Summer has arrived and although us fly-fishers always hope there will be some cloudy days and some rain in the weather mix, we also need to be prepared for heat, bright sunshine and low water conditions.
What that means is that a thoughtful, tactical approach which accepts and adjusts for conditions is likely to be much more successful than simply carrying on with the approach that worked so well in the cooler spring months. In very simple terms we need to be thinking early and late, 'fine and far-off' as it used to be described and also of targeting fish like carp, bass and mullet - all great fun and growing in popularity year on year.
As far as the latter are concerned the easiest way to get ready for the water in terms of flies is to pick one (or more) of our Top Performer selections - Bass, Carp and Mullet on the fly. In terms of individual patterns our own most productive bass catchers are the Hi Viz Sandeel and Oz's Euro Bass Clouser whilst the mullet master himself - Colin Macleod - just keeps catching on his Red Tagged Sand Shrimp, Shrimply Red and Spectra Shrimp. For carp the old favourites such as the Bonio are now well complemented by the highly successful Disco Biscuits and Double Biscuits.
In the absence of rain and higher water salmon fishers should be thinking of early starts, lighter rods and lines, longer lighter leaders (possibly even switching from good old nylon to fluorocarbon - we stock the Seaguar Ace Hard as it is the most popular amongst salmon fishers) and small flies, including hitched tubes. Patterns likely to succeed are often the less showy ones such as the Stoats Tail or this little Feeler Willie Gunn but don't forget shrimp flies like the Usk Grub, nor little Frances tubes. For fishing the visually exciting and deadly hitch why not try the Hitch Haugar or this little Cascade?
Summer fishing for trout and grayling on the rivers is often most productive in the evenings as the sedges appear and the trout come out to meet them! Our biggest selling sedges include the Richard Walker Sedge, this CDC Elk and, to tempt something substantial, a big, juicy G&H Sedge! Daytime fishing is likely to mean small flies such as the F Fly or nymphs such as a small Flashback Pheasant Tail - or maybe a tempting Terestrial or running a Peeping Caddis through a deep corner?
On stillwaters, emergers and dry flies can be very successful. Why not invest in our top performer selection of the best of these flies? This can also be a time to get down deep with a sinking line, maybe combining something bright such as a Tequila Blob with a smaller nymph pattern such as this Pseudo Diawl Bach on the dropper? There also seem to have been plenty of pin fry about this year- we've been selling lots of the Barron's Pin Fry imitation recently.
Or if you need any specific advice not featured there please remember, whatever you're hoping to target we're here to help so if you need more advice don't hesitate to call on 01753 883366.
