Simplicity with Pheasant Tails

In Most recent years I have been striving to simplify my fishing and the approaches I use, like less tackle to carry by moving to a chest pack from a waist coat and trying to create 3 dimensional systems to my leaders and setups so they can do more that one job and be used in several approaches when I am on the river.
This is one of the most important aspects I try to get across to any youths or people that ask me for some tips; " keep it simple " and try not to over complicate everything about your fishing. So I am constantly looking at my fishing and trying to stream line it all, this approach can also be applied to fly tying.

The simplistic patterns of nymphs and other flies can and are often the most effective when it come to catching fish. A couple of strand of pheasant tail fibers some copper wire with a bead and a turn or two of a collar or tag and you have one of the most effective nymph patterns you will ever fish.

These little fish treats couldn't be easier, I use globrite no 4 for the thorax and a few turns of flat lead in the under body to add a little weight so they get down to the fish quicker.
The can be fished on french nymphing set ups and also very effective hanging under a dry fly; the bead and thorax can be a variety of colours to match the fishes desires.

On curved hooks the same nymph with a strip of pearl up the back give the Pheasant tail a little flash to attract the lazier fish to the take.


Using CDC as the thorax also give the nymph a different dimension, mostly I like to use coq de leon for the tails of the majority of my nymphs as not just for the look but it dose not break off as easy as the pheasant tail fibers over time.

Wrapping the CDC is a popular approach to add a little extra to the pheasant tail nymph, it can add a little movement to the fly when its tumbling down the streams. I do find these nymphs very effective when they are fished down stream to the fish.



You can also experiment with the colour tails you use for the body, with the extensive array of colours available you can tie an entire box of these nymphs that will suit all trouts diets.

I hope you have enjoyed reading this post and can take something from it to enhance your angling. If you have any questions on the blog or any of the posts you can contact me here or on my details to the right. If you would like any of the flies on this blog tied or your own dressings do not hesitate to give me a shout and I will en-devour to accommodate your requests. Thanks for reading.

Down River Dry Fly on the San Poland

I haven't been blogging for a while with a lot of flies to be tied, work commitments and my girlfriend moving in it has been a crazy few months. However thankfully things getting back to normal now and I can share with you all the experiences good and bad, along with  tricks I have picked up over this time, it has been an eventful few months with plenty ups and downs.

To begin somewhere, I was in Poland recently on a four day trip with some angling buddies fishing the beautiful River San in the Lesko region. 
To get here you can fly from Dublin to Rzeszow  Wednesdays and Sundays then you would have a two hour drive to a town called Lesko which the river San flows past. Permits are reasonable enough at around 15 euro per day and accommodation is for around 30 euro with dinner and breakfast included. The whole trip would cost in the region of 500 euros including flights, car hire, hotel ect. This is not a bad price for three and a half good days fishing on one of the top rivers in Europe in my book.

You do however arrive at the hotel quite late on the Wednesday night, around 11 or 12, so after a quick beer we hit the hay to be fresh for the fishing in the morning. After breakfast we took a quick pit stop in a nearby town at a tackle shop called "TopFly", well worth checking out if you are near by for their fly collections. At the first glance of the river it was very obvious that the levels were similar  to our home waters and extremely low; however we didn't find this to much of a problem as this meant we could wade to any location of the river and also the big plus was that the fish were freely rising through out the entire day.

After setting up two rods one on the dries and the other on nymphs I headed down stream and found a nice section of running water and began to nymph the pockets, with poor enough results. The river is heavily fished and when you look up or down the river you will see a lot of anglers wading the vast river, this can be a bit off putting at the start but it dose not take you long to get used to it and see it wont inflict on your catches if you are doing the right thing. I didn't pick up to many of the renowned sizable Graylings through-out the morning catching mostly brown trout, some nice ones at that. Over the rest of the day we did manage to find the Ladies and it was productive enough but we knew we were missing something and the fish were not coming freely as the normally are.
Day two started with a bit of a sore head from a few beers the night before and we were a bit slower getting tackled up but we were still fishing by 10am. Approaching the river differently this morning payed off right from the start, instead of walking down stream to fish up the river we started at the car and fished down stream with small slight dries on fine tippet, 7x. 


Using a 12 foot 5x or 6x tapered leader with 6 foot of 7x or 8x tippet we stood facing down stream and casting at two or ten o clock allowing the dry to float down stream ahead of the tippet and leader. The fly is the first thing the fish sees and if they are spooky Grayling then this method will catch them. With the gentlest of takes it dose take some concentration to keep your eyes on the small dries and the subtle rises in order to connect with the fish as you do have to be fast enough. It was very enjoyable fishing especially when you lift into the fish and it tears off down stream.

Day three went much the same as the day before and there was cracking fishing to be had. One other aspect that was important to catching these fish was there is no need to move or wade at any pace, once you find a fishy glide or pocket. The Grayling just keep coming and if you move down river to fast you would pass by dozens and dozens of quality fish, this can take some reminding as you see rising fish further down stream. This was another enjoyable trip and finished up with a few beers in the hotel with a good laugh reliving the fishing from the last three days. This is a method that I will be working on next spring and summer in our Irish waters for sure and I know these fine dries do work very well here at home.

These fishing breaks can be easily put together and are a must for the developing angler or a fisher-person that just loves the sport of catching fish in stunning surroundings. If you would like anymore information on this kind of fishing trip please feel free to contact me and ill do my best to point you in the right direction. 

I hope you have enjoyed reading this post and can take something from it to enhance your angling. If you have any questions on the blog or any of the posts you can contact me here or on my details to the right. If you would like any of the flies on this blog tied or your own dressings do not hesitate to give me a shout and ill tie them for you promptly. Thanks for reading.

What are the Trout feeding on?

With the temperatures soaring into the thirties and the water levels low, fishing the evenings can be a break from the heat of the day for the angler but also the variety of fly life on the river offers the feeding trout a large and varied menu from Sedges, Olives, Knats and Caenis. Now on most trips out the sedge patterns will take a few fish close to dark but you couldn't be guaranteed a large catch of fish. However there is another treat on the menu for the fish and one that gets over looked quite a bit on our rivers. Flying Ants can be seen all over the country at the moment and the trout love them. I began fishing these flies several years ago in Norway and they have had a permanent place in my dry fly-box for this time of the year. I tie them in several colours mostly black, red and my favorite pink. Here is a simple dressing to match the hatch and its well wort having them in several colours. 

Begin by placing a size 14 fine wire hook in the vice and using black twist thread for the black ant, red for the red one and so on for different colours.

Take a strip of black foam around 3mm in with and point the tail end of the body. Trap down the foam a third of the way down the hook.

Here add in several strands of Krystal flash for the wings and bring forward the thread up to the second third of the hook.

Trap down the second segment of foam and tie in a small cock black hackle to act as the legs.

Wind on two turns of the black hackle and secure with a few turns of thread. Pull the last piece of foam to the front of the hook and finish off the fly.


This is a really simple and quick tie, its a little fly that will catch those fussy fish during these hot days, while it floats great, the fly sits lovely in the surface film just where the fish want them. Don't forget to try the pink ones closer to the fall of the dark.  

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 and enjoy the fishing.