New Bling Spider: How did it fish on the beautiful Welsh Dee

Earlier in the week, I’d corresponded with Neil Darling about the ‘Bling Spiders’ in his fishing article “Sewin in the Sunshine” (Flyfishing and Flytying magazine March 2018 ed.). He mentioned that grayling have a liking for the Bling Spiders. Therefore, I tied a few Red Bling spiders to give them a fishing trial on the Welsh Dee at Llangollen.

After my last freezing grayling fishing trip, a warm front pushed in over North Wales for the weekend. Therefore, I was hoping the warmer conditions (10-12^oC) would stimulate the grayling to feed. With gales forecast for Sunday, Saturday was the better day to go fishing on the Welsh Dee. 

I had arranged to fish with Alan and when I arrived, his car was already parked in the top carpark. He wasn’t in sight so I assumed he was already on his way to the Top Pool, as per our arrangements. Therefore, I wasted no time, quickly got a couple of fishing rods ready and headed off to catch him up.

Fishing the Top Pool 

On my way to the Top Pool the wind had already started pick-up (gusts of 15 -20mph). When I reached the pool, Alan was already fishing towards the tail. Surprisingly, he’d not caught anything, seen any fish rise or flies hatch; this wasn’t looking promising.

The river was just above its summer level (0.52m Manley Hall gauge) and running crystal clear. I walked up to fish the top half of the pool because grayling are often located there when the river is low.

I set up a team of wet flies/spiders on 3lbs copolymer spaced 3ft apart with some ‘Bling’ on the point (point: size 12, red Bling spider; middle dropper: size 14, black hopper; top dropper: size 14, Snipe & purple).

Staring opposite the large tree, I cast the flies upstream at a 45^o angle and allowed them to dead-drift round to the dangle, mending to minimize any drag. Using this approach, I progressively covered the water out towards the far bank. 

When I cast to the area close to the far bank and made the first mend, the line tightened and a fish took off. After getting things under control, I guided my first grayling of the day to the net, it had fallen for the Red Bling spider. I raised the grayling in the air to show Alan and I could just make him out shaking his head!

Continuing to fish upriver produced three more grayling, all of which fell for the Red Bling spider. In the faster water, I missed a couple of takes before connecting with another grayling but this time it had taken the purple spider on the top dropper. The next couple of grayling also fell for the snipe & purple spider.

Alan came upriver to see how I was getting on and let me know he was going to try his luck downriver, on his way back to the car. When I explained I’d caught 7 grayling near the far bank but I hadn’t caught anything within his casting range, he didn’t feel too bad about his blank.

I hit a dry spell as approached the head of the pool and therefore, decided to switched to a spot of Czech nymphing (point: size 12, red collar black nymph 3.5mm tungsten bead; middle dropper: size 14, pink squirmy worm 3mm tungsten bead; top dropper: size 16, Hare’s Ear with 1.5mm tungsten bead). 

Fishing up through the deeper gullies behind the submerged boulders produced one grayling on the Hares Ear. Then I fished back down through the fast water to the deeper water under the large tree on the far bank. This produced a couple more grayling that fell for the pink squirmy worm. 

Takes dried up again, so I switched back to fishing the wet/spiders through the slacker water down to where I started fishing. This produced two more grayling, one on the snipe and purple and the other on the black hopper.

After a break for refreshments, I started my journey back to the car because my legs needed warming up. On the way back, I stopped off to quickly fish the Fridge Pool because it looked inviting.

Fishing the Fridge Pool

Starting at the head of the Fridge Pool, I fished downstream with a team of wet/spiders. After a few casts into the back-eddy close to the far bank, the line tightened and a grayling surfaced. Carefully, I guided it through the fast water and then into the net. Again, the red Bling spider was its downfall. 

A few casts later the line tightened again but this time a sea trout went airborne. Eventually, I go it under control and when it slipped into the net, I could see the Red Bling Spider had scored again. Fishing on to the end of the pool produced two small brown trout on the black hopper.

It was now time to head off home, warmed by the satisfaction of great days fishing with a total of 13 grayling, a sea trout, and 3 brown trout. I’m glad I chose to test out the Red Bling Spider because it gave me some great sport, accounting for 6 of the fish. 

Red Bling Spider

I owe a big thanks to Neil Darling for sharing his experimentation and development of the Bling Spiders. Below is a pattern I used to tie the Red Bling Spider that used during this grayling fishing trip on the Welsh Dee. 

• Hook – size 12 Kamasan KB-175
• Thread – black 8/0 UNI-Thread
• Rib – fine silver wire
• Body – rear silver, front red holographic & red dubbing
• Hackle – Moorhen wing

You can find more on fishing spider flies in the following blog post

How to tie and fish 11 North Country spider flies that are found in my fly box

On a final note, it would be great to hear if you have had any experiences using any of the Bling spiders that were covered in the article by Neil Darling, or have any of your own versions.

Tight line until next time, Andrew