With only a few weeks left until the long awaited 2026 Brown Trout fly fishing season in Scotland, my attention has turned to early season tactics. I’ve started preparing fly boxes, tying flies, cleaning and maintaining rods and reels and day-dreaming about hungry trout, looking to feed hard after the extreme winter conditions we have experienced up in Aberdeenshire this year.
For me, the early part of the season will undoubtedly mean fishing spiders and nymphs each day — at least until I see fish beginning to rise. Then it’s a quick switch to the dry fly, or perhaps the duo.
But spiders will be where most of my attention lies. My go-to cast will be a traditional three-fly set-up: Snipe and Purple on the point, Partridge and Orange on the middle dropper, and Waterhen Bloa on the top dropper. The big three. The Holy Trinity.
In the late summer last year (2025), I filmed this video titled, “How to Fish Spiders for Big Trout I Deadly Soft Hackle Wet Fly Technique!!” I demonstrate how to fish spiders in late summer, and although it will soon be the early season with cold, high water and lethargic fish, the principles are the same. Almost…
Snipe and Purple
In very cold conditions, I like to fish a Snipe and Purple with a 2mm bead on the point to help the other two spiders to fish a little deeper. I’ll cast almost square across the river and introduce plenty at least one deliberate, well-timed mend — to give the flies time to sink to where the lethargic trout are lying.
When the wind picks up, I’ll often drop to a two-fly cast: a 3mm caddis pattern on the point and a Snipe and Purple on the dropper. This approach has served me very well, most memorably on the fast-flowing River Tummel during a snowy day in April 2024.
Big River Tummel Trout
I had already taken a few smaller fish, up to around half a pound, from a quieter seam beside a strong push of water. I was using the two-fly set-up, as mentioned above and didn’t want to change to a heavier point fly, but I did want my 2mm beaded Snipe and Purple to fish a little deeper. So I stepped a pace or two upstream, made a larger mend than usual, and allowed the flies extra time to sink into the area where I suspected a better fish might be holding.
I watched the fly line as the current gradually tightened and straightened the mend. Just as the flies began to work through the seam I had in mind, I felt the steady, deliberate pull of a substantial brown trout.
Diary Entry
My diary entry read as follows:
- Date: Friday 5 April 2024.
- Time: 1015 – 1515 hours
- Location: Rivel Tummel, Pitlochry
- Weather: Yellow weather warning for Snow during Storm Kathleen. Cold, grey and overcast with drizzle, sleet and snow. No wind though!
- Temperature: fluctuated between 1 and 5 degrees celsius.
- Water: 0.61 on the guage. Peaty but good visibility.
Fishing with a 2mm beaded size 14 Snipe and Purple on the point and a size 16 Black Spider on the dropper. Getting continual knocks and fish plucking at the flies. Extra mending allowed flies to sink properly through this area and caught 8 brown trout in total, seven between 12oz and a pound in weight. The biggest was 3lb 4oz and was very lean. I estimate it would’ve been 5lb plus in the summer. It took ages to land and was hooked firmly in the scissors. It regurgitated two decomposed fish in the net!
The fight was much longer than it should’ve been but a big, angry trout in a big, angry river doesn’t make things easy.
There will be an early season Spiders Video released in April 2026.
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