All anglers have their favourite flies for river trout and grayling, winter time means some quality time spent at the vice for me, restocking previously lost flies or creating new and exciting patterns. I was thinking just last night that the flies I needed most in my box, ones which had been lost or stolen (TERRY!) were actually the most simple, and effective.

The Cased Caddis is probably one of the most renown flies in my box but it still produces many fish, and usually the largest. Probably due to its position on the cast and being primarily the heaviest fly. I’ve done a short tying video here of how I tie mine, it’s a simple fly, one which can be rattled out in it’s dozens before bedtime. I never really use flies which take longer than 3/4 minutes to tie…

The pheasant tail is another fly which is world renown as a top grayling fly, it also takes many good trout throughout the summer months, in all, a great all round pattern which shouldn’t be overlook because ‘everyone’ uses it. Try varying the pattern, changing the colour of the pheasant tail, the hotspot or ever the wire rib. I could spend hours at the vice tying a huge variation of PTNs!