Syndicate Oxfordshire Trout

Managed my first trip in a long time last monday as a guest on a local syndicate water for an evenings buzzer fishing. Not much to report really, the water was crystal clear as always and the fishing was as hard as I remember it.

Buzzers were hacthing all over the 20 acre lake and fish were taking them with anger, many head and tailing in the classic feeding rises. Could I get one to take my dry fly? NO. I think the sheer number of naturals on offer made it unlikely that my little dry fly would veen get noticed and the size 18 shuttlecock weas undisturbed for a good 2 hours before I gave up.

Out came the 6 weight rod and on went a team of two superglue buzzers under a foam suspender buzzer. within a few casts I had my only fish of the evening a nice well recovered stockie rainbow.


The only other excitement came as I was stripping a minkie (did I say that out loud?) through a shoallow weedy bay. A sudden flash of green and a pike had severed my leader.

Still don't think I have cracked this lake, no where near, and hopefully I will be invited back. There are some truly monstrous resident browns caught by the pike guys well in to double figures. Next time I may bring sinking lines and large streamers in the hope of latching in to one of them.

Added a bit of a "twist" (pardon the pun) to a couple of my favourite lures before I start hammering a few reservoirs over the next week or two. Hopefully they will catch a fish or two.

Twister taddie


Hook: Size 8 longshank korda carp hook (very heavy)
Tail: Chartreuse marabou
Body: Black and chartreuse chenille wrapped together
Hackle: Black hen
Head: Orange thread as a hotspot

Twister Kitten


Hook: Size 8 longshank korda carp hook (very heavy)
Tail and wing: Chartreuse marabou
Body: White and chartreuse chenille wrapped together
Biots: Fluoro orange
Head: Orange thread as a hotspot

On the topic of the hooks I have been using carp hooks for a few of my lures (and big buzzers) for a little while. They have an awesome hook hold and are completely indestructible. Also they weigh an absolute ton so are good for getting flies down without the need for a beadhead. Only issue with them is they are teflon coated to "aid with a smoother hookup" for the carp boys and as a result are slippery in the vice.

Thoughts and comments as welcome as always
Tight Lines
Dan

Fly tying sessions

Had another long tying session today trying to get the hang of tying with turkey biots. I cant thanks gareth Lewis enough for his article here, http://www.ffisw.com/?p=7557, which really helped me get to grips with tying them in properly for the desired effect.

Anyway here are my efforts, not in the same league as his but I am relatively happy with them, any criticisms or suggestions? How many of you tie with turkey biots and what sort of flies do you use them for?

Olive paradun, probably the messiest fly i tied today but it floats really well in the glass of water test and i like the effect on the abdomen so thought i would share.


Tying the biot in the other way round results in the heavily segmented body seen in this CDC dun, not sure which i prefer?!


really liked the effect it created on the bodies above so decided to whack it on a buzzer. Was happy with the effect, the biots seemed to glow in the bright sunlight.


Cheers for reading
Dan