Jaime has slipped some secret instructions to me, maybe a photo sometime. I can attest to the value of this fly after watching Jaime use it on a river that shall not be named.
MICRO-CADDIS FLY
This fly has become my favorite dry fly since last season. The main reason is because it just works very well for picky fish, those that refuse almost everything, that’s where it shines!
It’s also a very simple and easy fly to tie. Basically only one material: CDC feathers (if we skip the obligatory hook and thread). But here is a better description of all you will need:
HOOK:
Original recipe asks for #20, better if it’s a dry fly hook. However, I have been tying it in #18 and has worked well. I will try to avoid going smaller than that. I mean, you can tie it as big as you want and will catch fish but as I said above, it really shines when you find picky fish and that commonly (although not always) implies small flies. I love the Hanak 130 BL because the bent-in point. I want to emphasize the use of a dry-fly hook because is ligther. This fly doesn’t have too much material to keep it floating so the less weigth we put in it the better. Besides, the feathers tends to wear-off fast (however, and surprising, it floats very good cast after cast even after lossing many of the feather fibers).
BODY & WING:
2-3 CDC feathers. For the body, I normally choose tan or natural feather color. For the wing is better to use ligther color (ligth gray or white) to increase visibility. As said before, the fly does’nt have too much material and wears-off fast so ligth color helps to keep track of your fly, specially in choppy water.
THREAD:
I use 30D or 50D because it doesn’t need anything stronger. Also helps to keep the fly ligther. Use the thinner you have/feel comfortable with. Match the color with the body CDC.
OPTIONAL: any material to create a trailing shuck – examples: clear color ice dubbing, antron yarn.
TOOLS:
Besides the vice, bobbin and the whip finisher you will need a hackle plier.
TIPS:
Apply floatant liquid as soon as you tie it to your tippet. It keeps it floating cast after cast. Use the floatant powder if starts sinking. In general, this fly dries very easy just with a couple of false casts.
Claude hosted on Wednesday 24 November demonstrating a Royal Wulff Variant.
Claude was particularly keen to tie some Royal Wulffs after seeing one of our new club members, Al, catch double digit (numbers of) rainbows on one Royal Wulff fly on a recent Cotter River outing. Not having time to go down the fancy white calf tail route (if you can find it) and wanting to do some quick ties, Claude decided to experiment with a not so complicated “Royal Like Wulff’ dry fly pattern, not using any calf tail or hackle and just going for a Elk Hair wing…and while he was there….he wondered if not having a tail matters? He tied a number of versions that were tested the following weekend. Well it was successful…with fish being caught on multiple variants – EH tail, Crystal flash tail, and no tail….the fish were not monsters but still fun to catch.
Ingredients:
Dry fly hook of size that you feel comfortable tying
Dark thread – 8
Peacock herl or dub
Red thread, dub or floss
Elk Hair
The three flies tied by Claude on the night. (Ed: I’m ashamed to say mine are very poor and not available for viewing by the public )
We will be tying the Daddy Longlegs. It is useful for loch style fishing dapping or as a dry fly or as a wet fly attached to a gang of three. It is equally useful on moving water or still in our region.
Materials
Hook: Size 10 dry fly hook
Body: Pheasant tail and a brown hackle to palmer around a gape and a half length, fine gold wire
Evan Jardine, a former club member who has moved down to Victoria, led the fly tying session on Wednesday 22 Sep 21. The flash belly bunny can be used on a number of species and Evan has used it in different sizes for heaps of different fish from Yellas, reddies, flatties, bream, EP to bass.
The EWMK wet fly originated in the metropolis of Bruce in Australia’s capital in the 2020s. The artificial fly is also known as Nathan’s Killer and was named after a famous local angler who is always happy to share images of his latest impressive catches ….and provide tips and hints on where to go fishing. The fly is distinguished by the black or dark brown rabbit fur tail, soft hackle collar and fluoro orange bead which makes the fly resemble a small baitfish or fry with its head on fire. The EWMK has proved to be a very effective fly for trout in Snowy region lakes and can also be used when searching for mud-marlin in the local ACT water ways. Many fly fishing purists may deride the use of the fluoro bead head and there are rumours that their use could be banned from international fishing competitions because it makes flies irresistible to fish!
Imitates
The EWMK fly is an attractor pattern most likely taken as a small baitfish or fry with their heads on fire.
Controversy
There is a lot of controversy on whether the fly pattern was ‘stolen’ from Tom Jarman. There is even more controversy on whether the tail should be marabou or rabbit fur….and should the rabbit fur be sourced from the armpit or belly region of the rabbit – best to ask your local fly tying materials supplier!
Materials:
Hook: 12 or 14 wet – straight or jig (or whatever you choose or can handle)
Thread: black UNI 8/0
Tail: Black/Dark Brown Rabbit fur(Zonker) (Marabou if you are non-traditional ) with crystal flash
Body: Black Seal fur or substitute…I use Poodle hair during COVID + copper wire
Thorax: Peacock dubbing or real peacock swords (will be quite fiddly)
Claude in the lead. He tells me Compleat Angler has the majority of the materials in stock.
This fly originates from Ireland and was then further developed by Ballarat fly anglers, Vern Barby and, to a lesser extent, Craig Coltman. Although originally intended as a damsel fly imitation, the fly works very well when none are present. The slim profile makes it very effective when fish are being selective yet it still has “pulling power”, attracting fish from a long way off. The fly works well on a floating line when fished from the shore on its own but really comes into its own in a team of flies on sinking lines. I prefer to fish this fly slowly but it is equally effective pulled hard and ‘hung’. I have caught fish with this fly on all three spots on the leader but favour the point for the weighted version and the top dropper for the unweighted fly. Used on a DI 7 it is effective but as good as it is, I prefer it in a scenario when fishing in five feet of water or less. In Tasmania, there is not a lake it won’t work on. In bright weather or when fish are slightly spooky, one piece of flash can be cut out of either side of the tail to increase your catch rate. Christopher Bassano.
Hook :- Wet fly, size 8 or 10. Kamasan B175 or similar
Bead: of your choice, usually red or gold.
Tail :- Olive marabou and two strands of flash.
Rib :- Copper wire.
Body :- Peacock herl
Body hackle :- Olive saddle feather, palmered
Front hackle :- Partridge breast feather or similar.
Some Notes: JQ suggested “goose biots in red or yellow as eyes for an Alexandra” …. Jungle Cock Eyes are difficult to acquire. I also suggested that the long strands of feather right next to the eyes on peacock tails might substitute for peacock swords which are also hard to get.
Claude will lead via Zoom. His instructions are below. (Were sent by email but replicated here for archive in our Fly Tying blog).
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The Alexandra wet fly originated in Scotland in the 1860s. The artificial fly is also known as the Lady of the Lake, the fly was named by English angler Major William Greer Turle to honor Alexandra, Princess of Wales. The fly is distinguished by the heavy peacock herl wing and silver body which makes the fly resemble a small baitfish or fry. The Alexandra proved to be a very effective fly for trout in lakes and streams in England and Scotland in the late 19th and early 20th century. Many fly fishing purists derided the fly and its use was once banned on many English waters.
Origin
The fly originated as the Lady of the Lake in the 1860s by an unknown angler, primarily for trout in lakes. The fly gained popularity because it was extremely effective fished slowly on sinking lines. Anglers began using the fly in rivers for sea trout and Atlantic salmon with success. It was so effective, that it was allegedly banned from some waters. In the late 19th century, Major William Greer Turle (March 1839 – January 1909), a prominent English angler, renamed the fly Alexandra to honor Alexandra of Denmark, the daughter-in-law of Queen Victoria and then known as the Princess of Wales (1863 to 1901). Turle was a chalkstream angler with water on the River Test near Newton Stacey. He learned fly tying from George Selwyn Marryat and was a close associate of Frederic M. Halford.
Imitates
The Alexandra is an attractor pattern most likely taken as a small baitfish or fry.
Controversy
The “Alexandra”, although a successful fly, was not always welcome on the chalk streams of Southern England.
Some anglers, especially the selfish ones, are in the habit of using a huge bunch of peacock herl for wings over a silver body, called the “Alexandra.” What a profanation to bestow on this monstrosity the name of one of the most charming and amiable princesses of this century! It certainly is not the imitation of any indigenous insect known to entomologists; possibly the bright silver body moving through the river gives some idea of the gleam of a minnow. Long ere this its use should have been prohibited in every stream frequented by the bond fide fly-fisherman, as it is a dreadful scourge to any water, scratching and frightening an immense pro portion of the trout which are tempted to follow it. It certainly would have been prohibited, too, but for the fact that experience shows that in any stream in which it has been much fished the trout soon become quite alive to its danger, and not only will not move an inch towards it, but when worked close to their noses will not so much as turn at it, but at times, on the contrary, even fly in terror from the dread apparition. — Frederic M. Halford, Dry Fly Fishing (1889)
Whether up-stream or down-stream fishing be the correct thing; whether gossamer casts are profitable in the long run; whether one, two or three flies should be used; whether the Alexandra fly is orthodox–these are amongst the topics the assembled fishermen discuss as they sit around on the spot to which the frugal luncheon has been brought, under shelter of the golden-blossomed gorse, their rods spiked hard by, and the flies streaming out before the breeze. If there are more than two present there is not likely to be unanimity upon any of these points. It is well for the tackle makers that new notions–heresies in the eyes of anglers of the last generation–are so freely promulgated. I know some successful fishermen who habitually fish down-stream, and who use medium gut for their casts. In very rapid water, free from weeds (the Derbyshire rivers, and Welsh streams, for example,) a third fly may be added to the stretcher and dropper, but, on the whole, little good comes of more than two flies on the cast. In trout water where the fish do not rise well at the usual flies the Alexandra is as much in place as a spun minnow, but it spoils the fish for the artificial fly pure and simple. — William Senior, Angling In Great Britain (1883)
Materials:
Hook: Streamer no. 10 (or whatever you choose or can handle)
Thread: black UNI 8/0
Tail: Red Marabou or red goose shoulders (or something red)
Claude has created a document showing step by step images from the McPhail video and images from Claude’s material. It may provide an alternative ‘how-to’.
Some variations on the Wooly Bugger. Both with and without the traditional palmered hackle.
These images come from our leader, Claude. He remarked “If I ever tie a dodgy fly, I normally use them as a starting fly in a particularly snaggy spot where loosing it wont break my heart 😊. As JQ said, you can trim the tail if you keep having tail strikes.”
The fly to be tied from 7:30 on the evening of Wednesday 28 April via Zoom will be the Hare and Copper. This is such an extremely easy fly to tie that it almost ties itself!!! The idea is that you just use materials you already have rather than me being prescriptive, for all materials with the possible exception of the hare’s mask dubbing. We might have tied these previously but I was asked to tie a sure bet fly for Tumut.
Hook – size 12 or 14, 1 X short nymph hook eg. Gamakatsu S12 (or any size 12 or 14 straight shank, eye down hook)
Thread – 8/0 black UNI thread (or brown or tan)
Bead head – 7/64 black, tungsten bead head (or gold bead head)
Lead ten thou or twenty thou lead wife (optional)
Tail – dark, speckled Coq De Leon (or pheasant tail or brown hackle)
Body – hare’s mask dubbing
Wire – medium UNI French copper wire (or gold coloured)
