Big brown trout flies

A couple of flies from the Ammarnäs series tied and photographed by Mikael Båth.

I tied the first flies in this series during a stay at Ammarnäs in 2005. The traditional flies used for fishing the big brown trout, which to some extent are still used, were rather boring. The flies did not make use of the new material’s advantages. Salmon and sea trout flies have evolved tremendously since the beginning of the nineties. Since fishing conditions were lousy for two weeks, I decided to spend some of my time tying flies instead of fishing.

The flies differs some from tube flies intended for salmon. Most big trout wander from the lakes to the spawning areas at the river Vindelälven long before the spawning and they actively feed until the fishing prohibition at mid September. Conditions are similar in all the waters that hold big stationary brown trout. In other words it is not primarily a question of provoking the fish to defend its territory as when you fish for salmon. Here the main target is to present the flies to the fish as part of its natural food.

The result is flies that are considerably bigger than the corresponding salmon flies. I choose to make flies that make a proper resistance in the water for the Ammarnäs series. This way you may use the same type of fly by most parts of the river. At the same time the flies fish correctly and stretches the leader well.

You can use the same flies with floating-, intermediate- and lines with an intermediate tip, depending on the river’s water level. This is practical and you may concentrate on choosing the right fly according to your preferences, the weather and water colour/water visibility.

I have divided the series into four groups. Pure daytime flies for clear days, daytime flies for cloudy days, daytime and dusk flies for not so good weather and night flies. The first three groups are very similar and it is actually just colours and wing sizes that differ between them. The night flies are slightly different but will still be part of this series since I have created them for the Ammarnäs trout and they are also vital ingredients of the fly box.

You will get a good result by tying all flies with a spey hackle instead of cock hackle for the rear part of the fly’s body. They are my favourites for the more slow streaming parts of the river. I have also constructed a variation of the original fly with longer body and hackle. You favourably use this fly with long hackle feathers by the slow streaming parts of the river like the inlet at Sjöforsen and the area upstream of the old suspension bridge. The practical difference is that the fly resists the water harder, which stretches the leader, at the same time as it beats very well in slow stream.

Materials

When you tie flies for this type of fishing, it is important to remember to use the right material and not material that is almost right. You have to tie flies that fish correctly. It might be good if the flies turn out to be good looking, but it is not by any means necessary.

All hackle feathers of the Ammarnäs series are Whiting Bugger Pack. These feathers come from the part of the bird between the neck and the saddle. They are rather cheap and of high quality. A disadvantage is that you have to order them from the USA. A Chinese cock’s neck of real high quality might work as a substitute, but these feathers are much shorter than Whiting’s and you normally have to use two feathers instead of one.

The best hackle for salmon and brown trout flies is Whiting Bugger Hackle.

I have chosen to use Ice Dubbing for most of the flies’ bodies since this is an excellent dubbing material that is easily available. The lustre of Ice Dubbing also comes in handy when we palmer wrap all bodies thereby somewhat reducing the lustre. To some of the flies I use Lite Brite as dubbing material.

The wings are tied by fox hair or temple dog hair with some Angel Hair between the second and third wing. Angel Hair is also an easily available material and obtainable of all possible colours. If you would like flies with a finer structure of the flash in the wings, Lite Brite works best. It is a matter of taste and I mostly use Angel Hair to my flies.

Temple dog hair is the finest hair for the wings. The lustre and the curliness are perfect to build up elegant and ample wings. The disadvantage is that it is hard to come by and relatively costly. Fox hair is much easier to obtain and you just have to choose the right quality.

Below I have gathered some pieces of fox hair showing different qualities.

Fox hair of superior quality (AA+)

Very fine structure and lustre of the guard hairs.

Fox hair of good quality (A+)

Very fine structure but less lustre.

Fox hair of ordinary quality (B-)

Poorer structure and without lustre. Never buy fox hair that looks poorer than in the picture above.

Long fox hair for large wings (A+ long)

Extra long hair with fine structure and good lustre of the guard hairs makes the best night flies.

Temple dog hair (AA+)

An olive piece of normal length and a really long orange piece for high water flies.

The tube for all flies in the Ammarnäs series is of the somewhat semi soft type, which in Sweden usually is called the Frödin tube. The size should be X-small.

The cones I use are exclusively from Spirit River. There are several different brands in the stores, but they are often not that well designed, which normally shows when you start fishing the flies. The promised gold often turns out to be yellow mica and the weight is many times not right. This will eventually mean flies that perhaps cost a few pence less to tie, but regrettably do not fish correctly. Go for the real material from the beginning, which in this case is from Spirit River. A medium sized cone weighs approximately half a gram but it varies slightly between the different colours. The copper cones weigh approximately 20 % less than a gold cone, which means more shallow fishing flies. The silver cone is the heaviest but does not differ that much from the gold cones.

You have to make the sacrifice and buy jungle cock feathers when tying fancy flies. You have to consider the aesthetics and the feeling when you fish. The right feeling with the fisherman also eventually results in catching fish. The feathers crack when you have fished them for a while, but it doesn’t matter, buy a first-rate neck. A high quality, cultured neck costs about one hundred British pounds. A neck lasts for quite a few flies so you can buy half a neck if you do not tie that many flies with jungle cock feathers.

Different designs

There are basically four factors that decide the choice of fly when fishing for big brown trout: The water flow, the colour of the water, light conditions and time of season.

Daylight

The brighter the weather and the more sun there is, the brighter and smaller flies should we use.

Dusk- and dawn light

Purple and green are classic brown trout colours during the time of day when the light is darkish. As dusk sets in you change from green to purple and readily longer wings.

Night light

The light at night, which at full moon is one sixth of the daylight, means fishing with big flies. At full moon or thereabout you use flies of black, purple and perhaps greenish colours. During the rest of the moon’s phases you use entirely black flies with a wide profile. They can be flies with a wide wing, called Shadow flies, or flies with a muddler head when it is as darkest.

Colour of the water

Orange and brown flies work very well in a normally slightly humus coloured water. The less humus coloured water you fish, the more your flies should cross to yellow-green, green, turquoise and eventually blue by the clearest streams.

Water flow

The water flow has an impact on your choice of fly. High levels mean bigger fly and low levels a small fly.

Now, all we have to do is to combine the different factors to see what the result is.

A normal water level with slightly humus coloured water on a cloudy day tells us that we should use brown-orange-yellow coloured flies with a medium sized wing.

Somewhat high water that still is clear towards the evening leaves us with a fly with some green in it and with a slightly larger wing.

At low water, clear sunshine and a water visibility we don’t like it is hard to fish, but not impossible. Small flies - by standards of big brown trout -, which are really bright, provide the right prerequisite of getting in contact with the trout. It is then up to the fisherman to succeed with sneaking and gently presenting the floating line without scaring the fish away.

Time of season

At the upper parts of Vindelälven dark flies work better at the beginning of the season. Later in the season we also need brighter flies. Part of the reason for this is that you fish more during the light hours of the day the further into the season you get. When the spring flood has ceased at the beginning of July, your chances are best when fishing in nighttime. During August daytime fishing gets more common and therefore the use of brighter flies. At the end of the season, about a week into September, you can successfully fish around noon with an almost wholly white fly.

Most people agree on that, under the same conditions, somewhat darker flies work better at the beginning of the season while brighter flies toward the end of the season.

The combinations are numerous, but you really don’t need that many flies in your fly box to succeed at Ammarnäs. The daylight and the colour of the water are rather stable at the river Vindelälven, which means that we may leave out quite a few of the flies. During normal conditions it is actually sufficient with three or four different types of fly to cover most of the fishing. When fishing in daytime a bright fly is suitable and gets more important the further we get into the season (total length 5-6 cm). A brown and orange fly will be the standard fly when fishing if it is not too dark or brilliant daylight (total length 6-7 cm). During the darker hours of the day an alternative green and black fly with a large wing works excellently. It also often offers surprises during the daytime fishing (total length 8-10 cm). To the pronounced nighttime fishing I recommend black and purple flies with a large wing (total length 8-10 cm).

With the flies above you will certainly stand a good chance of getting in contact with the big brown trout. If you have a feeling that the water level might drop and the weather will be fine, you can of course tie even smaller and brighter flies for the September fishing. If you are going to fish in July and early in the season, nighttime fishing is most effective. Then it might also be a good idea to bring flies with muddler heads as a complement. You either tie the whole fly with a muddler head, or you attach a separate head to the leader in front of the fly.

The construction of the fly

The basic idea behind this series of flies for big brown trout is that it should possess all the qualities to make the flies fish correctly. Every pattern contains exactly the components needed. You may always add details of your choice, but they are hardly needed to improve the fly. I have added a few details to some of my patterns to demonstrate the possibilities if you want to spend more time on your flies and by your vise.

I tie the flies on an X-small semi soft tube that is 23 mm long. The complete flies are approximately 17 mm from the front of the cone to the body’s rear end (where the tube starts). When using gold, silver and black nickel cones it balances the fly really well in the water. If you are using the somewhat lighter copper cone it is a good idea to shorten the fly about a millimetre to avoid it tipping backwards.

Normally I fish the flies with a hook from Lagartun called Double Tube Fly Hook of size #6. This hook is very sharp and has a nice bend that is beneficial for the hooking of the fish. Alternately I use Partridge HND, Heavy Nymph Double of size #10,which is easier to obtain in Sweden. The hook from Lagartun is somewhat smaller than the Partridge hook due to that the Partridge HND does not comply with standard measures, but is a hook with a wider gap and a short shank.

If you want to fish with larger hook sizes the fly will be heavier at its rear, which in return means that you will hook fewer fish. Since the fishing for the Ammarnäs trout is purely for catch and release, fishing this water with a triple hook is not suitable.

Most of these flies have in common that their bodies are made of palmer wrapped Ice Dubbing with a fairly thick hackle. Ice Dubbing is glittery and it helps to bring out the right lustre through the hackle. It also comes in a wide range of colours for him who is keen on experimenting. On those flies that have bodies made of Ice Dubbing of the more rough kind, you should brush out the dubbing before wrapping the hackle.

The wings are built by three layers of temple dog hair or fox hair. By adding more layers you will add both steadiness and volume to the wing. I attach the first two layers directly in front of the body and add a few straws of Angel Hair before wrapping the front hackle. In front of the front hackle I tie in the long wing backwards. By tying it in backwards you get a larger volume and it does not risk falling off after a while. The two rear wings may also be tied in backwards if you so wish, but it is not necessary. There will be less weight on the lower wings and the body’s palmer hackle helps lifting the hair nicely.

To finish off I tie in two jungle cock hackles and attach the thread. The rubber tip, of pure silicone, which should be 13 mm long, is attached to the 4 mm bare part of the tube. As a final stage you now bring on the cone from the front and push it firmly towards the head. Cut the tube some millimetre longer than where the cone ends. Attach the cone by melting the cone. You can also use some glue under the cone if you want to secure it for many hours of fishing.

By being precise with the measures of the fly and how much material you use for the wing, you will later be able to fish in a very controlled manner since all flies will behave similarly in the water. What differs between the flies during practical fishing is that the short winged flies will sink faster, but they actually fish at about the same depth once the stream catch them. As for the practical fishing depth, the choice of line and leader are much more important than the size of the wing.

Mikael Båth