Jim Blakeslee’s Green Bug
In Jim’s recent presentation to the November meeting Jim Blakeslee referred to the Green Bug as one of his favourite flies for catching the big browns in the rivers around Warrnambool. There is no doubt that the main trout rivers around Warrnambool carry heavy populations of shrimp. This is particularly true of the upper Merri.
FLY OF THE MONTH
The Hairwing Coachman
(courtesy of Peter Leuver)
Years ago, when I was living in Warrnambool, I purchased a copy of John Turnbull’s book, A Fly on the Stream, and came across this pattern. It looked interesting and reasonably straightforward to tie, so I tied some up and used the pattern to great effect on the rivers around Warrnambool.
When I moved back to Melbourne in 1984 and started fishing the rivers around Thornton I discovered that it worked rather well there too. This fly is not hard to tie, and it’s well worth putting a few together and trying them on an evening when the caddis are about.
FLY OF THE MONTH
The Carrot Fly (courtesy of Daniel Hackett)
This month we feature the Carrot Fly. In 1999 John Horsey, captain of the English competition fly fishing team, visited Australia and introduced us to loch-style fishing, along with some flies that were popular and effective for this style of fishing. Three flies in particular that he mentioned were the Hopper, Bob’s Bits, and the Carrot Fly.
Fly of the month
The Slipknot Emerger – a South African Fly (From Ed Hurst)
South African fly fishers, like their Australian counterparts, initially drew heavily on their colonial antecedents but later developed tactics and fly patterns more suited to local conditions. The Cape Piscatorial Society, based in Cape Town, traces its origins to 1901, and a wealth of information in this regard can be found on its website which contains articles scanned from its journal Piscator.
I am a member of the city’s Twig Fraternity, fishing with 0 – 2 weight rods
Fly of the month
Daniel Hackett’s Pheasant Tail Red Spinner
At the end of his presentation at the July meeting Daniel Hackett passed around a collection of flies he had developed and used for his work as a guide in Tasmania. Photos of the other flies are shown at the bottom of this page, and President Mike Jarvis has suggested that we might auction this fine selection of Daniel’s flies at our annual dinner in August. They are certainly beautifully tied, as well as being proven fish catchers.
One of these flies, mentioned
Fly of the month
A Stillwater Nymph – the Frenchie
I was spending some money recently at a tackle shop sale (not unusual for me) and fell into conversation with Marshall, a member of the Red Tag Fly Fishing Club. We talked about our winter fly fishing options, which of course means lake fishing now as our rivers are closed. Marshall described success he’d had recently fishing Moorabool and Talbot Reservoirs, and also gave me tying details of a nymph that hadproved proving particularly successful this year.
Here is a description of Marshall’s
Fly of the month
Rod’s Caddis
At the April meeting the guides from the Goulburn Valley Fly Fishing Centre told us a lot about fishing the Goulburn River. Antony Boliancu, one of the guides, also left us with a suggestion for a caddis pattern that they find particularly effective on the Goulburn and other surrounding streams. Antony described it as particularly deadly on the Steavenson River.
The fly has its origins in the USA, where it is a very popular pattern that is mostly used as a stonefly imitation. Back in 2002 Antony
Fly of the month
Rod’s Caddis
Members will all be very familiar with the justifiably renowned and highly effective Elk Hair Caddis pattern. It’s a fabulous fly and has undone countless trout.
Your editor has a neighbor, Rod Lee, who is a very experienced and skilled fly fisher. Rod spends a couple of weeks in February each year fishing the lakes around Miena in the Tasmanian Highlands, and in preparing for his annual trip this year he put together a fairly simple caddis pattern to fish in the evenings. Rod’s pattern is similar
Fly of the month
The Cinnamon Parachute Dun, or CPD (as tied and fished by John Pilkington)
(Members will be aware that for years John Pilkington’s favourite fly, especially for fishing his beloved Big River, has been the old stand-by – the Red Tag. John has been tying and fishing Red Tags in various forms, especially super attractive fat palmer-hackled varieties, for as long as we’ve known him. But the Red Tag has now been displaced in his affections. Here is what he says:)
Last year, when down in Tasmania, I was fishing
Fly of the month
Greenwell’s Glory – as tied and fished by Anton Trusk
Anton works at Rick Dobson’s Aussie Angler store and is a very keen trout angler, although he confesses that he mainly fishes overseas, in countries that include Argentina, Alaska, Slovenia, and Croatia. But one of his favourite places is New Zealand’s South Island.
His favourite South Island rivers are the Mary Burn and the Grey River. Anton prefers fishing to sighted fish and a size 16 parachute Greenwell’s Glory, which he ties himself, has been a particularly successful fly