The Trout Flies of Colin Wiseman
If fly tying is an art then Colin Wiseman is a great artist, because the patterns that flow from his vice on a daily basis are not just exquisitely beautiful but well thought out patterns designed to catch the trout in Shetland lochs. His flies blend form and function, being well proportioned and constructed, pleasing to our eyes but always tied with the aim catching the trout that swim in Shetlands many and diverse lochs.
Colin Wiseman is a highly experienced angler and very prolific fly tier, who for over 40 years has absorbed fly tying influences from his immersion in the world of competition angling , creating a collection patterns with a distinct Shetland flavour, fusion, and style.
His patterns blend the beautiful and subtle colour mixes associated with Irish flies, they incorporate the heady bursts of colour and sparkle associated with Scottish Highland and Islands patterns, the sparse imitative patterns associated with English reservoirs, as well as the influence of in your face rainbow trout patterns. However Colin does not take these influences singly but rather he mixes and experiments with them, blending tradition with innovation, saving the best of the old and absorbing the best of the new all adapted to the different personalities and conditions of Shetlands lochs.
He constantly experiments at the vice, creating patterns that fuse and blend the colours associated with the great Celtic tradition of fly tying, Claret merges with magentas and reds, blues merge with blacks, along with a pallet of olives, browns and greens, all polished up with pearls, silvers and gold’s, and set on fire with tags and tails of carefully chosen fluorescents.
Classic Flies like Clan Chiefs, Bumbles, Zulus and palmers are played around with and fine-tuned to the waters of Shetland. For example look at the various clan chief patterns that blend the colours of a claret bumble to which he has added a bright pearl rib, or adding a magenta hackle to the mallard and claret or Connemara black. Small changes and refinements that make already killing patterns all the more deadly when swimming in the waters of Shetland.
Note also that if a pattern isn’t broke there’s no need to fix it, for example Colin reminds us never to neglect or forget about classic flies like the March Brown and Loch Ordie.
Always willing to share and help, especially to beginner anglers, many of Colin’s flies are generously dispersed and field tested amongst some of his lucky angling friends many of which are top competition anglers. Colin demonstrates a generous and creative spirit that shines all the more brightly when seen against the backdrop of soul-destroying secrecy that can be rife in the world of competition or big fish angling. He reminds us that there is more to life than fishing and as fellow fishers we should look out for one another.
Many of the articles on this site have been written as a precursor to a possible future book on the flies of Shetland, but on reflection it is very difficult to say exactly what exactly is a Shetland fly is because many of patterns found in the boxes of Shetland anglers have been imported from a variety of places.
However if there is such a thing as an archetypical Shetland fly, then just maybe the flies that flow effortlessly from the vice of Colin Wiseman must surely come very close to that ideal. The trout of Shetland certainly seem to agree.
The fly's below are posted in no particular order and are just a few of the many thousands that Colin has tied
See also April 2015 cast of the month
If fly tying is an art then Colin Wiseman is a great artist, because the patterns that flow from his vice on a daily basis are not just exquisitely beautiful but well thought out patterns designed to catch the trout in Shetland lochs. His flies blend form and function, being well proportioned and constructed, pleasing to our eyes but always tied with the aim catching the trout that swim in Shetlands many and diverse lochs.
Colin Wiseman is a highly experienced angler and very prolific fly tier, who for over 40 years has absorbed fly tying influences from his immersion in the world of competition angling , creating a collection patterns with a distinct Shetland flavour, fusion, and style.
His patterns blend the beautiful and subtle colour mixes associated with Irish flies, they incorporate the heady bursts of colour and sparkle associated with Scottish Highland and Islands patterns, the sparse imitative patterns associated with English reservoirs, as well as the influence of in your face rainbow trout patterns. However Colin does not take these influences singly but rather he mixes and experiments with them, blending tradition with innovation, saving the best of the old and absorbing the best of the new all adapted to the different personalities and conditions of Shetlands lochs.
He constantly experiments at the vice, creating patterns that fuse and blend the colours associated with the great Celtic tradition of fly tying, Claret merges with magentas and reds, blues merge with blacks, along with a pallet of olives, browns and greens, all polished up with pearls, silvers and gold’s, and set on fire with tags and tails of carefully chosen fluorescents.
Classic Flies like Clan Chiefs, Bumbles, Zulus and palmers are played around with and fine-tuned to the waters of Shetland. For example look at the various clan chief patterns that blend the colours of a claret bumble to which he has added a bright pearl rib, or adding a magenta hackle to the mallard and claret or Connemara black. Small changes and refinements that make already killing patterns all the more deadly when swimming in the waters of Shetland.
Note also that if a pattern isn’t broke there’s no need to fix it, for example Colin reminds us never to neglect or forget about classic flies like the March Brown and Loch Ordie.
Always willing to share and help, especially to beginner anglers, many of Colin’s flies are generously dispersed and field tested amongst some of his lucky angling friends many of which are top competition anglers. Colin demonstrates a generous and creative spirit that shines all the more brightly when seen against the backdrop of soul-destroying secrecy that can be rife in the world of competition or big fish angling. He reminds us that there is more to life than fishing and as fellow fishers we should look out for one another.
Many of the articles on this site have been written as a precursor to a possible future book on the flies of Shetland, but on reflection it is very difficult to say exactly what exactly is a Shetland fly is because many of patterns found in the boxes of Shetland anglers have been imported from a variety of places.
However if there is such a thing as an archetypical Shetland fly, then just maybe the flies that flow effortlessly from the vice of Colin Wiseman must surely come very close to that ideal. The trout of Shetland certainly seem to agree.
The fly's below are posted in no particular order and are just a few of the many thousands that Colin has tied
See also April 2015 cast of the month
