Small Bullet Head Caddis Fly

I’m going to be putting a few more of Davie McPhail’s excellent Fly-Tying tutorial videos onto this site over the coming days and weeks as there’s lots of excellent patterns, tied really well, and in a way to which I really couldn’t wish to add anything.

So I won’t!

Simply watch the video below to see Davie tie the Small Bullet Head Caddis fly – and get your fly box ready for the season ahead. If you have any questions about material or anything, feel free to ask below – or ask the man himself by clicking the video and visiting his YouTube.

This is a dry fly pattern which is often successful on small stillwaters, and Scottish lochs, to take fish from the surface.

I just used to hook my bobbin onto a screw when I first started tying as a child (actually tying flies in your hands was more popular too…), but nowadays I use the more fancy sort of setup shown here.

Blood Worm

The Blood Worm is a great little pattern for reservoirs or stillwaters, as it mimics midge pupae which is often found in such places, and is a staple foodstuff for the brown and rainbow trout.

This little tutorial video below will show you how to tie the blood worm.

You’ll need a hook with a curved shank for this pattern, which should be tied on a fairly small hook (think size 14-16) to best reflect the size of these beasties in the water.

This is a good pattern in the early season when there isn’t much surface activity – the video below is from Canada, so the blood worm pattern here is a little different from some you will see tied in the UK. It still proves effective. As ever, modify this pattern to suit your local water!

Pheasant Tail Nymph - Tied by David Cammiss

Another must have under the surface fly is the Pheasant Tail Nymph (PTN), which, when fished upstream in a fast flowing river for brown trout is often a deadly pattern, as it is retrieved slowly on a figure-of-eight in a small still water.

Below we have a tutorial video which takes you through tying the Pheasant Tail Nymph.

This is another attractor pattern which imitates general aquatic life but doesn’t single out any one species in particular. This is a nymph attractor, as the name suggests.

I like to fish a PTN on the point fly in a three fly combo with a gold head PTN or GRHE on the top dropper and something similar on the middle dropper (usually a more imitative pattern based upon what is in the water – found through kick sampling (another future post there!)) upstream in the faster ripply rapids water of Northern English rivers early in the season (March to May/June) and this fly on point regularly takes brownies and the odd grayling as it whizzes along just off the bottom past good lies.

David Cammiss has produced yet another excellent fly-tying tutorial video, to which I need to add very little, so just watch the below video and ask any questions in the comments section at the bottom here:

GRHE - Gold Ribbed Hare's Ear

Another day, another fly-tying tutorial video from the excellent David Cammiss – today we have the Gold Ribbed Hare’s Ear (often abbreviated to GRHE for obvious reasons!) which is another ‘wet’ fly designed to be fished below the surface.

The gold ribbing adds ballast to the fly, making it a good top-dropper fly for you upstream nymphers in fast flowing water (don’t panic, there will be a tutorial on this soon!) due to the fact that this fly will sink fairly quickly. For the same reason, it can also be used as the point fly in a long-leader team of buzzers in a stillwater or reservoir for trout. This one also features a gold bead head, making it sink super quick for those deep days.

This versatile fly can also be inched along the bottom of the water, or dangled on its own on a slow figure of eight.

All techniques above, and more, will catch trout – making this a must have fly for your fly-box. Making the fly is almost easier than fishing it – and the tutorial fly-tying video below explains all you need to know about that!

The Diawl Bach

The Diawl Bach, or Little Devil, is an important all-round fly for fishermen of small stillwaters and reservoirs -  it will even prove a successful pattern on many rivers – for trout fishermen.

The Diawl Bach is not an imitative fly, rather it is a general “attractor” pattern which mimics key features of the intended creature – in this instance, the nymph – without actually looking like any particular species. The intention of the Diawl Bach fly is to trigger the killer instinct in the salmonoid fish: which is does very effectively, fished in a variety of ways below the surface.

Throw one of these out when all else fails and it will often prove effective.

In the below video, David Cammiss – fast becoming one of our favourite video tutorial providers – shows us how to tie this killer pattern.

Black Buzzer

This is a great little lesson for the total novice fly-tyer as Buzzers make a great start due to the lack of complexity in many designs: most successful buzzer patterns owe much to the sparseness of their design, making them great little confidence builders!

A ‘buzzer’ is the pupal stage of aquatic insects – most often midge pupae – which trout feed on often during most of the season. A small team of buzzers fished on the dead drift is probably my most effective technique on many reservoirs in Northern England when all around me are throwing out lures. If there is no surface activity, letting a couple of buzzers sink down while you slowly figure of eight a floating line with a giant leader will so often pay dividends – I’ll get a tutorial up about this method for those of you who are interested in finding out how I fish it!

Follow the tutorial lesson below from start to finish and, in 15 minutes or so, you should be able to have something resembling a buzzer by the end of it. Remember that your hook is the most important part of a buzzer, however, so make sure you have the right one before you start!

This tutorial is really for almost absolute beginners, so any advanced tyers may want to skip the first section and get onto the fly itself.

Thanks must go out to Dave Cammiss who made this excellent instructional video lesson – you can find more like it on his website.

Buzzer / Emerger Hooks online

You’ll need a hook with a curved bend to tie a buzzer pattern – you can order the following online:

• Orvis ‘Caddis Emerger’ hooks £3.75 for 25
• TackleShop “grub” hooks for £3.25 for 25

Orvis Whip Finisher Tool

This is a little tutorial video that novice fly-tyers might find useful – particularly if you got a box of fly-tying wquipment and can’t work out how some of the bits and pieces work!

This is the “Whip Finisher” and the video below shows you pretty much how it is used to finish off flies – usually to tie the “head” (final) section of the fly before you cut the thread and varnish or otherwise finish your design.

The whip finisher serves two purposes: it makes a nice “head” shape, while also securing the thread that you have used to tie the rest of the fly. If the worst comes to the worst and the whip finish frays or comes undone, the rest of the fly won’t completely unravel while you’re fishing… at least in theory!

Watch the video below to see how to set up and use a Whip Finisher to complete your fly designs.

You can purchase whip finishers online if you need to buy a new or replacement one from the following links:

• Orvis Whip Finisher – IRO £10 for a good quality whip finisher;
• TackleShop – a basic Whip Finisher for £2.75