Start curating your Early Season fly collection - with our Bosnian Secret Early Season Nymphs
Our 'man in Bosnia' has been at it again - with some more very tempting nymphs - especially tied for success in the early part of the trout season.
We try to plan all of our fly selection at least 3 months in advance, when asked what we were planning for the start of the trout season, we wanted to do something a little different, so I asked him to surprise us and tie something which he would use himself, for early season trout in Bosnia.
His reply was "I will tie you some secret patterns, which are the first nymphs I try on any river" - which had me intrigued, we had no photos to go on, so I trusted his judgement and said, "go for it".
The first time we saw these was when they were delivered to us on Monday. It's safe to say we were impressed!
Check out these Bosnian bad boys ...
Our Secret Bosnian Early Season Nymph Selection contains 12 nymphs (4 different patterns, 3 of each in a size 14).
As we've only got 40 of these Secret Bosnian Nymph Selections available, we'll get straight down to the offer:
- Buy 1 Selection of Secret Bosnian Tungsten Nymphs today for £22; or
- Buy 2 Selections for only £39.60 (that's a 10% discount).
No discount codes, just add the Secret Bosnian Nymph Selections to your basket and all discounts are applied automatically. To view or buy our Bosnian Secret Nymph Selection, just click on any image or button contained within this email.
Keep reading for more info and detailed images of the nymphs - you'll be glad you did ...
So what nymphs are best for tempting those early season trout?
Usually, trout look to nymphs when feeding in the early season/colder water. These nymphs have been tied to fish as deep as possible, with 3.5mm tungsten beads - to keep your nymph where it needs to be, on the bottom. They are all tied on the best hook available on the market today - they Ahres FW551 Mini Jig - perfect for all your early season nymphs.
Early season nymph fishing is more about finding the fish, so it's important to keep on the move and only pass your nymphs through a lane a couple of times - if there's a fish there they will usually take it straight away.
Top Tip: if you are fishing in coloured water, use the Red-Tag Jig nymph. Coloured water usually means that the river is running higher than usual, this nymph is designed to stand out in coloured water and trigger a more inquisitive response.
Generally, the water levels at this time of year are average to high, so he's added a 3.5mm tungsten bead to the superb Ahrex FW551 Mini Jig hook fo that little bit of extra weight.
This selection of 'secret' nymphs includes 4 different patterns, with 3 each of the following:
- Cased Caddis - Size 14 Ahrex FW551 - weight 0.37g
- Pheasant Tail Wingcase Nymph - Size 14 Ahrex FW551 - weight 0.35g
- Pheasant Tail Nymph (Bosnian Style) - Size 14 Ahrex FW551 - weight 0.37g
- Bosnian Red-Tag Jig - Size 14 Ahrex FW551 - weight 0.35g
These specialist early season nymphs are all tied on size 14 Ahrex FW551 Mini Jig hooks.
Please Remember: We've only 40 of these selections available, so if you want a set, you will need to be quick - Our Bosnian flies always sell out within a few hours of being released!
Go on, treat yourself - you know you want to - at £22 for the selection, these will not hang around for long!
If you prefer to tie your own, we have you covered - we've twisted Kenan's arm and he's produced a step-by-step tying video for each of the above early season nymphs. They are now available over on our specialist fly-tying website - Feathersmith.
Click on any image below to open the relevant page on our sister site where you can watch the step-by-step tying video (you will need to enter your email address when accessing the page, to check you are on our email list - we have to hide them somehow!):
Each of the above videos - along with lots of previous step-by-step videos which Kenan has kindly produced for us are available over at our specialist fly-tying website, Feathertsmith - www.feathersmith.co.uk, we have step-by-step videos for all of Kenan's Bosnian Dry Flies and Bosnian Nymphs.
The Zuti Emerger is an especially good early season emerger pattern:
Fishing in the early part of the season (March and April) can be very challenging, depending on which part of the British Isles you are located. Generally, the further South and West you are the better the fishing will be at this time of year – the North and Scotland always seem to lag a couple or three weeks behind the South of the British Isles as far as hatches and river fish activity go.
- Manage your expectations – You’ve probably been waiting for the first trip of the season for a while, and if you’re anything like me, thinking of nothing else but those first few (very rusty) casts! Don’t go expecting to ‘bag up’, once the season opens the water is generally still very cold and the fish less actively feeding. River choice is a key factor at this time, if you're lucky enough to have a choice of river, it’s always best to target the smaller streams where possible, you will stand a much better chance of success. It’s also best to time your trips to when you are more likely to see active fish in front of you – between 11am and 2pm. So, now is the time to act accordingly, have a nice and leisurely breakfast - a Full English is my preferred option - at a local caf – got to support those local businesses. Arrive at the river for around 10:30 and get set up – always keeping an eye on the water for any movement.
- Early Season Watercraft – Searching for those early season fish is where watercraft comes into play more than at any other time of the year. Watercraft is the art of looking, listening and watching the water (and the environment around you) and then decoding the signals to give you an indication of what is happening, then using tactics based on what you see. A typical example of this is seeing a Wagtail on the riverbanks, these birds are notorious for arriving on the river just before an Olive hatch starts, if you see one – tie on an Olive emerger and wait! Watercraft is far too big a subject to go into detail here, if you would like to read more there is a fantastic book I would highly recommend: Moving Water by Jason Randall.
Finally, Even though we are forecast for some nicer weather over the next few days, don’t let any bad weather put you off, so long as the water is fishable, ignore the conditions – some of my best early-season days have been when there’s a gale blowing and it’s about to rain.
Tight lines & have a great day.