11 Trout Fly Patterns For May On The Beautiful Welsh Dee

Are you interested in “Go-To” trout fly patterns for fishing in May on the Welsh Dee and other northwest rivers?

If so, you will find this post helpful, especially if you are a newcomer to fishing the rivers in the northwest.

The weather warms and dries up during May, and the Welsh Dee is often close to its summer level with the trees in leaf.

The graph for the 5-year average rivel levels for each day of May (Manley Hall gauge) shows the river is more often below 0.6m.

Flies hatching during May on the Welsh Dee

Fly hatches become prolific in the warmer weather and you can see the following flies hatch during May.

Trout fly patterns for May on the Welsh Dee

With all this emerging fly life, you’d think trout would be fussy, and fly selection would be challenging…

However, after analyzing my fishing log, it was easy to put together a list of trout fly recommendations for May.

Probably because after long cold winter months, brown trout are eager to fatten up on the bounty of emerging fly life in May.

Must have trout fly patterns:

Sixty per cent of all the brown trout I’ve caught in May fell for one of three wet flies: 

• 26% on Black Hopper (size 14)
• 18 % on Iron Blue (wet) (sizes 14 & 16)
• 16% on March Brown spider (size 14)

Therefore, if I am unsure of the flies trout are taking, my default starting position is a three-fly cast on a 3 lb copolymer leader…

Point fly – March Brown spider, middle dropper – black hopper; top dropper: Iron Blue. 

If you are new to fly fishing and want to fish one of the wet trout fly patterns during May, then it would have to be a…

“size 14 black hopper”

Because it has consistently outfished all the other flies I’ve used in May.

Black Hopper

• Hook:  Kamasan B170 #14
• Thread: Black UNI-Thread 8/0
• Body: Black seal fur substitute
• Rib:        Uni Pearl Mylar (1/32)
• Legs:     Knotted black pheasant tail

Tying Instructions

March Brown Spider

• Hook:      Kamasan B170 #14
• Thread:   8/0 Rusty Orange
• Body: Hare’s Ear dubbing
• Rib:          Fine gold wire
• Hackle:    Brown partridge

Tying Instructions

Iron blue

• Hook:      Kamasan B170 #14 &16
• Thread:   Grey UNI-8/0
• Tail:         Iron blue cock fibres
• Tag:         Red UNI thread -6/0
• Body:      Tan UNI-Thread 8/0
• Wing:      Starling
• Hackle:   Iron blue

How to fish wet trout fly patterns during May

During the day, when the river is at its summer level, I focus my fly fishing on the following sections of pools:

• the fast water leading into the pool, and
• the tails of pools

If possible, I fish wet flies upriver and allow them to dead-drift downriver. Otherwise, cast them across the river and allow them to swing around to the dangle. More on wet fly fishing is on this dedicated page.

Back-up wet trout fly patterns and spiders for May:

Pearly Butt Waterhen Bloa

• Hook:      Kamasan B170 #14 &16
• Thread:   Primrose silk
• Tag:         Pear Mylar (1/32)
• Body:      Finely dubbed Mole fur
• Hackle:   Waterhen undercover wing

Tying Instructions

Medium Olive Wet fly

• Hook:      Kamasan B170 #14 &16
• Thread:   Olive UNI-8/0
• Tail:         Olive cock fibres
• Body:      Olive SFL dubbing
• Rib: Gold wire
• Wing:      Starling
• Hackle:   Olive cock

Dry fly fishing in May on the Welsh Dee

After a cold winter & spring of bugging on the Welsh Dee, I take every opportunity to fish the dry fly during May.

On most warm May days, you will see fly hatches and trout rising to gorge themselves on them. However, to catch the fly hatches when it’s bright and sunny will have to be on the river early or in or stay late into the evening.

Dry fly fishing – trout fly patterns for May

Matching the hatch is the best approach when trout are preoccupied with taking dry flies.

That might sound challenging with the range of flies that appear during May. However, most of the time you’ll find success by selecting a…

dry fly that roughly matches the size and shade of the natural fly.

If I had to fish during May with just three dry flies they would be:

CDC Olive Emerger

• Hook:       Kamasan B100 #14
• Thread:    Olive UNI 8/0
• Body:       Hare’s Ear dubbing
• Underwing:  4 Elk hair fibres
• Overwing: 3 CDC feathers 

Tying Instructions

Elk hair caddis

• Hook: Kamansan B170 (#14 & 12)
• Thread: 8/0 Burnt orange
• Tag: Cream Antron Yarn
• Body: Fox Squirrel dubbing (WAPSI)
• Rib: Gold wire
• Wing: Natural elk hair

Tying Instructions

Griffiths Gnat

• Hook:      Kamasan B170 #18
• Thread:   Black UNI 8/0
• Body:      Peacock herl
• Hackle:   palmered Grizzle cock

Tying Instructions

In addition, to the above it’s worth having a few backup dry trout fly patterns for May, namely:

• Iron Blue Dun,
• Adams,
• Greenwell Glory,
• Black dry fly

How to fish dry trout fly patterns in May

The Welsh Dee is often running crystal clear and it’s relatively easy to spot trout but likewise, they can see you. Therefore, when casting to rising trout…

stealth needs to be your priority.

Because once a trout is spooked it doesn’t matter what fly you are using.

Consequently, you need to approach a casting position from downriver while keeping a low profile.

Also, it’s rare to get more than one shot, therefore on the Welsh Dee…

casting accuracy is often more important than distance.

Fishing for trout feeding on small flies in broken water poses a different challenge, how to see the take?

I normally overcome that problem by fishing a double dry fly set-up, consisting of:

• a large sight fly – elk hair caddis, size 12+, and
• a small dry fly (i.e. Griffiths Gnat #18) trailing about 2ft behind.

In the following video, a wild brown trout is fooled by a Griffith Gnat fished in the Channel Pool above Llangollen.

On the rare occasions when dry fly fishing and wet fly fishing fail to catch trout, switching to fishing nymphs will avoid a blank day.

How to fish nymphs in May

Euro/Czech nymphing is not everyone’s cup of tea but when the trout are grubbing for food on the riverbed, it’s often a good way to catch them.

Consider the following scenario…

 after catching trout fishing wet or dry flies in the morning, the river turns dead at midday...

How do you fill in the hours until an evening fly hatch?

• go to the pub for a long lunch and rest,
• or search for where fish have gone?

If it’s the latter, you should try nymphing the deep, shady pockets of water, where you’ll likely find trout feeding on caddis or olive nymphs.

Fishing a couple of sizes 16 or 18 nymphs above a heavy point nymph on a 4lb fluorocarbon leader works well for me.

Normally, one of the following small nymphs will produce trout from the deep:

Pheasant Tail – orange tag

• Hook:    HENDS BL120 #12
• Bead:     3.5mm tungsten (silver)
• Thread:  Brown UNI-Thread 8/0
• Tail: Pheasant tail
• Tag: Fluoro-orange floss
• Body: Pheasant tail
• Thorax Olive dubbing

Peacock Quill nymph

• Hook:       Kamasan B100 #16 & 18
• Bead:       1.5 tungsten (natural or copper)
• Thread:     Brown UNI-Thread 8/0
• Tail: Grey Dun Cock fibres
• Body:        Stripped peacock
• Thorax:     Hare’s Ear 

Tying Instructions

1.5mm TB red nymph

• Hook:          Kamasan B100 #16 & 18
• Bead:          1.5 tungsten (natural or copper)
• Thread:       red UNI-Thread 8/0
• Body:           red UNI-Thread 8/0
• Thorax:       Mole fur
• Wing case   Pearl Mylar 1/8”

For more on fishing during May I’ve added some links to more posts to study…

• Fly fishing in May for trout on 3 beautiful rivers
• Fly Fishing Diary – An Amazing Feeling to wet-a-line in May

If you are interested in fishing the Welsh Dee there are some excellent Day Ticket options.

Finally, if you want to learn about river flies and when they hatch you will find the following fly guide useful…

• Fly guide for river fishing