Fly tactics on River Dee – the size is the key!

Dee is a special river, the fish is maybe a bit different. On the Dee I have caught most of my fish fishing smaller flies than most. Small, what is a small fly? Size differs from different rivers. The fish is the same – or are they.. hmm maybe not really! On the Dee I fish 12-15mm wings – small I know, but they are the most effective. Sure, on a bit colder bigger water I go for 20-30 mm but they need to be tied sparse. These days it’s been the Dee Sheep again that has given me most takes. I tie them with regular tungsten cones to get a bit of weight. I fish them on a full floater and a few inches under the surface is no problem. The tungsten cone helps stretching the leader on the small fly. Last year on the colder river the Dee Samurai gave me most fish. For this year I tied a hybrid Samurai.. I just took away the yellow under wing and tied it very very sparse. A true killer the few strands moving nicely behind the turbo cone and when you want the longer fly this is superb. Check them out and try them! This simple fly has given me great fishing not only here in Scotland but also in Iceland and Norway.