9 Sea trout flies that are successful on the Welsh Dee

On many occasions, I get asked about the sea trout flies I use for fly fishing at night on the Welsh Dee. So, this post looks inside my fly boxes at…

My favourite sea trout flies for night fishing.

During 30 years of fishing the Welsh Dee for Sewin, many flies have come in and out of favour. However, a black and silver fly will always have a place in my fly box, in one form or another. Primarily because when it becomes dark, the colour of the fly disappears, and black and silver flies will catch sea-run brown trout on most rivers.

That doesn’t mean it will out-fish any other fly on a particular day, but it is a proven consistent performer.

Therefore, if I wanted to keep things as simple as possible, I would be happy going sea trout fishing with a fly box full of black and silver flies tied in various sizes, profiles and weights.

Silver Stoats Tail

That’s why I never go fishing without the Silver Stoat’s tail tied in various forms, singles, doubles, stingers, and tubes. Several years ago, I stopped fishing flies tied on treble hooks because they are a pain to remove at night, and I never felt they improved my catch rate over singles.

Silver Stoats tail

• Hook – #10 to 6 Kamansan B180
• Thread – Black UNI 8/0
• Tag. – Pheasant tippet
• Body – Silver tinsel
• Rib – Fine silver wire
• Wing – Black Squirrel
• Hackle. – black cock

Tying Instructions

Nowadays, I rarely fish tube flies, although I do carry a few black and silver needle tube flies for deeper pools.

Dovey Black & Orange

The Dovey Black & Orange is a sea trout fly that I’ve fished for as long as I can remember. As its name suggests, it originated from the River Dovey in mid-Wales, but it has brought me plenty of success on the Welsh Dee and River Conwy.

Dovey Black & Orange

• Hook – #10 to 6 Kamansan B180
• Thread – Black UNI 8/0
• Tag. – Orange goose
• Body – Black floss
• Rib – Oval silver tinsel
• Wing – Black Squirrel
• Hackle. – Orange cock
• Cheeks – Jungle cock

More often than not, I fish the single hook version of the Dovey Black & Orange towards the end of the season. It has also fooled a few backend salmon when fished on a dropper.

Joe Pye

I originally came across the Joe Pye fly pattern in James Wlathams’s book titled “The Sea Trout and the Fly”. Joe was a guide at the Inn at Whitewell where he fished the River Hodder. I’ve modified the fly slightly and the pattern below works well on the Welsh Dee.

Joe Pye

• Hook – #10 to 6 Kamansan B180
• Thread – Black UNI 8/0
• Tag. – Red seals fur
• Body – Pearl Crystal Dubbing
• Rib – silver wire
• Hackle. – Red Scalpen
• Wing – Squirrel dyed blue

The Joe Pye has a place in my fly box because it catches sea trout on the Welsh Dee when nothing else seems to be working. It works fished on the point from mid-August when the fish have been in the river for a while.

The following video by Micheal Helszajin demonstrates how to tie the Joe Pye.

Mallard and Claret

For many years, I’ve had great success fishing a Mallard & Claret towards the end of the season on a dropper 5ft above the point fly, particularly for sea trout that have been in the river for a while.

Mallard & Claret

• Hook – #8 to 6 Kamansan B180
• Thread – Black UNI 8/0
• Tail – Golden pheasant tippets
• Rib – Oval gold tinsel
• Body – Claret seal fur substitute
• Wing – Bronze mallard
• Hackle. – Black Hen

Recent additions to my sea trout fly box

After reading Steffan Jones’s book “SEA TROUT – TIPS, TRICKS & TRIBULATIONS” a couple of years ago, I added a few new flies to my Welsh Dee fly box.

First up is the Daioni, which has proved itself fished on the dropper above a Mr Fish or stinger on the point. The fly I tie is a close copy of Steffan’s original, based on the materials I have available.

Daioni

• Hook – # 10 to 6 Kamasan B800
• Thread – Black UNI 8/0
• Body – Silver holgraphic tinsel
• Rib – Silver wire
• Hackle – palmered white cock
• Wing – Black Squirrel
• Hackle. – Blue Schaplen

The following video by Steffan Jones explains how to tie Daioni.

My version of Mr Fish is a close copy of Steffan’s original, which was tied using the materials I had available.

Mr Fish

• Hook – # 10 to 4 Kamasan B180
• Thread – Fluorescent orange 8/0
• Tag. – Golden Pheseant tippet
• Body – Silver braid
• Wing – 8 strands of peacock herl
• Hackle 1 – purple Schalpen
• Hackle. – Guinea Fowl

The following video demonstrates how Steffan ties the original version of Mr Fish.

As an experiment, over the last two seasons on the Welsh Dee, I have started the evening fishing a Mr Fish on the point and a Daioni on the dropper. That approach produced some lovely Welsh Dee Sewin. When that fly combination fails, changing the point fly to stinger (intruder flies) often leads to success.

Stinger flies for sea trout fishing

Purple & Silver Singer

• Hook – #6 Kamasan B800
• Trailing hook – #8 or #6 Nordic tube
• Hook link – 42lb braid and 1.5 mm black shrink tubing
• Thread – 8/0 red nano-silk
• Body– Silver braid
• Wing – Angle air over squirrel tail
• Overwing – 6 strands of peacock herl
• Hackle – purple Schalphen 

Surface sea trout lures

Finally, my box wouldn’t be complete without at least two surface lures, e.g. a small Muddler pattern (ca. 30 -50 mm long) and a larger foam-bodied stinger pattern (ca. 75mm long).

If the more traditional sea trout flies fail to work, I switch to fishing a small surface lure (Muddler) on the dropper.

Black Muddler

• Hook – #10 to 6 Kamasan B800
• Thread – Uni 8/0 Black
• Body – Silver braid
• Tail – Cock fibres
• Wing – Black Squirrel tail
• Head – Spun black deer hair

Usually, I leave the large surface lure in the box for the last check of the dice. When all else has failed, running through the pool with a large surface lure sometimes produces a result.

Large Surface Lure

• Hook – #6 Kamasan B800
• Trailing hook – #8 or #6 Nordic tube
• Hook link – 42lb braid and 1.5 mm black shrink tubing
• Thread – 8/0 black nano-silk
• Body– Silver braid
• Wing – 4 strands crystal flash & squirrel tail
• Overwing – spun black deer hair
• Head – Black Eatha foam

For a demonstration of how to tie the surface lure, I recommend watching the following video by Steffan.

I hope you found this article on the best sea trout flies I use on the Welsh Dee interesting, and helpful. If so, take a look at my article on…

• Sea trout fishing at night on the beautiful Welsh Dee
• Daytime sea trout flies and fishing
• Sea trout fishing in 2022 on the Welsh Dee