Hi,

We're celebrating my brother's birthday tomorrow. It's been quite a few years since I've been home for it so it should be fun. This summer, my Dad, brother, and I are hoping to get some fishing in for Atlantic Salmon. Will probably try the St. Mary's river mostly, as the last two years have been the best in the past 20 (catch and release only these days). Anyway, I've tied him up a few flies to go in the card. Just thought I would share:

Cosseboom: a popular fly in Eastern Canada. The hackle is a bit big on this one. It should be quite undersized:


Vanessa: This is my own pattern, though I didn't have the lavendar floss for the tag nor the mallard dyed woodduck for the wing.


Blue Charm: the throat on this is blue squirrel tail. The hairwing version is probably more common, but we can get those at a shop if we want, so I tied him a feather wing version:


Red and Black basic Spey: I watched a David McPhail you tube video where he tied this one. I quite liked it and watching him really helped me with the wings. They aren't quite right yet, but I'm finally starting to feel like my spey wings are improving. Unfortunatly, the body hackle went a bit hay wire. Still, these are all fishing flies, so picture perfect is not a requirement.


I'm really enjoying tying these. These are size 8 (Eagle River). These would be fun to fish back in NZ for some of the larger trout. I must remember to pick up a few packs of hooks to take back with me.

- Jeff