2024

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Invicta Fly Tying Group – September/October 2024

Great news – Fly Tying sessions will resume at Grafham in September after the summer break and we hope you’ve had a chance to tie some flies and catch some fish!

This will be run using the same successful format as before with 2 separate tables for Beginners/Improvers led by Colin and Intermediate tyers led by Roger. Unfortunately Roger and I have some commitments which mean that the dates for the 2 groups will be different in September and October – we will come together at the end of October.

Dates for classes below:

Beginners/Improvers with Colin

SEPTEMBER: Monday 9, Monday 23

OCTOBER: Monday 7, Monday 21, Monday 28

Intermediate with Roger

SEPTEMBER: Monday 16, Monday 30

OCTOBER: Monday 14, Monday 28

All classes are held at Grafham Harbour View Cafe

At 09:45 for 10:00 prompt start

New Members– anyone at any level of fly tying, including beginners, is very welcome to join us and see what happens. Beginners can easily be brought up to speed using our tried and tested programme. Current group members have made huge progress from not being able to tie flies to catching fish on flies they tied – great achievement and satisfaction and our aim after all!

A vice, tools and materials can be provided.

Anyone interested in learning to tie or seeing how it’s done – please contact Colin Newton.

Beginners/Improvers

On Monday 9 September, Colin will start with a revision of the flies we’ve learnt to tie so far and address any issues. Anyone joining the table for the first time will be made very welcome. They will be shown the basic techniques of fly tying by Colin and assisted by existing members to gain confidence with the tools and materials.

Intermediate

On Monday 16 September, Roger will start with a review and then continue with CDC patterns.

Going forward the programme for both tables is tie variations of dry flies, learn to tie some river flies and different sized flies.Please could you confirm your attendance as soon as possible.

Tight lines

Colin Newton

colinjnewton@outlook.com

Past flies:-

Flies for 22 April 2024

Flies for April 8 2024

Flies for 25 March 2024

Flies 11 March 2024

Flies for March 4 2024

Flies for February 12 2024

Flies for January 29 Lesson

Flies for 15th January Lesson

Flies for 19 December Lesson

Invicta Fly Tying Group Report -July 2023

The Colin Newton instigated fly tying group has now finished for the summer months and Colin has written a report which updates on the progress made over the past months.

Many thanks to Colin for his organisation and Roger Hurren for being the course demonstrator.

Click on link below to read report:

Invicta Fly Tying Report July 10th

Invicta Fly Tying Group Report – May 2023

The Invicta Fly Tying Group had their second lesson at Grafham on Monday 1 May. Eleven people attended including Jeff Hickson and Peter Waterhouse who very kindly gave up their time offering their support and expertise.

The lesson started with a recap of the last session and we then moved on to tying a variation of the Buzzer and the Fab. Very excitingly members subsequently went fishing and caught on the flies that they’d made – great news!

The next lesson will be on Tuesday 16 May at Grafham Harbour Café and we are very grateful to them for the use of their restaurant. We will review last lesson and then learn to tie a basic Diawl Bach and a Hare’s Ear. These two flies will help us move forward by mastering the complexities of dubbing and tying hackles.

Fly tying is a slow process and the group is already making good progress.

Anyone is still very welcome to join us – a new member came on Monday and was soon brought up to speed so he can now move forward.

Tight Lines

Colin Newton

Invicta Fly Tying Group

The Invicta Fly Tying Group met at Grafham for its first gathering on Monday 17th April. There were 9 of us including Roger Hurren who has very kindly volunteered to teach us – he is an experienced fly tyer who has been tying for over 50 years and won the John Krailing Trophy.

The lesson began with an introduction to fly tying and Roger talked us through the various tools and equipment required explaining all the basic principles. He then demonstrated how to tie a basic Buzzer and an orange Fab. We all tied these flies under supervision to ensure we were tying them correctly and would then be able to practise them. Everyone went home with flies that they could fish with – guaranteed to catch!

In our next lesson we will progress on to alternative patterns for these flies and make sure that we have mastered the basic techniques. There was very positive feedback from the group who had found the session extremely informative.

Colin Newton – group organiser.

07889 988484

Chris McLeod’s Winter Shrimping Pattern

I’ve been getting ready for the winter bank fishing. If anyone is interested, this is a very simple point fly when shrimping in the shallows.

I have been asked about my shrimp pattern a number of times now so I thought I’d jot down the tying sequence for the website. I’ve found it a very successful point fly, often catching as many as the droppers – something which a sacrificial point fly often doesn’t.

Click link below to see tying instructions:

Tying the floating shrimp

Chris McLeod

Top 10 Flies as selected by some of our most experienced and consistent members.

We asked a few of our leading and most consistent members to list the flies that they would chose if limited to only having 10 in their fly box. Those asked have regularly finished in the top three or four positions in our club championship (Carr Cup) during the past few years in addition to representing the club in AMFC matches and other competitions.

This week we are starting off with the flies selected by Keith Gilchrist. Click the link at the bottom of this section to open Keith’s selection.

We suspect that some fly patterns will be chosen by more than one person, but that only goes to reinforce the importance of having that pattern in your own fly box.

Most of the flies mentioned are available commercially, but tying your own is both rewarding and ensures that you can copy any fly.

Click link below to view Keith’s Top 10:

Top 10 Flies – Keith Gilchrist

Next time, Mark Searle’s Top 10

Top 10 Flies -Week 2

In addition to being our ‘Competitions booking officer’ Mark Searle has consistently been one of Invicta’s leading anglers.

This week he shows us the flies he would select if limited to only 10 in his box.

Top 10 Flies- Mark Searle

Top 10 Flies -Week 3

This week Chris McLeod shows us his Top 10 flies.

Chris is one of Invicta’s most experienced and well known anglers with considerable knowledge of the reservoirs both from the bank and boats.

Top 10 Flies -Chris McLeod

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Top 10 Flies -Week 4

Tony Smith is one of our most consistent anglers fishing major competitions on a regular basis, he particularly enjoys top of the water action; this is reflected in his fly selection.

It follows that half of his top 10 consists of dries or surface patterns. He admits that close friend and Invicta member Simon Peck who has a reputation for his tying skills ties many of his flies.

Top 10 Flies – Tony Smith

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Top 10 Flies -Week 5

Simon Peck is a very experienced trout and Grayling angler on both reservoir and river. His tying is of a high standard and he ties a lot of flies not only for himself but also his regular fishing partner Tony Smith.