Tweed angler, Bill Stanworth, showcases some popular flies currently in use and offers some helpful advice on tying them. Please click on the name to reveal more information.

TWEED FLY BOX (SPRING)
Eternal Optimist		Black and Yellow winged flies are a firm favourite for the spring fishing on Tweed and most anglers and boatmen regard it as a must have pattern in the fly box. It is not known when they first became popular but the general opinion is that they were first tied to emulate the killing qualities of the Yellow Belly Devon minnows for rods that preferred...
Eternal Optimist Variant		Locate the extension tube and whip down in position. Slide Silver Mylar on tube and whip down with Red Thread trapping the broad Mylar ribbing material. Smooth down the Mylar and part whip finish at tube head, then wind the ribbing - 5 turns - and then whip finish. Keep the whipping at a minimum...
Sir Richard		The Sir Richard is a very old classic pattern, and details of the original dressing can be seen in a number of reference books, ie.T E Pryce-Tannatt's How to Dress Salmon Flies; 200 Popular Flies by Tom Stewart and Guide to Salmon Flies by Buckland and Oglesby. The pattern was first tied around 1850, reputedly by Forrest's of Kelso...
The Tosh		The pattern shown is the tube version of a fly that is normally dressed on low water hooks. The fly was first tied by a Speyside gillie at Delfur in the late fifties. He wanted to tie a 'flee' from the hair of his dog which was named, ok you have probably guessed, Tosh. The original dressing had a black body, but unlike most patterns it had no ribbing...
The Posh Tosh		As it's name suggests this is a flashier version of the standard Tosh. The dressing comes from the tying vice of Ian Wilson of the Borders Gun Room, St Boswells. Ian tells me that he caught 29 Salmon using this fly during the 2006 season on Tweed and the Aberdeenshire Dee. The fly shown is tied on a 0.5" copper tube...
The Melrosian		This is another from the black and yellow school of spring patterns. The origins of the pattern are some what obscure, however with black and yellow being the town colours of Melrose and since the 'Melrosian' is the name given to the local laddie elected to lead the towns common riding celebrations each year, it is reasonable to assume that this...
Willie Gunn		Without doubt this fly is the most successful hairwing pattern ever tied. The original fly was tied as a Waddington - Brora style - that is on a Brora shank with the hair tied in bunches round the shank. Many are under the impression that Willie Gunn tied the pattern, but this is not the case as a local fly dresser on the River Brora by the name of...
Gold Bodied Willie Gunn		This is a flashier version of the original Willie Gunn and fishes well at any time of the year when levels are falling and the water is fining down. Many anglers on the peat-stained Highland rivers have found the change to the gold body, the addition of the jungle cock cheeks and the red varnished head gives the fly more presence in the river...