Based on April’s Catch Returns, these are some of the more popular and successful flies.
Of course, the river was pretty low most of the time without very strong flows, so tungsten nymphs were not needed in most places, except the very deepest pools. At the same time, we had a persistent easterly wind which seemed to suppress many hatches, so very little chance to use dry flies with any success. A number of Grayling, Chub and Dace were accidentally caught on dries, but as they are all out of season until June 16th, we won’t say any more about those.
This list is necessarily limited by those flies mentioned in Catch Returns, so only a small percentage have given away their secrets.
Here we go:
Nymphs: GH hare’s ear; Gold Ribbed Hare’s Ear; GH Olive; Silver Bead Hares Ear; Red tag with partridge hackle; various Duracell variations (Jig, CDC etc); Damsel fly; 16,14 Montana; Purple Trout Candy; Tungsten March Brown spider; Copper John; GH/unweighted Pheasant Tail with/without orange hot spot; and finally, a homemade unbeaded purple wet nymph with a gold ribboned tail, size 12.
Dries: One Return mentioned a Klinkhammer, but possibly fishing a duo of course;
Others: A few less conventional members used black/red cats whiskers or mini- streamers.
Please do share your successful flies and any other tips and observations on your Catch Returns. It does help others, and makes for more interesting reading. There will be more next month, and hopefully a few more reports of success with the dries.