The release team got underway at 12 noon as planned but not ten minutes into the journey we got a phone call indicating the supplier was going to be an hour and a half late due to car problems – bugger. Read More »

The Claret Dabbler is the most versatile of the traditional loch-style flies. It was first developed in Ireland to imitate the very large mayflies that inhabit those world-famous fisheries, Lough Corrib and Lough Mask.  It is an effective dropper pattern for Tasmanian Lakes. Read More »

JOS Gurgler

John O'Shaughnessy

I first made this fly back around the turn of the century (I like saying that) to replace the small Dahlberg divers that I had begun using to fish for bream. They were too fiddly and time consuming to tie and didn’t last long. Read More »

The gurgler has been refined little since the original version.

JOS Gurgler

Hook Size

I have been occasionally using size 6 O’Shaughnessy hooks rather than size 8 to create a bigger commotion in the water when the wind is extreme and to create a larger silhouette at night. Read More »

Stout Longtom

The Long-Toms belong to the needle fish family, the same family as garfish and flying fish.
They are long, slender fish that can skip over the water for long distances. The Stout Long-Tom is th