The Fly Box.

I love fly tying, and fortunately the trout love my flies too. Most winters I sit down and tie the flies I will need for the coming season.
My flies are dominated by weighted nymphs, in sizes 18s up to 12s. The Touvre is populated with shrimp (Gammarus) in biblical proportions.
There are in fact two species of this freshwater shrimp Gammarus pulex and Gammurus lacustris, I don't know what the Touvre species is, but a shrimp patten in sizes 16s to 12s in a pale watery olive colour covers all sizes. I tie them in light-medium and heavy, with grey partridge hackle as legs.

The next common insects are caddis. Caddis fall into three sizes 14s 16s and during August, a larger beast on a size 12s. Caddis are found all along the Touvre, but in some places the evening hatches are much bigger. In these areas it worth fishing a weighted caddis patten, such as Lafontaine deep sparkle pupa, at any time during the day, prior to a hatch.
In the late evening the same fly but in an emerger, sorts out the better fish. In fact two of my biggest fish a 58cm and a 56 cm fell to this fly.

Next come the small, medium and large mayflies. Sadly in just the few years I have fished the river, mayflies have become less common, its down to abstraction, and pollution, but I have covered that in a previous post!
On most days a few Blue winged olive (Ephemerella ignita) come off, but never in the huge numbers you see on the river Dordogne when grayling fishing. However a bead head b.w.o. nymph in a size 16s will catch fish, fished blind, or to sighted trout.

A few other medium mayflies come off over the summer months, such as PMDs and Pale waterys, and sometimes with the odd Danica putting in an appearance, but never in any numbers. These small mayfly hatches rarely bring any decent trout to the surface, the numbers are just not sufficient.

Below the fish farms, huge hatches of midge (Chironomids) are now common, and some big fish are caught here, but I just don't have the heart for it. To see this wonderful river so heavily silted that the only fly life it can support are midge populations sadden me. But I do carry a few midge pupa pattens to trail of the end of a dry fly, if the situation suggests trout may be taking tiny insects?

Finally at some time in July we get a fall of ants. These ants are large 12s and have a red arse!! After being caught out during my first season, and having to make do with a small black Klinkhamer, during a spectacular rise to this terrestrial insect, my box always has a few red arsed ants in a corner somewhere.