Fly tying and small rivers
A Sunday letter about tying flies for small rivers
I’m June. Every Sunday I write one letter about tying flies and fishing the small rivers near my home, and I sell pattern packs, tying guides and two short video courses.
Tying
- New
A size 18 midge for the last warm afternoons
The tiniest fly in my box, tied in ten minutes, and why I still carry it in November.
Three turns of hackle, and then stop
Most of my flies are over-dressed. Here is how I learned to put the thread down.
A hare’s ear nymph from a pinch of fur
The scruffiest fly I tie and the one that catches the most.
Rivers
The small creek in November, and why I walk it first
Low water, leaves in the pools and a rod I mostly use as a walking stick.
Fishing a pool the size of a kitchen
Small water needs a small cast, a slow step and a lot of looking first.
The morning I only watched the water
No casts at all, just an hour on a rock learning where the fish sit.
Gear
What is in my fly box this week, and what is not
Eight patterns, one empty slot and a box that is finally tidy.
How I keep my flies from rusting in the box
Dry the box on the windowsill, leave the lid open, and stop overstuffing it.
A small bag for a short walk upstream
One box, one spool, one pair of nippers and a sandwich.
Notes
Pinning my patterns on the corkboard
Every recipe on a card, pinned by the vise, in the order I tie them.
Three patterns I have stopped tying
Pretty on the bench, no good on the water, and one that I still miss.
Why I write the recipe on the back of the card
So the next fly I tie looks like the last one I liked.
Downloads and courses
Shop
Download as soon as you pay. Yours to keep.
About
About me
I started tying flies one winter because the rivers were too cold to fish and my hands needed something to do. Fifteen years on I still tie at the same corner of the kitchen table, with a lamp, a vise and a cup of tea that goes cold.
The water I fish is small: creeks you can step across, pools the size of a kitchen and trout no longer than my hand. I am not an expert and I do not catch many. I write down what I tie, what I carry and what I see, so that you can start sooner than I did.
Each Sunday there is one fly, one river and one small lesson. The pattern packs, guides and courses are everything I wish someone had handed me in my first year.
Newsletter
Slow Water
One letter every Sunday: a fly to tie, a river to look at and a small thing I learned this week.