The Handbrush

The Hand Brush

The Austrian angler and fly tier Hans Graf introduced me to this deer hair pattern, developed in the early years after the second world war. It represents mayflies as well as big sedges. In it's bigger sizes it is a good spinner imitation during the mayfly season; divide the deer hair wing with a couple of figure of eight turns if you like an exact imitation, but it is not really necessary. The deer hair guarantees a good buoyancy, which is usually a problem with dry flies of this size.
After adapting the body-and hackle colours to local peculiarities, this pattern does a very good job wherever the big dry fly is needed.
The original hook was 4 x long, size 10, but every long-shank, not to heavy will do.

Materials:

Thread - black
Tail - three fibres of pheasant's tail feather
Body - greenish yellow wool or seal's fur ( colours depending on original to be
imitated )
Ribbing - flat gold
Hackle - light to medium brown hen, palmer style, turns well separated
Wing - bunch of deer hair

Top Ten
Flies for Ireland

Hilariously funny, seriously, this is angling's answer to "Last Of The Summer Wine"! .....Ray Robinson is a real life "Compo" who goes fishing with Dietrich Bohnhorst.....I give it 10 out of 10.....a must have DVD for all the family.
Roger Baker, Irish Angler Magazine

This DVD is a must for every fisherman who wants to learn the delicate art of flytying.
The beautiful scenery enhances the pleasure of this film, as does the dry humour of his eccentric English friend "the great Raymondo". Watch as they tramp the landscape, dressed as if extras in Monty Python's Quest for the Holy Grail, (which in a sense they are, in a fishy sort of way).

Great Entertainment for all the Family

114 minutes of fly-tying and fishing. Dietrich Bohnhorst's entertaining and practical guide for every game angler. On DVD for only EURO 20

To order click here
or order by phone

Tel.: ++353-(0)74-97 36922

Even Dry

The River Gacka is one of the most perfect chalk-steams the former Yugoslavia had to offer the angler. Gin-clear water is pressed out of the mountain, 20 meters wide, 3 to 5 deep it flows through a picturesque plateau near Otocac, Croatia. It is an intermittent river: after 9 or 10 kilometres it just vanishes, simply seeps away in a meadow.
Fish grow big here in no time, lots of food and an almost constant water temperature of 13,2 C are perfect conditions for any trout. Home of the monster trouts the river was called and a four or five pounder was nothing unusual.
But they are not easy to catch. After the mayfly season is over, they tend to lie deep and it is not that easy getting a nymph in strong currants three meters or so down.
After two rather unsuccessful angling holidays at the Gacka, each in July, I decided to try it in May.
During the first couple of days I managed to catch a couple of rainbows, between 35 and 55 cm long, on heavy nymphs, even a brown trout of over 50 cm I managed to outwit. But nothing happened on my dry flies, though lots of natural mayflies were hatching and the fish went like mad for them.
At the bar in the Gacka Hotel, there was this angler from Vienna, Hans Graf, who claimed he could get them on a dry fly no problem at all he said after a few glasses I love when they do zzapp and he made slurping noises, like trout taking flies from the surface.
Here is a case I thought and didn't even bother to ask him what sort of a fly he was using.
Surely the next day saw me standing at the river trying to catch a fish on a dry fly, but all my patterns were just wrong: to small, wrong colours, wrong proportions and just before changing back to the proven nymph; there stood this angler from Vienna beside me I love when they do zzapp and made his noise but they are a bit fussy today.
Then he showed me his dry fly.
This is disgusting, I'm off was my first impulse after looking at this monstrous thing: over 3 cm long, a hellova body hackle and a thick bunch of some sort of hair at the top. Oh dear, what a hand brush!
That is a streamer and no dry fly, this bloke wants to mock me as if having heard my thoughts, he unfolded his line with a few swings; and this thing swam, looked exactly like a mayfly!
Since that moment I have always looked at new flies open minded and with more inner tolerance.
That evening, at the hotel bar, Hans Graf gave me some deer hair and a few of those extra long, light hooks: I love when they do zzapp, and he made slurping noises, like trout taking flies from the surface.

DEDICATION

In 1995 Dietrich Bohnhorst and Ray Robinson produced DEDICATION, a four part movie, following two dedicated fly-fishers through various entertaining and exciting expeditions on land and sea in the North-West of Ireland.
After DEDICATION was shown on European TV via French Station AB-Sat and in North America via a cable network it became somewhat of an angler's cult film.

All 107 minutes of DEDICATION are available for only €20 on DVD;

To order click here

or order by phone