A Cast of Flies for Irish Loughs, the Octopus

Dec. 2022

Over the closed season I will be posting a pattern per week for fishing on Irish Loughs. This will include flies for Brown Trout, Seatrout and Salmon. This week's tying is the Octopus, first tyed by Scottish angler Stan Headley for Lough Melvin and a fly that us Irish have adopted over the years, with a range of colours to suit our style of Lough fishing from Clarets to Fiery Brown. There is even a black Octopus with pink and purple tails for Salmon.

When fishing Lough Melvin or the deeps of Lough Mask it always pulls fish. Some of my best fishing on Lough Melvin has been on a variant of the original tying a Picric Octopus. A few seasons back this particular fly caught me 2 Salmon and 7 Sonaghan Trout.

Another variant that has worked well for me is the Fiery Brown Octopus. I originally tyed this pattern for early season on Lough Arrow and the deeps of Lough Mask. This pattern not only works on Brown Trout but also has caught numerous Salmon on Carrowmore, Inagh and Kylemore Lough.


Picric Octopus
Picric Octopus

Dressing for the Picric Octopus:
- Hook: Fulling Mills all purpose #10
- Thread: Chartreuse Uni 8/0
- Tail: Chartreuse Wool
- Rib: Gold Wire and Pearl Tinsel
- Body: Yellow olive Seals fur
- Body Hackle: Picric Yellow
- Head Hackle: Rump feather dyed Picric


Fiery Brown Octopus
Fiery Brown Octopus

Dressing for the Fiery Brown Octopus:
- Hook: Fulling Mills all purpose #10
- Thread: Red Uni 8/0
- Tail: Scarlet red wool
- Rib: Copper wire and pearl tinsel
- Body: Fiery brown seals fur
- Body Hackle: Fiery Brown
- Legs: Natural
- Head Hackle: Fiery Brown rump feather


Some Fiery Brown Materials, old Irish style

Fiery Brown Saddle
Fiery Brown Saddle
Fiery Brown Saddle
Fiery Brown Saddle
Fiery Brown Saddle
Fiery Brown Dubbing

See you in 2023

For guided fishing please use my contact page to get in touch. Now taking bookings for the 2025 season.

Tight lines,

Jackie Mahon

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