Cast of the month for September comes from Mike Forbes
The month of September will see an end to the summer "doldrums" as the weather breaks up with increasing rainfall, more wind and decreasing temperatures. Sea trout will be gathering around burn mouths and heading upstream. This combination of factors should lead to an increase in trout activity in our voes and lochs as the fish shoal up and get the urge to spawn. September can provide some excellent sport before the end of the season and there will also be a very good chance of a "trophy" fish if you're lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time.
September's cast of the month comes from Mike Forbes. Mike is an innovative fly tyer, a respected and greatly experienced angler and has carved out a reputation both as a sea trout and big fish specialist.
The month of September will see an end to the summer "doldrums" as the weather breaks up with increasing rainfall, more wind and decreasing temperatures. Sea trout will be gathering around burn mouths and heading upstream. This combination of factors should lead to an increase in trout activity in our voes and lochs as the fish shoal up and get the urge to spawn. September can provide some excellent sport before the end of the season and there will also be a very good chance of a "trophy" fish if you're lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time.
September's cast of the month comes from Mike Forbes. Mike is an innovative fly tyer, a respected and greatly experienced angler and has carved out a reputation both as a sea trout and big fish specialist.
MIKE’S EEL
September is a great month for Sea Trout as they congregate in the voes ready for running the burns. Three years ago I started to experiment with sand eel patterns by imitating the elvers of around two to three inches in length. I used various different materials so this pattern has evolved over a period of about 6 months. The pattern here has accounted for at least 200 sea trout in Shetland and the Isle of Skye of up to 3lbs and fishes best on a 2 fly cast on the tail. If the sea trout are in a feeding mood they don’t seem to follow it for long and takes can almost pull the rod out of your hands if you are not paying attention.
Hook – Size 8 or 10 Kamasan B175 or Partridge CS 52 stainless steel Sea Prince hooks for a larger size eel.
Thread – Fine/clear Uni-Mono Size 4m
Tail – A bunch of natural white marabou overlaid with silver. Tie in a bunch of medium olive marabou on top and whip finish at the eye.
Body – Push on some medium pearly mylar tubing over the eye of the hook and tie in with uni-mono thread and whip finish. Colour the top of the mylar with a medium olive permanent marker to match the olive marabou tail.
Eyes – Stick on two 2mm Funky Fly Tying eyes and coat the body with UV resin making sure that the resin is thick enough over the eyes so that they don’t come off when the fly is in use.
September is a great month for Sea Trout as they congregate in the voes ready for running the burns. Three years ago I started to experiment with sand eel patterns by imitating the elvers of around two to three inches in length. I used various different materials so this pattern has evolved over a period of about 6 months. The pattern here has accounted for at least 200 sea trout in Shetland and the Isle of Skye of up to 3lbs and fishes best on a 2 fly cast on the tail. If the sea trout are in a feeding mood they don’t seem to follow it for long and takes can almost pull the rod out of your hands if you are not paying attention.
Hook – Size 8 or 10 Kamasan B175 or Partridge CS 52 stainless steel Sea Prince hooks for a larger size eel.
Thread – Fine/clear Uni-Mono Size 4m
Tail – A bunch of natural white marabou overlaid with silver. Tie in a bunch of medium olive marabou on top and whip finish at the eye.
Body – Push on some medium pearly mylar tubing over the eye of the hook and tie in with uni-mono thread and whip finish. Colour the top of the mylar with a medium olive permanent marker to match the olive marabou tail.
Eyes – Stick on two 2mm Funky Fly Tying eyes and coat the body with UV resin making sure that the resin is thick enough over the eyes so that they don’t come off when the fly is in use.
DUNKELD MUDDLER
I tend to tie this with a dyed orange deer hair muddler head. For some reason I have had far better results with this variation. Not sure who came with it first – it might have been Brian Watt that said he used a Brown Headed Dunkeld Muddler and because I didn’t have any dyed brown deer hair at the time I tied it up with orange with equally good results. I think it is a good cinnamon sedge representation and works well on the top dropper for Brown Trout, Sea Trout and even Grilse!
Hook – Kamasan B175 size 10 or 12
Silk- Either Uni Mono Size 4m Fine/Clear (You can tension this stuff more than with most other tying treads which is good for spinning the deer hair or Gordon Griffiths orange Cobweb Tread Superfine.
Body – Gold mylar tinsel with a dyed orange cock hackle ribbed with medium gold wire.
Wing - I tend to use either primary or secondary wing slips from a Hen Pheasant rather than the more traditional Bronzed Mallard – probably because I am a bit of a cheapskate and bronzed mallard is more expensive!
Muddler Head – A good pinch of dyed orange deer hair with the dark hair points forming a collar in front of the wing. Trim off as much as possible of the root ends forming the muddler head.
I tend to tie this with a dyed orange deer hair muddler head. For some reason I have had far better results with this variation. Not sure who came with it first – it might have been Brian Watt that said he used a Brown Headed Dunkeld Muddler and because I didn’t have any dyed brown deer hair at the time I tied it up with orange with equally good results. I think it is a good cinnamon sedge representation and works well on the top dropper for Brown Trout, Sea Trout and even Grilse!
Hook – Kamasan B175 size 10 or 12
Silk- Either Uni Mono Size 4m Fine/Clear (You can tension this stuff more than with most other tying treads which is good for spinning the deer hair or Gordon Griffiths orange Cobweb Tread Superfine.
Body – Gold mylar tinsel with a dyed orange cock hackle ribbed with medium gold wire.
Wing - I tend to use either primary or secondary wing slips from a Hen Pheasant rather than the more traditional Bronzed Mallard – probably because I am a bit of a cheapskate and bronzed mallard is more expensive!
Muddler Head – A good pinch of dyed orange deer hair with the dark hair points forming a collar in front of the wing. Trim off as much as possible of the root ends forming the muddler head.
WHITE TAG
A really simple but effective fly that works particularly well as a middle dropper fly and particularly well as it begins to get dark. That day when Gordon Waddel photographed me on Clickimin Loch earlier this year I caught seven fish with six falling to the White Tag.
Hook – Kamasan B200 size 10 or 12
Tail – Fluorescent white tied in as a tag. The brighter this white wool is the better it seems to work. The stuff I use was marketed by Gordon Griffiths and is soft and very white.
Body – Peacock herl ribbed with silver oval.
Hackle – Short Greenwell or Furnace hen.
A really simple but effective fly that works particularly well as a middle dropper fly and particularly well as it begins to get dark. That day when Gordon Waddel photographed me on Clickimin Loch earlier this year I caught seven fish with six falling to the White Tag.
Hook – Kamasan B200 size 10 or 12
Tail – Fluorescent white tied in as a tag. The brighter this white wool is the better it seems to work. The stuff I use was marketed by Gordon Griffiths and is soft and very white.
Body – Peacock herl ribbed with silver oval.
Hackle – Short Greenwell or Furnace hen.
LITE BRITE SHRIMP
This fly is one of my favourite tail fly patterns which seems to work at any time of the year. Works best in the eutrophic lochs in Shetland and I have also had a lot of success amongst the Rainbows in lochs south. You can tie many different colour variations of this fly and it works equally well if you add feelers back and front by tying in a few fibres of dark partridge hackles. The original shown here has accounted for brown trout of over five pounds and even works in the sea for sea trout.
Hook Size 10 Kamasan B110 Grubber or Fulling Mill 31165 Super Heavyweight You can use a B175 Kamasan hook.
Thread – Fine/clear Uni-Mono Size 4m
Underbody – If you are using a B175 hook you are best to build up a hump profile of lead wire in ever decreasing lengths fixing it with UV resin. This allows the fly to swim upside down which is the natural way a shrimp swims. If you are using a Grubber or other curved hook you can get away with a few wraps of lead foil or take a piece of lead wire and roll it on a hard surface with a bottle until it flattens.
Body – Attach a 5mm strip of Virtual Nymph Flexi-Body in Dark Tan at the rear of the hook. Cut a V-shape to help locate the strip evenly so that it will be even on each side of the shrimp. At this point tie in a clear piece of Monofilament with a diameter of around 0.25mm ( I use Airflow 12lb Platinum but you can use anything which helps to give good segmentation).
Dubbing – Dub on some yellow Lite Brite and wind up to the eye having first applied a little superglue to the body – This will help it stick to the body as there is a tendency for the dubbing to slip on the humpy body without it.
Bring the strip up to the eye applying a fair amount of tension and secure it. Rib the body with the monofil and whip finish.
Finally pick out som of the dubbing with a dubbing needle.
This fly is one of my favourite tail fly patterns which seems to work at any time of the year. Works best in the eutrophic lochs in Shetland and I have also had a lot of success amongst the Rainbows in lochs south. You can tie many different colour variations of this fly and it works equally well if you add feelers back and front by tying in a few fibres of dark partridge hackles. The original shown here has accounted for brown trout of over five pounds and even works in the sea for sea trout.
Hook Size 10 Kamasan B110 Grubber or Fulling Mill 31165 Super Heavyweight You can use a B175 Kamasan hook.
Thread – Fine/clear Uni-Mono Size 4m
Underbody – If you are using a B175 hook you are best to build up a hump profile of lead wire in ever decreasing lengths fixing it with UV resin. This allows the fly to swim upside down which is the natural way a shrimp swims. If you are using a Grubber or other curved hook you can get away with a few wraps of lead foil or take a piece of lead wire and roll it on a hard surface with a bottle until it flattens.
Body – Attach a 5mm strip of Virtual Nymph Flexi-Body in Dark Tan at the rear of the hook. Cut a V-shape to help locate the strip evenly so that it will be even on each side of the shrimp. At this point tie in a clear piece of Monofilament with a diameter of around 0.25mm ( I use Airflow 12lb Platinum but you can use anything which helps to give good segmentation).
Dubbing – Dub on some yellow Lite Brite and wind up to the eye having first applied a little superglue to the body – This will help it stick to the body as there is a tendency for the dubbing to slip on the humpy body without it.
Bring the strip up to the eye applying a fair amount of tension and secure it. Rib the body with the monofil and whip finish.
Finally pick out som of the dubbing with a dubbing needle.