I can’t believe that a full two weeks have past since I last updated my blog. In all fairness not much has happened and as work pressures put pay to any fishing before the end of the season for coarse fish we are now upon the start of the season for fly fishing for trout on rivers.
Over the winter months a few items of tackle were purchased and amongst those items were the odd fly box, namely vintage Wheatley alloy boxes and an interesting item for retrieving the odd fly out of overhanging branches. Having had the time to sort all the tackle out into boxes and mark them up accordingly I am further sorting out the fly boxes to contain patterns for the different rivers and locations we fish, well that was my reasoning to justify the acquisition of yet another fly box to Mrs Tales. This latest box made by Wheatley I assume is an early box but it does seem to have the more modern addition of a foam insert to the top of the lid. The compartment have the distinctive yellow celluloid windows however the compartments to the outer edge have oval shaped windows. It would be great to know if this really is an early Wheatley box, so any pointers would be much appreciated.
This box will be made up of flies for fishing the river and lakes of The South West and Wales as we may head there over Easter. Most of the flies used for Wales will be classic wets which fill form the contents of another box with clips.
In the last edition of Trout & Salmon magazine there was a feature on early season flies, most tied on size 14 hooks and forming a group of emergers. Out of a large collection of flies accumulated over many years I will try to put together a workable selection to cover early season needs for woodland and moorland streams, with a good selection of flies for lakes such as Bala or Tynconel.
It would be good to hear from any of you as to your early season choices of fly.
