Sporting Road

FRANK SAWYER’S COLLECTION By Magnus Angus Sawyer Nymphs Ltd was run by the Sawyer family so they were the only source of authentic Sawyer nymphs and they used to offer a set of Sawyer flies, tied to the original patterns, in a fly box finished with a portrait of Sawyer. The set seems to me to capture the nature of Sawyer’s thinking, i.e., just a few materials combined into dressings which represent natural insects by simplifying or reducing the representation to a few key features and an overall shape. Others have commented that the flies are all geared to fish where trout or grayling expect to find the types of prey these represent. So the lightly weighted Nymphs sink but the weighting is delicate. Cast into a modest current they move with the water rather than plummeting to the bottom. The dries have enough hackle to spread the tiny weight of the fly on the water surface. With a touch of floatant, these fish initially on the surface, and slightly deeper in the surface film as they become waterlogged. Price: £10 (For the boxed set of 12 flies: 2 each Sawyer Pheasant tails, Swedish, Grey Goose, Killer Bug, Bow Tie Buzzer and Chalk Stream dries.)From: www.sawyernymphs.com Too bad they are no longer available from Nick's www.sawyernymphs.com and the site is down but meanwhile, you can visit these articles by Nick Sawyer About Nick Sawyer Nick Sawyer is the grandson of the late Frank Sawyer MBE, inventor of the Pheasant Tail Nymph and famous river keeper of the Hampshire Avon chalk stream. Nick runs a small hobby business (Sawyer Nymphs Ltd) dedicated to selling traditional nymphs and flies ties to the orignal patterns of Frank Sawyer. Sawyer

It is amazing how many Americans don't know how to cut the cheese. Well, not at the table anyway. Please don't just hack off a piece here and there on a cheese board. Here is how you properly do it:

Having mentors is important in life, and especially in fishing. Wonder what ever happened to my old fishing buddy, Gary Dewey? Gary was an iron worker who tied some great flies. He became a fishing friend of mine and tied some memorable flies, which had a George Grant woven fly look to them. He had stoneflies with jungle cock, and DewDads, crawfish patterns, both of which I learned to tie from him, among many other innovative patterns. George F. Grant began an innovative style of fly tying in the early 1930s, and patented a unique method in 1939 (U.S. Patent No. 2,178.031). Grant's method for weaving hackles is similar to but distinct from that of Francis Potts. Grant was one of the first anglers to realize that large trout fed primarily beneath the surface on nymphs, and that one needed to imitate and learn to fish this insect-stage if one wanted to consistently catch large trout. Grant's nymphs imitated primarily large stoneflies such as the giant salmonfly (Pteronarcys californicus), which grows up to two inches in length. In 1973, the Federation of Fly Fishers awarded Grant the Buz Buszek Memorial Award-an award plaque presented annually to that person who has made significant contributions to the arts of fly tying. Grant wrote two books on his style of woven Montana flies, which remain largely obscure. Grant liked to use jungle cock for the back of the stonefly, which is also what Gary Dewey did on his stoneflies. George Grant flies Dew Dad by Gary DeweyDownload Gary Dewey Stone Nymph.Tying Instructions.Download Dewey's flies are somewhat similar to the woven stoneflies of George Grant

If you look back in time, you’ll find a few legendary anglers who filled extraordinary bags with just one fly, maybe two. Frank Sawyer and his pheasant tail nymph and grey goose come to mind (although he actually had 5 flies in all, including for lakes). Rim Chung and his RS2. Magical flies or perfect technique, a mere mortal would question? Truth is that it is a little of both. By doing 90% of all things perfectly you cannot catch 90% of the fish in a river. Only by doing 100% perfectly will you achieve that kind of success. Sawyer could average 20 trout an hour on just two flies, one in brown, the other in grey, in a variety of sizes, or even more on grayling for that matter on his Killer Bug. I have seen Rim have these banner days as well on public stretches with wild trout here in the West. The wonderful part of many of these flies are that they are very simple to tie, just some pheasant tail and wire, or yarn and wire, or sewing thread on a hook, in the case of a Yong Special. So how can such a simple fly be so effective? So what’s the secret? Perfection of a single technique and fly, in the hands of experts in presentation. Light lines, small flies, tied well and fished without drag, over finicky trout. Flies that are more a semblance of a midge or mayfly nymph with good segmentation. Simple but translucent bodies. Thin, elegant tapering of the fly bodies. Putting the fly where the fish are at, without drag. Exceeding concentration and strike detection. Excellent control of the fish once the hook is set,