January Fly Of The Month - The Cormorant

Video Description:

The Cormorant is a pretty special fly – a competition favourite that’s for sure – and one that will work on any stillwater venue, and not just for rainbows but for brown trout too.

It’s an unassuming little fly that represents nothing specific but can generally be mistaken for anything, if spooning’s anything to go by.

The pattern was first aired on the competition circuit back in the early 1990s and since then it’s been embraced by anyone who pursues stillwater trout in this country, including one or two hardened loch fishers.

It’s the versatility of the pattern that lends itself to all manner of techniques that makes the fly so popular and indeed so successful. It can be fished slowly as a nymph – it’s especially good fished this way on the washing line – or pulled at speed along with a couple of other mini-lures. If you sandwich the pattern in between a couple of more ‘gaudy flies’ it will often be the one that takes the fish.

Another point to make here is that because it isn’t a bright, flashy fly you’ve a lot more chance of picking up the better resident fish.

Cormorants can be fished on all line densities, from floating lines to super-fast-sinking ones; the fly will perform anywhere in the water column – as long as the fish are there of course.

The fly can be tampered with – as you can see with some of the variants shown here – so let your imagination run riot at the tying vice. We’ve yet to see a Goldhead Cormorant, but we’re sure it’s only a matter of time?

In this video editor Steve Cullen shows you exactly how to tie it.