needed to get a take. So I put up a second nymph on the rig and it was like switching on the light. With a second nymph under the dry it helped to anchor the nymphs better in the water with out dragging down the dry and allowed the point nymph to get where I needed to have it for longer drifts, and hense I began to meet a lot of fish. It can be a bit tricky fishing two nymphs under the dry as there is always the good chance of a tangle with two nymphs and a large dry moving through the air on a cast, but taking your time, have nice open loops and it will help to combat this.

My set up was an 11 foot 2 weight Syndicate pipeline rod and my trusted lever action reel with a 9 for aggressive tapered leader. From here I had .10 Shogun tippet to my size 10 klink dry

My best nymph under the dry on the point 

fly with a bright orange post around 18 inches and then 2.5 feet to my first nymphs with a 2.5mm beads followed with a 3mm copper beaded Pheasant Tail that done most of the catching, this nymph has been catching quite well lately and make sure and check out my youtube channel where ill post the tying in the coming days. The top nymph also caught a few as it was fishing higher up in the water table for any fish that might be looking up as the day warmed up.

It was a good days fishing and it is always a good day when to figure something out like that, no matter what your catch was. Hopefully the weather will turn and we will see a return to some warmer weather soon. But it was nice to get out with a good friend on the water for a cast and a good catch up.
I hope you have enjoyed reading this post and enjoy the 2019 season. If you would like to stock up your boxes for this coming year make sure and contact me through Facebook or email. If you have any questions or queries please feel free to contact me. Also make sure and check out my website www.piscari-fly.com for all your tungsten beads, flies, Dohiku barbless hooks, Tommi-fly products,the amazing Syndicate Fly Rods, Reels, leaders and much more. Thanks for reading.
Also check out my new YouTube channel for all my latest tying and hot tips. 

Fooling Trout On the 1st of April. Whats working on the rivers at the moment

So its been a while sense I have posted something on the blog, this was due to the arrival of my son a while ago and a slow start to the season. But after getting out for a few hours recently on a lovely tributary to the Nore in Kilkenny here is an update of where the fishing is at the moment and whats working.
For us anglers here in Kilkenny we don't have the pleasure of fishing before the 17th of March and the majority of rivers in this region of Ireland are slow starters unlike the Munster rivers that get flying in early February. It is normally around April before we start to see good movement of trout from there winter lies into the runs and some evidence of fly life that might get them interested.
At the moment the temp of the water around here is still about 8 to 9 degrees and with a rise of one or two more degrees we will see huge improvements in the fishing.
This morning I managed to get out on the water for a few hours on a stream near by my home, while the Nore is still too high and cold to produce a catch, these tributaries are where I do the majority of my early season fishing. With the odd but little foliage on the trees and not much fly life in the air, it was only the nymphing set up I took with me.  I picked a stretch that had a nice mix of water from fast water to glides where I would have plenty of options to find some fish. At this time of the year here the fish can be still in pods or groups and not fully spread out in the spring/summer lies.

I began fishing the tail waters of the pools, this calmer water is the most productive water for me this time of year. While it is flat it still has enough movement to euro-nymph with great results. It was only one cast or two and the fish start coming, some by the doubles. In the side margins I pick up a few salmon Parr. These averaged from 6 to 9 inch fish and while they were sporting indeed at this early stage of the season that was not the catch i was looking for; also great to see them in the river in abundance.

Once I began fishing in the deeper channels of the pools and glides, I began meeting some lovely trout in great condition for early April. This trend continued through out the 3 to 4 hour session from pool to pool. For my set up, it was a syndicate 10 foot 2 weight rod with a 20 foot leader and tippet. The leaders was an aggressive taper with Mirko Skafars Neon wax as the indicator instead of any bio colour mono. I find this a good set up as I can move the indicator wax as I am fishing different depths of water. For the tippet I was using shogun .12, because the water was dull in colour and I could get away with the heavier tippet.  A good thing to remember is that use the maximum diameter of tippet you can get away with, I can nymph with as low as .06 but if I can get away with .12 I will use that. This heavy tippet also means that at this time of year when I am fishing 3mm to 4mm tungsten beads dragging the bed of the river I wont lose as many nymphs and because the water is slightly coloured it dose not bother the fish or effect the results to my net. 

The nymphs were simple and two or three trusted nymphs of mine a pair of copper beaded pheasant tail and a gold beaded hares ear nymph. I was switching between 3mm, 3.5mm and 4mm depending on the depths of river I was fishing. When I was fishing the tails of the pools and the slower glides I would let the nymphs sink to the bottom and one I felt the tighten of the nymphs down deep I would flick them off the bottom with a slight movement of my wrist and drop them back down again through out the drift, this produced some good takes. It is also worth you while allowing the nymphs to swing around behind you as this produced some nice results also.

It was great to get out for the few hours and begin to see some real movement from the fish , also nice to get some action with a few nice lumps in the net also. It is to be a long season ahead with  comps and various fishing adventures so make sure and check in regularly and i will try keep you updated. Next i am off to the Munster Blackwater to get in some practice for a pairs come coming up
I hope you have enjoyed reading this post and enjoy the 2019 season. If you would like to stock up your boxes for this coming year make sure and contact me through Facebook or email. If you have any questions or queries please feel free to contact me. Also make sure and check out my website www.piscari-fly.com for all your tungsten beads, flies, Dohiku barbless hooks, Tommi-fly products,the amazing Syndicate Fly Rods, Reels, leaders and much more. Thanks for reading.
Also check out my new YouTube channel for all my latest tying and hot tips. 

Black and Silver Streamer

Chasing Fry Feeders in the Spring: Two Great Fry Patterns for Early Lough Fishing

With the new year celebrations a distant memory now it is  this time of year a lot of anglers start to turn there attention to the early cool days on the Loughs soon to come. I have found over the years that fishing Irish Loughs in February and early March can be difficult and frustrating at times. The fish can be very moody and quite, this not being helped with little or no fly life about if we experience a cold start to the spring.
Now I have experienced both sides of the boat during this time of the year, one being on the great Western Lakes freezing hoping for a pull of a trout and the other going out on the opening day on the Corrib and returning five or six nice lumps through out the day. Over the last number of seasons it has been the Midland lakes, especially Lough Owel that are my early haunts and they proved to be just as frustrating as any other lake in the spring. However, I do manage to have some good days during the early months and it normally involves horsing out sinking lines and stripping back fast fry patterns. Not only by doing this do I feel I have a good chance of aggravating a trout into taking my lure but it also keeps the blood flowing and helps to take your mind off the cold wet lines and cutting breezes.

Here are two Fry patterns that have produced some fish in the early months, I normally fish them on a Di 3-5 sinking lines or Di 3-5 Sweep line; with two flies on the cast and vary my depths and retrieves till I get some action.

Fly No. 1 The Grey Minky 

Hook: Dohiku W 12sl or 10sl
Thread: Piscarifly fine strong Kevlar silk
Tail: Pinch of red holographic dubbing
Body: Sliver UV holographic micro fritz
Wing: Grey minky rabbit strip with a strand of sliver holographic tinsel down each side
Beard: Pinch of red holographic dubbing

This is a very natural looking fry pattern that moves really well in the water and can take a couple of fussy and lazy fish when little else will work. It is a sleek minky when wet and it also can be tied in a black version by just replacing the grey strip with a black rabbit minky strip.

Fly No.2 The Humongous

Hook: Dohiku W 12sl or 10sl
Thread: Piscarifly fine strong Kevlar silk
Eyes: Bead chain sliver filled with Neon Yellow UV nail varnish
Tail: Black rabbit fur with sliver holographic tinsel strips down each side 
Body: Sliver UV holographic micro fritz
Hackle: Grizzle ribbed with clear mono
Beard: Pinch of red holographic dubbing

Now the Humongous lure can be tied in a countless number of forms and colours, and it is a great early season lure; with those chain beads they can fish well down in the water and pick up the low lying fish. For me this is one of my better combinations, it looks fantastic in the water and is a cracking point fly on a Di 3 or 5 sweep. I am not one hundred percent sure if filling the holes left from cutting the bead chain a real game change but they look dam good on a dark spring day in murky waters.
So when you are heading out on the water this spring and there is little fly life about and the dabblers just are not picking up the fish try something a little larger in these from and you could turn a cold bleak session into a day where you pick up a couple of fish.

I hope you have enjoyed reading this post and enjoy tying these flies; if you would like to stock up your boxes for this coming year make sure and contact me through Facebook or email. If you have any questions or queries please feel free to contact me. Also make sure and check out my website www.piscari-fly.com for all your tungsten beads, Dohiku barbless hooks, Tommi-fly products,the amazing Syndicate Fly Rods, Reels, leaders and much more. Thanks for reading.
Also check out my new YouTube channel for all my latest tying and hot tips. 

Tying a Zebra Midge Nymph

Winter Tying Sessions No.4 The Dry Flies

Now that the New Year bell has rung and we have moved closer to the 2019 season, this post in our winter tying sessions we will look forward to the milder days of spring and summer. After spending the early winter focusing on nymphs, it is a nice break to move away from the tungsten beads and lead work for some CDC and light wire hooks to tie some dry flies. I have a versatile set of drys that I have been using over the last number of years and they manage to cover all my bases when it comes to catching rising fish. Again the same as my nymph tying I prefer the simpler patterns that are effective and catch fish when I need them to. 

I have a couple of simple components that I focus on when I am tying a dry fly and ones that you should keep in mind when you are thinking of filling that dry box for the coming season. 

1. Its got to float- now I know most dry's float;  that is the objective of tying a dry in the first place, but I am talking about tying dries that will stay up longer and don't need 5 minuets of drying, treatment after a fish or when they get submerged. So how do we achieve this? By using quality CDC, be conscious when you are tying of the weight you add to the dressing by the threads ect you use. Finally coat the fly in a water proffer before you fish it can make that dry sit up a hell of a lot longer. 

2. You got to see it- for me I like fishing small dries so when I tie them I am always thinking of can I see it and what can I do to help me see it better without overpowering the fly with colour products or flashlights. This is really important when you are tying klink's ect for dry dropper; for this method of catching fish one of the most common problems anglers have is not being able to see the dry. Being able to see even the smaller dries will help detecting the suttle takes. 

3. Simple patterns and tie lots of them- when I am stocking the dry box I will tie up to and more that 20 of each dry. They are simple fly's and quick to tie, so when I am fishing after a few fish or some time on the water I will change the fly regularly; the same pattern but put up a new one. They are easy to tie and a fresh dry make fishing more enjoyable at times rather than squinting your eyes and not being sure if that rise was for you or not. 

So that being said here is three dries that have to be in my box for 2019 and in quantities as they will get a lot of time on the water. 

Fly No.1 Loop Winged BWO

Hook: Size 18-20 Dohiku 301 
Thread: Piscari-fly fine strong Kevlar tying thread
Tail: Coq de Leon 
Body: Hends Olive body quill 
Wing: Pale blue CDC, Tie in the tips and loop back over to create the wing.
Dubbing: Pinch of Hare's Ear (this gets tied in before you loop over the CDC).

Fly No.2 Olive CDC 

Hook: Size 18-20 Dohiku 301 
Thread: Tommi-fly UV reflective tying thread NO.7
Tail: Coq de Leon 
Wing: Natural CDC pinch of half the CDC feather and tie in the center then double over the fibers. Make sure the fibers are up right. 

Fly No.3 Black CDC Emerger   

Hook: Size 18-20 Dohiku 301 
Thread: Piscari-fly fine strong Kevlar tying thread coloured black
Tail: Coq de Leon  
Wing: Natural CDC 
Dubbing: Black CDC mixed with UV spectra dubbing 

Remember to keep the bodies light and slim, use light wire hook like the Dohiku 301 to help the fly be effective longer. Most light and small dries wont last a couple of seasons and as we all know a dry that you use in an evening rise for trout probably wont last the full session, so tie the quick and easy and have plenty of them in your box. For some good klink's for the dry dropper fishing check out this blog post https://peterdriver.blogspot.com/2018/03/fishing-dry-dropper-dry-that-catches.html. For our next winter tying session I will look at some beaded wets that will be crucial for catching spring trout when they start to move about. 

I hope you have enjoyed reading this post and enjoy tying these flies; if you would like to stock up your boxes for this coming year make sure and contact me through Facebook or email. If you have any questions or queries please feel free to contact me. Also make sure and check out my website www.piscari-fly.com for all your tungsten beads, Dohiku barbless hooks, Tommi-fly products,the amazing Syndicate Fly Rods, Reels, leaders and much more. Thanks for reading.
Also check out my new YouTube channel for all my latest tying and hot tips. 

Egg Yarn Nomad

Here is a great little streamer I have been using for a couple of seasons now on still water around Ireland and I have found it very successful indeed. I find it fishes best on a fast or slow glass sinking line and the most effective retrieve for me is sharp figure of eights. Your prime objective with this fly is to get as much movement into that tail as possible. 
I hope you have enjoyed reading this video and enjoy tying these flies; if you would like to stock up your boxes for this coming year make sure and contact me through Facebook or email. If you have any questions or queries please feel free to contact me. Also make sure and check out my website www.piscari-fly.com for all your tungsten beads, Dohiku barbless hooks, Tommi-fly products,the amazing Syndicate Fly Rods, Reels, leaders and much more. Thanks for reading.

Also check out my new YouTube channel for all my latest tying and hot tips. 

Common Wealth Champion, Brian Kerr sharing some Hot Tips on fishing Boobies in Still waters.

International Gold medals in the sport of fly fishing are a rarity on the Island of Ireland North and South. As a competitive angler I have fish many internationals for my country and a medal of any colour has still alluded me, as the same is for the majority of anglers that have represent there Country at the highest level. This very achievement was accomplished during last summer by Northern Ireland's Team Member Brian Kerr who was the first ever Northern Ireland Angler to pick up the individual Gold, with his Team also taking the Gold at the 2018 Common Wealth championships. Well done to the entire team it was a great achievement.  

I had the pleasure to have Brian on the Ireland Team I captained which went to the World finals last September in Italy just after his big win and trust me his achievement in the Common Wealth's was well deserved. Brian is an outstanding angler on rivers and lake who's attention to detail puts him right up there as one of the best anglers I have ever had the pleasure to fish with. 

Now it was long before last summer that I had heard of the Northern Ireland angler Brian Kerr and it was during the winter months on still water venues over the last number of years where his name was mentioned in many discussions on tactics and tying's. Brian is renowned for his still water ability and for his booby tying; and when it come to catching fish on these lures there is few better than him. So during our time in Italy I had a conversation with Brian in regards to tying effective boobies and how to fish them correctly to maximize takes and getting tying details right. Brian kindly agreed to share some of his hot tops tips for tying and fishing boobies on still water venues right here. 

BRIAN'S TOP TIPS FOR TYING BOOBIES

When tying boobies and making booby eyes, the most important thing for fishing purposes is having them symmetrical and the diameter you want for the job you want them to do. The latest craze is to ‘bake’ them in the oven to round them off neatly and there’s no doubt they look fantastic for a photograph, but I don’t think it matters to the fish. As long as they’re symmetrical this should stop them from spinning and making a mess of your leaders and the fly will also fish correctly in the water.

To form the eyes, you can make your booby eye cutters from a few different things, extending car aerials, mechanics inspection mirrors and selfie sticks to name a few, the last two are handy if you want a bigger diameter and don’t forget to sharpen the end of each cutter with a needle file. I like to put my chosen cutter into a cordless drill and drill a load of tubes from a plastazote block at one time. 

I then cut each booby tube into suitable lengths, for example when I drill out 6mm tubes I try to cut them into lengths of about 10mm, you get two out of one tube with a little bit of waste, for smaller eyes of 3 or 4mm diameter cutting them so you get 3 lengths out of one tube makes them about the right length. I then put a medium thickness darning needle into the vice and push a pre-cut tube onto the needle trying to make sure it goes on straight and dead center. Then I take my bobbin holder and make one loose turn of thread around the tube making sure its as close to dead center as possible and then pull tight, the Super Fine & Strong Kevlar tying thread is perfect for this job, its strong enough to tighten down into the foam without cutting into it,  do about five tight turns of thread and then whip finish and trim the thread. Slide the eyes off the needle and repeat with the next one.

Cut one, two and three

The next step is trimming the eyes, this is the part a lot of people either have trouble with or just plain hate doing, it can be a tedious job and best done when you’re in the mood for it or in front of the TV, as with anything the more you do the better and faster you get at them. I’ve tried lots of different pairs of scissors for this, cheap, expensive, straight and curved and the ones I keep going back to are the Veniards Fine Point straight scissors, they have one edge slightly serrated and it seems to just catch a grip of the foam, they work perfectly for me anyway. I always think of each side of the eyes as 3 cuts, the first cut around the circumference is across the edge at 45 degrees. This then leaves you with two ‘edges’ which you then trim in the same way (not as deep a cut as the first) and hopefully this will leave you with a nice round booby eye.

The Rotary Tool or Dremel as it’s mostly known is another good method for shaping the booby eyes. You need the aluminium oxide grinding stone, Dremel code all of their stones and attachments so if you’re looking for it the code for this particular stone is ‘932’. This is a 9.5mm cylindrical shape with an inverted cone in the end of it which a booby tube fits perfectly into. I find going round the booby tube first and taking the edge off and then using the Dremel to round it off works best for me but having done them so long with the scissors now I tend to just stick with that.

When I tie boobies I like to tie the full fly first, leaving a slightly longer than usual head and add the booby eyes last. The main reasons for this are firstly that I like to have the booby eyes all pre-formed. When tying flies for International Rules tying the eyes on last and making them level with the eye of the hook ensures they will fit in the gauge without losing anything in the length of the wing or tail maximising movement in the fly. Lastly, I find tying them on when the fly is finished makes the eyes sit a bit higher on the shank of the hook ensuring you have more clearance at the gape of the hook giving better hook ups.

Don’t forget when tying your boobies to consider the size of the booby eyes allowing for the different gauges and weights of hooks, its no-good putting 2mm booby eyes on a size 10 heavy wire hook and expecting it to sit in the top few inches.

When adding the eyes to the flies, I like to sit them on top of the hook in the position they will be when the fly is completed, take the thread between them once loosely and draw it down tight, from there tie them in using a figure of eight motion and this will ensure they stay straight on the fly, once you’re satisfied they’re secured you can whip finish at the eye of the hook. I then check they’re straight and sitting right, adjusting them if need be. From there I take my dubbing needle and some superglue gel, I find the gel so much easier to work with because you can leave it sitting on the table, squeeze the sides and take a drop from the nozzle of the

bottle, the first drop goes between the booby eyes on the top of the fly, I then turn the fly over and put a drop between each booby eye and the eye of the hook, once that’s dry it ensures the eyes stay firm and the fly fishes straight and doesn’t spin. Now your boobies are ready for fishing.

Brian's TOP TIPS for Fishing Boobies.

When fishing boobies there’s a few important factors to consider, sometimes the small things can make a big difference. During the winter months when I’m bank fishing although, there will still be trout up and about, I also expect some of the trout to be down near the lake bed feeding due to lack of flies hatching. The first important factor will be line choice, you can fish boobies on a fast glass, or a Di3 and eventually it will get down to the lake bed and you will catch fish but that time it takes for those lines to sink is time wasted, far better to reach for the Di7, Di8 or Booby Basher line, get down there quick and get fishing.

Tippet choice and speed of retrieve will also make a difference. If say you’re fishing two flies on a short leader on a fast sinking line and you count the line down to the lake bed and  then start retrieving fairly quickly your flies will be pretty much scraping the lake bed and under the fish, whereas a slow retrieve will keep them just up off the bottom and in the feeding zone covering the bottom few feet. Alternatively, during the warmer months when the fish are very high in the water and I’m fishing the ‘washing line’ method again the tippet, booby eyes and even hook choice can make a big difference. Fluorocarbon sinks faster than copolymer or monofilament so if I’m looking to fish covering the top few feet I will fish a fluorocarbon tippet, with

3mm booby eyes, but if the fish are very high in the water I would change from a fluorocarbon leader with 6-8 inch droppers to a copolymer leader with 4 inch droppers, medium or light wire hooks and 4mm booby eyes to keep the flies very high up in the water without having to retrieve any faster making the flies look unnatural.

During our trip to Italy for the World Championships the team fished a crystal-clear lake during practice. We could see the fish cruising in front of us and it quickly became apparent that these fish were spooked by the shadow of a fly line and even the tippet above them. By changing to a fast sinking line and boobies we could fish the contours of the lake with the fly line below the fish but the flies a few feet off the bottom and no line or tippet spooking the fish, the difference was instant and the fish that had been turning away from the flies on the floating line would now grab the booby without hesitation. This is a great example of the importance of choosing the right lines and tippet for the job. 

Brian Kerr is a renowned top bank angler and some of these simple but highly important tips can make all the difference in catching or struggling to catch on still waters this winter. I would like to thank Brian for sharing his information on the blog and wish him a successful 2019. But it will be hard for him to TOP an amazing 2018. Well done Brain !
I hope you have enjoyed reading this post and thanks for checking out my blog.If you would like to stock up your boxes for this coming year make sure and contact me through Facebook or email. If you have any questions or queries please feel free to contact me. Also make sure and check out my website www.piscari-fly.com for all your tungsten beads, Dohiku barbless hooks, Tommi-fly products,the amazing Syndicate Fly Rods, Reels, leaders and much more. Thanks for reading.