Leeches

What it is

Leeches occur in most Irish stillwaters and are eaten avidly when encountered, moving with a sinuous, undulating swim best matched by a slow, pulsing retrieve.

Life cycle

In Ireland

No fly in the catalogue is explicitly named or tagged as a leech pattern, but the Woolly Bugger (Black) and, more loosely, Viva and the Cormorant variants are the patterns most commonly read as leech imitations in general UK/Irish stillwater use, by virtue of their marabou/palmered-hackle undulating action fished on a slow strip. This sits at the blurry edge between imitative and suggestive.

Flies that imitate this

Illustration

Lure

Black Woolly Bugger

#8–12

Illustration

Lure

Viva (black & green lure)

#8–10

Illustration

Lure

Cormorant

#10–12