Top 10 New Stillwater Flies for 2026 (Outside of US)
Published: 16th January 2026 | Author: Fulling Mill
New Stillwater Flies
The 2026 additions to our stillwater flies are brought to us from Signature Tyer Rob Edmunds. Rob has years of experience and knowledge when it comes to all things stillwater fly fishing and tying. We sell a number of his top stillwater buzzers, blobs, boobies, lures, and snakes, and are excited to offer more of his top stillwater patterns for 2026!
Not only has Rob made a good name for himself in competitive stillwater fly fishing with Team England, but he has also become one of the big names in teaching technical tips and tricks about stillwater fly fishing. Generously, Rob has shared tons of advice on how to catch more fish on some of England’s most pressured reservoirs, including the best flies to use and when. If you haven’t seen our Stillwater fly fishing videos with Rob, you can watch the videos here!
Rob’s Booby Daddies
This version of the Booby Daddy is a perfect beetle imitation and particularly effective on Welsh and Scottish waters. Its dark silhouette is irresistible when terrestrials are being blown onto the water. Excellent as a point fly on the washing line, with the Booby eyes providing lift and subtle motion for confident takes.
Rob’s Quill Cruncher Natural
Perfect imitation of the type of diawls and crunchers one might find trout feeding on in stillwaters. Along with ‘Nemo’ this is Rob’s favourite nymph pattern. It’s one of the best general-purpose patterns for buzzer, snail, corixa, and/or shrimp feeding fish. It is always on my cast when fishing the ‘washing line’ method. The segmented quill body gives a unique and natural effect that fish can’t resist, and it’s proven itself time and again when all other patterns fail. I simply cannot praise the pattern highly enough.
Rob’s Pumpkin Head Damsel
The orange grizzle hackle in Rob’s Pumpkin Head Damsel really sets this fly apart from all the other damsel patterns on the market. It’s a real multi-purpose fly and an equally good juvenile perch imitation as a damsel nymph. If you are unsure of what fly to use, it’s always a good, solid option as it contains all the key ingredients, a great profile, movement, and natural colour scheme. A must-have year-round fly for any water.
New Boobie Flies
Simple flies are often the best. A scruffy hare’s ear is perfect as a shrimp or snail imitation. Rob loves to fish these ‘booby’ style hare’s ear flies with a static approach. Usually, Rob uses a floating line with crunchers or buzzers on the droppers and lets the cast swing around with the wind. Booby eyes cause the fly to enticingly ‘wobble’ in the slightest of ripples, inducing the take from quality fish.
Rob’s Hare’s Ear Booby Yellow
Hare’s Ear Booby Black
Rob’s Minky Boobie Flies
Minky Boobies are productive when targeting fry feeders. One thing holds true: your pattern needs to match the size and colour of the fry. With three colors to choose from, there are ideal flies to fish in waters that have a range of baitfish species. Whether you’re fishing large or small stillwaters, these are productive patterns.
Rob’s Minky Booby white is a pattern that really stands out in clear water and best fished as a single fly on a 7 – 12ft leader on a sinking line. It covers most fry fishing scenarios as it is a generalist fry imitation. The Minky Booby Roach is an ideal pattern for fishing waters that have predominant shoals of Roach or Bream. Where perch Fry are present, they are a major food source for the ‘grown on’, resident fish. The booby perch is the perfect close copy imitation. Rob uses it around weed beds or structure when targeting difficult trophy fish on sinking lines.
Best fished as a single fly on a 7-12ft leader on a sinking line with a medium-fast figure of 8 retrieve and a 5 pause in the retrieve. The Minky Perch Booby accounted for over 3 double-figure browns to date and is extremely effective on pressured fish.
Rob’s Minky Streamers and Lures
Minky White, Roach & Perch are lightly weighted flies, perfect for fishing as a point fly. Fish it from the bank or around weed beds on a floating line and try pairing it with a ‘natural quill cruncher’ on the dropper. These flies complement each other perfectly. You can retrieve the cast with a slow figure of 8 and have all bases covered, from corixa, shrimp, snails, and fry. Fur-based patterns move incredibly well, even at the slowest of speeds, as they undulate on the underwater currents. The weight in the pattern comes from the heavy wire competition heavyweight hook, and specifically does not sink too quickly. Plus, the heavy wire hook ensures it won’t open out when you hook that fish of a lifetime.
Rob’s Suspender Fry
The Suspender Fry flies from Rob Edmunds are designed to be fished in and around thick weed beds. Tied on the reliable Fulling Mill Competition Heavyweight Hook, these flies write themselves the second it hits the water. A strong hook means you can play the fish hard in weedy water without fear of the hook opening up.
Cast out, make a couple of long pulls to straighten your cast and to cause a little disturbance, whilst putting you in direct contact with your fly. Then, wait. Takes can be explosive. Rob often fishes a natural cruncher just 2.5ft away on a dropper, as fish often investigate the silhouette of the larger suspender fry and take the nymph just subsurface. When targeting fry feeders, your pattern needs to match the size and colour of their prey. With three colors to choose from, these Suspender Fry patterns are ideal for matching the ‘hatch’ of a range of baitfish fry.
Rob’s New Blobs & FABs
Tied on Fulling Mill Tactical Shorty hooks, these blobs and FABs provide a wide gape and extreme strength. It’s the perfect hook for international rules ‘Pulling style flies’ such as Blobs, Boobies, and Fabs. Simply put, Rob feels that the Tequila is his best ‘Blob’ style fly ever invented. The traditional fluorescent yellow – fluorescent orange combination strikes a distinctive contrast. The pattern has been updated to incorporate the brightest and softest modern materials available. If you are fishing for rainbow trout, this fly has to be on your cast at some point during the day.
That said, he finds that each of the patterns below has a time and place. The ‘Smelly’, as it’s known, is one of the best ‘top dropper’ flies and literally pulls fish to your cast with its bright pink/orange glow. All bright flies are not the same, and it often pays to fish a pattern that’s slightly different from one that everyone else uses. The Ham n Cheese patterns are a great fly when the fish shy away from the brightest blobs, like the Tequila and Smelly blobs. The Ham n Cheese is just bright enough to get their attention and induce the take without putting them off.
Rob’s Tequila FAB
Smelly Blob
Rob’s Ham n Cheese FAB
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