Flies

Beware of those who "pontificate" on the subject of flies, or those who say "you should always use this" or "you never need that". "Always" and "Never" are terms of rather limited application to chalk stream fishing. The contents of your fly box can be as diverse or as uniform as you care to make them. If you want diversity, study the works of Halford or Hill on the dry fly and Skues on the nymph. If you want simplicity you can have that too and still be successful for much of the time, especially if you know what you are doing, and why.

If you fail to induce a trout to rise to your fly, do not take it for granted that the fly pattern is at fault. The fly may well be wrong, but it could also be failure on your part to conceal yourself from the fish, a poor cast, allowing the fish to see your line, using the wrong size pattern or, the most common problem of all, drag. Fish do not like to see line or leader dragging across the current.

Always look in the record book to see which flies have been successfully used recently. If you have a favorite fly or flies, then use them; you never know your luck.

FLY SIZE

Getting the correct size to match the natural insect is very important as you can see the difference between a size 10 (larger) and 16.

EMERGER AND PARACHUTE PATTERNS

These patterns are more popular than ever; with a reducing number of surface flies, these "semi-sunk" flies will imitate the fly as it breaks open the nymph case and emerges as an adult. The best patterns are CDC (cul de canard).

Note: these are shown in large sizes for illustration purposes. Except for mayflies you will normally want to use them in smaller sizes.

Olive emerger	Mayfly emerger	Sparkle dun emerger	Adams parachute

ALL-ROUND DRY FLIES

Blue winged olive, Iron blue, Adams, Daddy long legs, Red quill, Spent winged Lunns particular, Black gnat, Red sedge, G&H sedge, Pale watery and Tupps. Sizes 14-18.

Adams	G & H Sedge	Blue winged olive

ALL-ROUND NYMPHS

Pheasant tail, Gold ribbed hare's ear, Shrimps, Olive quill and Grey goose.

Gold ribbed hare's ear	Brown shrimp	Pheasant tail

THE SEASON IS DIVIDED UP INTO THREE MAIN PHASES:

PHASE 1 - START OF THE SEASON TO MID-JUNE

Olive dunns and spinners
Hawthorn flies (sometimes very heavy falls in the early weeks of the season)
Black gnats
Mayflies (in great numbers and different sizes at Timsbury from mid-May to mid-June).

PHASE 2 - MID-MUNE TO MID-AUGUST

Olives
Iron blues
Pale watery
Spent spinners, Lunns etc
Pheasant tail nymph
Gold ribbed hare's ear nymph

PHASE 3 - MID-AUGUST TO SEASON END

Blue winged olive
Black gnat
Daddy long legs
Sedges
Shrimp fly
Pheasant tail nymph
Gold ribbed hare's ear nymph

GRAYLING FLIES

Adjutant blue, Honey dun, Blue midge, Red shrimp, Red tag, Orange tag, Partridge and orange, Sawyers killer bug, Black gnat, Black pennel and Black beetle.

Blue midge	Red shrimp

LIFE CYCLES

It is important to understand the processes that the aquatic flies go through in their development. Below are the life cycles of the Mayfly and the caddis (sedge) fly. If the correct part of the life cycle can be identified and imitated then there is a greatly increased change that you will make contact with a fish - or two!

MAYFLY LIFE CYCLE

Mayfly nymphs hatch from eggs on the stream bottom and then live there for up to a year. When they are ready to become adults - most often during the spring or summer - they rise to the surface and struggle out of their nymphal skins, a brief process during which they are known as emergers. Once an emerger's wings are dry, it is known as a dun. The duns fly to streamside vegetation, where they molt a final time and become spinners, sexually mature adults. Male and female spinners mate in flight over the water, after which the female deposits her eggs (oviposits) by flying low and dipping her abdomen into the water. The spent female then dies and floats downstream.

CADDIS LIFE CYCLE

Caddisfly eggs hatch on the stream bottom and live there as grub-like larvae for most of the year. A few weeks before becoming adults, they transform into pupae and float to the surface, where the pupal skin splits and they fly off. Adults mate in flight above the stream, after which the female deposits her eggs.