IRISH PATTERNS

[letumgo]

(jaw hanging open)

What type of duck is that? Gorgeous bird.

[Mataura mayfly]

It is the female of our Paradise Shellduck, bit bigger than a Mallard and smaller than a Goose. Very handy bird for tying and one of the few members of the bird family where the female is more brightly coloured than the male.

[lauriel]

Hi Guys
well where do i start
the patterns are mainly for wild brown trout but can also be used for Rainbows, we fish these flies close to the shore lines of the loughs for gillaroos.
Orange and green are the predominant colours to represent Daphnia.
I always use a team of three flies on a cast.
A bumble on the top dropper
a wet on the middle dropper and a dabbler on the point

I have experimented over the past three years of putting knotted cock pheasant legs on my bumbles and mayflies and my catch rate increased considerably, even may fly patterns with legs have proved good, when i say legs four pair on each side of the pattern, and by the way dyed claret is the top colour as this shows up great in peaty water as does picric dyed materials.
i will post some more later

[lauriel]

Jeff to tell you the truth there is no real substitute for bronze mallard, i have tried all sorts of stuff but never found anything to match it. but to tell you the truth is the fish really going to worry about a feather that is not exactly like it.
I have found over the years that a lot of guys over here come up with some great looking patterns but they are geared to catch the anglers eye.
I have spent 35 years developing patterns and field testing them before i made any statements about them and how well they worked.
I would say if you got those feathers and dyed them up dark brown they would certainly do the job

[Otter]

Laurence, if there is a single type of fishing where it stands out that the skill of the angler far outweighs the minor details of the fly it is Irish Lough Style. Not to say pattern and its design is not important for it patently does matter. As in all areas of fly fishing, there are more flys to catch anglers than to catch trout and that will always be so. Now where did I put my box containing 37 shades of olive green seals fur, it used to reside on top of the two others with their many shades and interpretations of golden olive.

[Mataura mayfly]

LF, let me rephrase, rather than substitute the firey bronze- make a variation of it.
As we discussed at my visit, I have plenty of bronze mallard through gathering from the wilds in season..... not as much as you lucky fellows get..... but enough for my needs. I was thinking the chestnut colouring of our Paradise duck might be a neat variation without dying.
Feathers taken from similar areas of either bird have the same characteristics, slightly larger barb length in the Paradise.