A Summer Fly Fishing Day Barbless Flies

by Richard Fieldhouse
On my local small stream (The Yorkshire Derwent), it's been quite hard fishing of late, especially with the recent spell of hot weather and the lower water levels we are seeing in North Yorkshire. Even with the low river levels, I am still finding that when the fish are playing hard to get, the "go-to" tactic is to go long and keep disturbance to a minimum.
 
Using a longer leader allows for a more gentle presentation, especially when combined with a longer lighter rod employing this method I've caught in mornings, afternoons and evenings. I've been following these simple rules and it really has upped my success rate:
  • DO NOT get into the water and wade, not unless you really have to - As the fish have less natural cover from predators, they are really spooky. Any disturbance in the water (or noise from your studded boots) will transfer its way to the fish.
  • Use a longer leader - I generally use a longer and lighter leader, this will allow you to land the fly with a more delicate presentation - experiment with using a French Leader setup - they really come into their own at this time of year. 
  • Look for deep holes & behind any obstructions - If there is no surface activity these will be the places the fish are holding. Try experimenting with a Klink 'n' Dink setup (use a small beaded nymph - size 16 or smaller - we have a wide selection of these - as you may have guessed!).
  • See the end of this email for one of the best tips you will ever read - to get you ready for the Winter Grayling season. But you need to act on the tip now (you will see why when you read it)!

So, what sort of flies are working at the moment?

In this email I'm going to share with you the patterns which I have had personal success with over the last couple of weeks, and point you towards some which should be a staple of your Summer fly box in the coming weeks.

Mornings

Let's start with the basics, flies which will catch fish virtually anywhere (and at any time of day) and really come into their own during August - Gnat's & Midges:

I was using the Black/White Midge Pupa nymph up until around lunchtime (or when I started to see clouds of flies above the water), then I swapped to the CdC Midge and RS2 Midge patterns - drifted under the swarms to great effect.

Our Gnat & Midge Match The Hatch (MTH) Selection will help you throughout the summer season, Gnats and Midges are generally the most common flies on the water throughout the summer months, and with this selection we have you covered for all of their lifecycle stages:

Please Note: Each of the flies contained within our "Match The Hatch" Selection above can also be bought individually - just click on the relevant link above.

The CdC Midge is a fantastic and very versatile pattern, if you want it to act as an emerger, just apply a gel floatant to the tips of the CdC, whereas to fish it as a high floating dry fly, apply a powdered floatant to the whole fly.

Afternoons

Following on from the Midges, as the afternoons were drawing to a close I switched over to a few CdC emerger patterns from our Shuttlecock CdC Emerger Selection:

 

The patterns I had the most success with from this selection were the Micro CdC Emerger and the Holo-Butt CdC Emerger - in sizes 18 and 16 respectively.

I also had some real success yesterday with a couple of the Bosnia Balon Loop-Winged Emergers - so if you were lucky enough to grab some when we had them, now's the time to get them deployed!

The patterns I had the most success with from this selection were the Micro CdC Emerger and the Holo-Butt CdC Emerger - in sizes 18 and 16 respectively - I only applied floatant to the CdC above the eye of the hook.

Evenings

As the day started to draw to a close, I would always try to make sure I was on the river for the fabled evening rise. Sometimes it never really seemed to get going, with only a few splashy rises, but at other times the water came alive at around 9pm and fish were taking all around me.

My most successful patterns at this time of day were all from our "Easy To See" Selection - as the dusk started to form, each of the patterns really stood out against the dark water and takes were really easy to spot - just as the name suggests!

The patterns I had the most success with from this selection were the Black Magic Klinkhamer and the Greased Lightening - both size 14.

One interesting thing of note was that the Greased Lightening seemed to be the only pattern which brought the juvenile Grayling up from the depths - you had to be really quick with the strike to make contact with one though!

Please Note: All orders from our website now qualify for FREE Delivery to anywhere within the UK, just pop some flies in your basket and proceed to the checkout where you will see the FREE Delivery option, if you can order before 1pm you flies will be shipped on the very same day!

Go on, you know you want to!

Take advantage of the Low Water

If you are a keen Grayling angler, then now is the time to survey the river you fish.

If you regularly fish the same stretch for Grayling, now is your best chance, whilst the river bed is exposed, to take a look and note where the contours, deep holes and drop-offs are, and spot the likely fish holding places.

This information will come in really useful when the water levels rise again and the Grayling season starts in anger.

Tight lines & make the most of these longer fishing days.

 

 

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