One for the salmon and sea trout anglers

caorach

Well-Known Member
After losing a Lewis spring salmon last week, which broke me, I was much cheered up when I took delivery of some Blue Elvers tied by Denny Brennan and I thought some might enjoy a few pictures to brighten up their day. The Blue Elver is a pretty strange and unusual fly in some respects but I think they look fantastic and Denny does such a good job of them. Of course it is necessary to kill half the rare wildlife of Africa in order to get the correct stuff to tie one up but the end result is worth it, and there's probably too much wildlife in Africa anyhow.







 
I used to tie flies for both trout and salmon so I know how difficult it is to get them "just right"! With that in mind I have to say that those shown look like true works of art!
I hope they work as well as they look and give you plenty of good sport.
Tight lines!
 
I used to tie flies for both trout and salmon so I know how difficult it is to get them "just right"! With that in mind I have to say that those shown look like true works of art!
I hope they work as well as they look and give you plenty of good sport.
Tight lines!

Thank you, fingers crossed. It must be said that when I saw the elvers Denny was tying I thought that I just had to try them. I've no connection with him and have never even met him so this isn't a sales pitch but there is no question that he is tying great flies. I have some estuary fishing which has sea trout and big slob trout and they are feeding on the cuddies and other wee fish so I'm going to try the elvers for them to see if I can't get them to take the elver. Despite them being works of art I'm going to fish them, lose them and get them all chewed up as that is the whole point of a fishing fly. In the end it is about the satisfaction of using them as I could probably catch just as many salmon on any other fly.
 
Good point caorach. I used to be worried about losing Rapala lures when Bass fishing around rocks or Piking in snaggy swims simply because of the cost (I know it's slightly different) but someone far wiser than me pointed out "they're just as much use lost at sea as they are sat in ya lure box!"
ATB Lee
 
that was my favorite sea trout fly when i was working up one lewis/harris funny thing is i haven't seen one since either
 
that was my favorite sea trout fly when i was working up one lewis/harris funny thing is i haven't seen one since either

They don't seem to be a very common fly at all and the only place you really hear about them still being used is Grimersta, I think they have just gone out of fashion as although the feathers are costly people spend a fortune on salmon flies anyhow so in percentage terms they are only a bit more expensive. However I have this urge to give them a swim in a few of the good sea trout lochs as well - maybe Uladail and Dhiobadail - plus in the estuary at Steinis.

May has been a relatively wet month on Lewis this year, though cold, and there was a salmon lost on Loch Langabhat about 2 - 3 weeks back so there are fish right up the systems already. Garynahine didn't see a lot of fish caught, despite some effort, in May but I think they were coming in. I'm also certain that there was a wee run into the loch at Barvas and there was a fantastic 12lb fish taken from it about a week back, maybe the best looking salmon I've ever seen. Grimersta seem to have decent numbers of fish in (I lost one that broke me just over a week ago) plus have really good water because of the wet month. Amhuinnsuidhe has been very quiet but I've only had 2 half days fishing (one for salmon, one for trout) so I'm not really paying much attention to the talk and reports as yet. The positive note to this is that I think there was a decent (by Lewis standards) spring run of salmon and this seems to be a growing trend, last season there was one big flood in May and I think a lot of fish came in on it. Hopefully if we can keep reasonable water levels than it will be another bumper salmon season to cancel out the very difficult season, due to almost complete lack of water, last year.
 
tight lines ,it's 30 years since i was there and having a quick look on google maps there seems to have been a lot of forestry planted since :confused:
it was a brilliant place to live and work i really enjoyed it , it was wild and unique as were the locals lol ivander pabby (sp) and a myriad of other maniacs lol drinking whiskey neat from half pint glasses , but blue elvers on double hooks under the moon are a long lasting memory for me as was fishing langabhat ,my now brother in law hooking into a fish that we never saw but towed us around for half an hour and then spat the hook much to his complete dismay, i always vowed to go back but i know now doing that is always a let down i'll keep the memories
 
tight lines ,it's 30 years since i was there and having a quick look on google maps there seems to have been a lot of forestry planted since :confused:

There isn't really that much forestry, at least compared to other places, and really there is just a bit at Garynahine, out the Pentand Road around where it crosses the Creed, down at Aline and also on the Barvas Road in a couple of places. It probably doesn't come to 4000 - 5000 acres in total which isn't much when you consider that Amhuinnsuidhe alone is 55,000 acres. I'd guess that the forestry at Garynahine was probably planted before you left but the pine moth thing got to it the first time around so I think most of it was replanted again. Malcolm McPhail, who was the keeper down there around the time you left, turned the forestry into a great woodcock shoot though he's since moved on to Morsgail who, of course, have a lot of Langabhat.

You should make the effort to go back as for the angler there is just so much to do that you can't touch on it in anything less than a lifetime. In 25 years I've never been to Langabhat for example! I suspect you'd be in with a good chance of ending up with a whole pile of new, and very positive, memories.
 
Braw looking flies, don't know if they would perform in the Tweed though.

M

Ooooh Yes they do, and on the Tyne, and on the Wear, and on the Tees

Always first on the cast, and usually last to come off!!

A great fly in swift broken, poply water and, fished on a pitch black night a bloody good Seatrout pattern as well

Bob
 
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