Something for Last Light

A couple of weeks ago Ben and I went hunting for a monster that is rumoured to live in a very overgrown section of the river. We didn't see any sign of the fish but spent some time familiarising ourselves with the pool so we could try to tackle it another time.

Shortly afterwards I spotted a nice fish just upstream of this overgrown section and although it took my fly at first time of asking it went aerial and into the overhanging foliage and was lost. We had a walk downstream then as Ben wanted to try for another good fish. Unfortunately we remained empty handed as the fish, in a very tricky position on another overgrown section, didn't want to play ball.

All this big fish hunting meant that we were both staring a blank full in the face. Neither of us wanted a 0 on the catch return (it would have been a first this year for both of us) we decided any fish would do so we set about trying to catch one. The limiting factor was the light, we had been delayed early on by a heavy rain storm we had to shelter from and darkness was nearly upon us. It didn't take Ben long to dodge the blank but I was having less luck and although I hooked a couple of fish they were soon lost.

It wasn't until virtual darkness that I caught two fish. On the way back to the car we discussed trying glow in the dark materials to make our dry flies stand out in the gloom. This might make things a bit easier as when it gets very dark you really have to strike at anything as you can't see your fly. Any movement or noise on the water could be a take so the rod gets lifted. A somewhat hit and miss affair. A glow in the dark fly would help with this and we also wondered whether it might allow us to fish the nymph (klink and dink) longer too.

So next day I had a look around and ordered some Glow Fibres from Funky Fly Tying. I think this stuff is intended more for predator flies and the like but it looked like it might work as a wing post material so I bought some. There are three colours available and I opted for the white and chartreuse, you can get it in blue too. On receiving it I looked it over, its quite a stiff, shiny material, certainly not ideal but it made a reasonable wing post. I kept it quite dense to make the wing as visible as possible. Unlike normal post materials this stuff barely compresses at all, so its a fine balance between a visible wing and a bulky body. I think I did OK on that front considering.

A Klink tied with Funky Glow Fibres - Under normal light

And under UV light

It's interesting that the material even glows through the dubbing where it is tied down the body. I wonder whether that might alter its effectiveness (positively or negatively?).

I'm yet to try these out but I'm confident they will be much more visible on the water in the gloaming. Here's hoping the fish like them as much as the standard klink.