FLYMPH FORUM

Thought I might share this pattern with you,. Not a great photo though.

I fish the Wharfe a lot. For example, the season opened on my home water on the 28th March and I have been out 5 times since then. The Large Dark Olives are hatching and some days it can last for 4 hours and the fish are really on them at the moment. I have had quite a lot of fish and all caught on this pattern:



Hook: The one shown is a Tiemco 103bl, I have now swapped this to a Kamasan B525, Both in size 16 & 16
Thread: Pearsalls Purple (Modern) waxed.
Body: 2 strands of heron herl ribbed with very fine gold wire. Need to be able to see the thread between the turns of herl.
Hackle: Very pale blue dun hen hackle.

I have watched closely the emergence of many LDO's over the past week and this fly, when wet, is a very close resemblance in colour and translucency. I fish it up and down and it is at its most deadly when cast up from a rising fish (a metere) and let swing in front of it.
The takes are solid.

This is the quality of fish so far this season:



Hope you enjoy.

Wow, what a superb fish!

I hooked one that size last year on a bit of the river that was two strides wide, in a small pool, and it took off like a steam train! Frightened the life out of me!

I'll have a go at that pattern - seen a few LDO's on the water the other day, but as yet no signs of the fish coming up for them. Can't be too long now though.

Andrew.

With no access to heron herl, I've tied this pattern using mallard flank fibers as a sub, and it still catches fish when olives are about.

Hi Philip,

We have been to the Wharfe last juin but have never seen such a beatiful fish.

Can you make a better photo so we can see the goldtinsel also??

Greeting

Hi Ruard,
I am not sure where you went on the Wharfe.
I am a member at Bolton Abbey and the fish are much smaller there. I am also a member of the Appletrewick Barden Burnsell AC and that fish came from those waters. The Wharfe under that club is lightly fished.
I will do a better photo for you this week. And on the Kamasan B525 straight eyed hook.

flyfishwithme wrote:Hi Ruard,
I am not sure where you went on the Wharfe.

One day we could fish on the Balton Abbey and there I caught 3 fish of about 35 cm.

We fished also much more upstream and could not get anything.

Greeting

Nice looking pattern Philip.

Terrific fly. I love the look of the heron herl rib. Lovely effect.

The color on that fish is gorgeous!

Ruard wrote:

flyfishwithme wrote:Hi Ruard,
I am not sure where you went on the Wharfe.

One day we could fish on the Balton Abbey and there I caught 3 fish of about 35 cm.

We fished also much more upstream and could not get anything.

Greeting

Very interesting Ruard.
I am convinced that, unless you are targeting specific individual fish, upstream produces less fish. Now this is contrary to what Mike Connor may argue but fished properly, downstream can be deadly.

Philip,

Tied up one of these last night and put it under the tap - interesting result that bears no resemblance to the dry version - definitely one for consideration for the LDO's

Your sucess whilst fishing downstream " when fished correctly" - can u describe the method u use. I catch quite a number each season on downstream dry , but that is to specific fish that continue to rise after I have passed them out on my way upstream. I find in general that you will get one shot only then they go down - the only exception being when there is a lot of caddis activity and the skating dry at the end of the cast does not scare every fish in its vicinity. How do you avoid this, and are u fishing a single spider/wet or a team. Also what methods do you employ to overcome the usual hooking problems when fishing downstream.
Whilst the aruments in favour of upstream presentation are extremely convincing I am keen to consider your findings for one very simple reason - on the more productive stretches of my local river more often than not when we get a stiff breeze , it is generally downstream and to be able to use rather than fight the wind could make on occasion a less frustrating day out.