John Gray


For a bit more than half a century, I have lived in central Scotland and fished pretty much wherever and whenever I could for wild brown trout in river and loch, winter grayling, and salmon too. My main interest though, some might say obsession, has always been in sea trout. Our short summer nights would see me chasing the elusive sea trout of the Endrick, Earn, Border Esk or Spey, the long winter nights spent plotting their downfall. The Needle Flies shown here were devised in the late nineties for the sea trout of the River Earn. The ultra slim stainless steel Needle Tubes, having an outside diameter of only 1.5 mm, are a more recent innovation, developed and manufactured in Scotland by Grays of Kilsyth and introduced for the start of the 2008 fishing season. They have proved most effective for Scottish and Welsh sea trout and salmon and for North American steelhead.

You can read more about the origin and development of the flies shown here on my websites at www.graysofkilsyth.com and www.trout-salmon-fishing.com/needle-fly-2.htm.

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