With the torrential rain over the last few weeks the weather has sub-come many anglers to their tying bench, or even worse, household chores!

My fly tying vice has been red hot over the last couple of weeks, enough to say that the midge jaws on my Dyna King Barracuda are finally giving up the ghost. Eight years of sterling service from a vice I would recommend to any fly tier, has to be worth every penny spent, but it’s now time to source more jaws and replace the already knackered, worn out ones which reside in my vice at home.

Anyway, with the start of the season looming, YES, it’s just 8 weeks away, I’ve started to fill up my ‘stocky bashing’ fly box. Like most other competition anglers, it’s a small box which only sees light when I attend stocked ponds on pleasure days with friends. It consists of mainly black, orange and white lures of which 80% of them are a variation of the cats whisker!

Last week I sat down and decided to fill the small section I have allocated to the deadly ‘Nobbler’. A fly which has caught me many fish, especially in my early years when me and my dad would fish the bwl ponds, one of very few places which allowed a ‘father and son’ ticket.

Below is my simple effort of putting together one of the best trout lures. Excuse the thread cutting, that didn’t really happen. Honest.