Derry Quay Lodge Brown Trout Fly Guide

Derry Quay Lodge Brown Trout Fly Guide

Lakes

Natural fly	Matching artificial	Usual angling method	Best time to fish	Where best to fish	Useful comments
Chironomids Duck-fly (chironomus)	Black & Blue, Black Pennell	Wet Wet	Forenoon and mid-afternoon	Shallows best	Widely present
Olives Lake Olive (cloeonsimile)	Green Olive, Sooty Olive, Olive Nymph, Pheasant Tail nymph, Ginger Quill	Wet Wet Wet Wet Dry	Forenoon and mid-afternoon for all	Usually shallows and bays	Dry fly is often highly effective
Water louse(asellus)	March Brown, Brown Nymph,	Wet Wet	Daytime Daytime	Deeps Deeps	Major and neglected item in diet

MAY

High-point of the year for many anglers. Main flies hatching are the mayfly, the chironomid and olives, as in April; the claret dun, pale wateries and caenis. Best times for angling are the forenoon, afternoon and evening - all day really!

Natural fly	Matching artificial	Usual angling method	Best time to fish	Where best to fish	Useful comments
Mayfly	Mosely may	Dry and Wet	Daytime	Shallows	End of May
Spent Gnat	Spent Gnat	Surface	Evening	Near shores	May-June
Chironomids	Black & Blue Black Pennell	Wet Wet	Forenoon and mid-afternoon	Shallows best	Pupa very good
Lake Olive (cloeonsimile)	As in April plus Golden Olive	As in April	All day, evening fall of spinners	Shallows and near shores	Dry fly in calms
Pale Watery (centroptilum luteolum)	Pale watery, Little sky-blue dun	Dry & spent	Evening Evening	Shorelines, calm bays	Spent patterns often effective
Claret Dun (leptophebia vespertina)	Claret & Mallard, Claret Nymph	All Wet	All day All day	Peaty areas Peaty areas	Best in boggy lakes
Sedges Great Red Sedge	Murrough	Dry and spent	Dawn & dusk	Near shores, islands etc.	End of May. Hatch in deeps, swim to shore
Green Peter	Green Peter, Green Nymph	AllWet	Evening Evening	Near shores, islands etc.	As above
Black (Dark) Caperer	Welshman's Button	All	Daytime	Near shores, islands etc.	One of few day-flying lake sedges.
Silverhorns (mystacides)	Silver sedge, Invicta, Wickham's Fancy	Wet Wet Wet	Afternoon and evening	Wherever hatch is	Females fly out to lay in open water.
Caenis	Pale Watery	Dry	Dawn and Dusk	Hatch or fall of spinners
Waterboatman	Corixa	Wet	All day	Near reeds, weedbeds etc	Fish mid-surface
Snail	Black and Peacock	Wet	All day	Near reed etc.	Fish slowly just under surface.

JUNE

Much the same flies hatch in June as in May, except that the mayfly dies off around the middle of the month and sedges begin to hatch. The most important sedges are the big red sedges, including the peters and murroughs and the various types of silverhorns. In the latter half of the month, fish may not touch fly at all during the day, being "on the fry" - that is, eating the perch fry which are then at their most vulnerable. Fishing is best in the evening if sedges are about.

Natural fly	Matching artificial	Usual angling method	Best time to fish	Where best to fish	Useful comments
Mayfly	As in May	As in May	As in May	As in May	First ten days
Spent Gnat	As in May	As in May	As in May	As in May	Dry fly is often highly effective
Chironomids Olive Midge	Olive Duckfly	Dry	Late evening	Shallows	Hatch over mud bottom
Green Midge (Also known as Buzzers)	Hackled Green Midge	Dry	Late evening	Shallows
Sedges Cinnamon SedgeBlack Gnat	Cinnamon Sedge, Black gnat	Dry Dry	Darkness Daytime	Near shores Near shores	Deadly in right conditions
Lakeolives Also Caenis, Shrimp, Corixa, Waterlouse, Snail.	As in May	As in May	As in May	As in May
Chironomids Olive Midge	Olive Duckfly	Dry	Late evening	Shallows	Hatch over mud bottom
Sedges Cinnamon SedgeBlack Gnat	Cinnamon Sedge, Black gnat	Dry Dry	Darkness Daytime	Near shores Near shores	Deadly in right conditions

JULY AND AUGUST

JULY

Fishing is mostly with sedges during the month. However, chironomids and olives and a few land bred insects may also be on the water, including ants, black gnats etc. The Daddylonglegs is beginning to move as well. Best time to fish is the evening rise to the sedges.

AUGUST

This is often a very good month. Chironomids, lake olives and plenty of sedges. There is often splendid fishing to the dapped Daddylonglegs or dry natural. If no dapping available, the evening sedges offer the best chances.

SEPTEMBER

Sometimes the best month off all! Fish are beginning to feed more eagerly as spawning time nears and early autumn rains bring fresh water. Daytime fishing is again back after an absence of a couple of months but can be sporadic and uncertain. Evening fishing to sedges is probably best but there will be lake olives, chironomids and the usual land insects. So now the fisherman's year is simplified as much as possible, perhaps too much. But for those who want to know about the entomological names or habits of the flies on which the trout feeds - the following table is supplied:

Rivers

APRIL RIVERS

Natural fly	Matching artificial	Usual angling method	Best time to fish	Where best to fish	Useful comments
Olives Large dark olive (baetis rhodani)	Hackle greenwell, Gold ribbed hare's ear, Rough olive	Dry Wet and Dry Dry	Mid-day	Follow local hatches	Rough olive best in slow water
Spinners	Lunn's particular	Dry	Afternoon and early evening	On or below faster stretches	Spinners best in warm weather
Olive (baetis tenax)	Light olive	Dry	Mid-day	Localised hatches	Important in late April
Dark olive (baetis atrebatinus)	Dark olive	Dry	Mid-day	As above
Iron blue (baetis pumilus)	Iron blue Snipe and purple	Dry Wet	Mid-day and early afternoon As above	Localised hatches As above	Hatches best in cold weather As above
March brown (rhitrogena haarupi)	March brown	Wet	All day	Faster rivers	Confined to eastern rivers
Iron blue spinners	Little claret Jenny spinner Houghton ruby	Dry Dry Dry	All day All day All day	Below faster stretches	Jenny spinner is male. Female lays in fast water
Others Early stonefly	Orange partridge	Wet	All day	In fast stretches	Will imitate several stoneflies
Shrimp	Shrimp	Wet	Daytime and early evening	Near weeds on bottom	Fish deeply

MAY RIVERS

Natural fly	Matching artificial	Usual angling method	Best time to fish	Where best to fish	Useful comments
Olives; most of those as in April plus;Pale watery (centroptilum luteolum)	Sky-blue dun, Blue quill	DryDry	Daytime	Follow hatch	In warm weather at dusk
Pale evening dun (procloeon rufulum)	Pale watery	Dry	Evening	Slower stretches	Best in hot weather
Blue-winged olive (ephemerella ignita)	Blue-winged olive, Orange quill, Blue-winged olive nymph, Sherry spinner	Dry Dry Wet Dry	Afternoon and evening Evening	At emergence Where spinners fall	Late May
Mayfly (ephemera danica)	Mosely May, Grey drake, Spent gnat	Dry Dry Wet	Daytime Daytime Evening	At emergence	Spent patterns often best
Yellow evening dun	Yellow evening dun	Dry, wet & nymph	Dusk	Quicker lime stone rivers	Wet fly good in fast water
Yellow may dun	Yellow may	Dry	Daytime
Caenis (caenis)	Tiny pale watery	Dry	Dawn and dusk	Slower stretches
SedgesGreat red sedge (phryganea)	Murrough, Red sedge	DryDry	Evening Evening	Wherever they emerge	Any large bushy fly will do
Alder (sialis)	Alder	Dry	Daytime	At emergence	Land-bred – fall on water
Grey flag	Grey flag	Dry	Daytime	Quicker stretches	Spent good in evening
Black caperer	Welshman's button	Dry	Daytime	At emergence
Reed smut (simulium)	Black gnat	Dry	Daytime		Falls on water
Hawthorn (bibio marci)	Hawthorn	Dry	Daytime		Falls on water

JUNE/ JULY/ AUGUST/ SEPTEMBER

JUNE
Olives- much the same picture as May, with the addition of the small dark olive, artificial patterns of which are best fished dry, both in the daytime and the evening. Blue-winged olive becomes increasingly important.
Sedges- much the same as May, except that the grey flag is largely absent. An important addition are the peters, both green and dark. Dry patterns are best, but do not neglect the pupa patterns. Best in the evenings on slower stretches below lake outfalls – the peters are primarily lake species.
Reed smuts- often confused with the true black gnat (bibio johannis) the reed smut can have an impact greatly belying his tiny size. They hatch mostly in faster water in the daytime. Tiny dry imitations are best.
Others- Land-bred insects may include ants. There are also black gnats and of course snails, shrimp, corixae and waterlice.

JULY
Blue-winged olives, pale wateries, pale evening duns are the most important olives. Sedges are important. Reed smuts and caperers are also to be considered. Evening fishing predominates!

AUGUST
This month is much the same as July. Look for land-bred insects etc. falling onto the water, including daddylonglegs. Again evening fishing predominates.

SEPTEMBER
Blue-winged olives, smaller sedges and pale wateries. Effective daytime fishing resumes in September.