We tied the Eucumbene Zonker Bugger under JQ’s supervision.

Materials list and a photo of the killer fly here. Warning – these flies are so deadly that NSW Department of Primary Industries is about to make them illegal. 😀

para_loop

keyword dryfly

A simple straight forward tie… the thorax is the scruffy piece and the collar gives it a ‘lock on’ feature for the fish.

•Hooks – types various(jig, straight, caddis etc) sizes 12-18

•Bead – suit hook size – colour various

•Thread – colours various – 8/0 or 6/0 uni thread

•Wire – colours various – small (.6mm)

•Body – Various – stripped peacock quills, Hends body quills or tinsel mylar etc

•Thorax – colours and dub various. Hends Ice, Hends hares ear, seal-prism blend etc

•Collar – colour various but recommend a uv reflect (fluro orange, hot pink/ yellow, lime etc) size 3/0

•Sally Hansen clear top coat or a uv resin to lock down and bring shine to the collar.

Nothing special in this tie. Every fly we’ve covered in the past has a piece of material suitable to build this fly, nothing more to buy or hunt at a shop.

keyword wetfly nymphyfly

Claude has stepped up to instruct on his variants of the Royal Humpy style fly.

Claude has recently tied and tried a couple of versions of the Royal Humpy dry fly on one of Canberra’s local rivers. It proved successful for him and one of his fishing mates…who was considerably more skilled and consequently successful. A number of the fish were caught during blind casts rather than to rises. His mate has caught fish using it on a couple of occasions so hopefully the fish catchability of the fly was not a fluke!

The interweb tells us: “the Humpy trout fly comes in a range of patterns and colours: green, peacock, red and yellow. It represents a beetle or large flying insect and is a good all-purpose fly to prospect waters with. It is a useful indicator fly in the larger sizes. They are great summer time dry flies and produce fish consistently.”

Another site advised: “if you fish mountain streams that are bordered by forest, the trout will be used to seeing a multitude of terrestrial insects that continually rain from the trees. Ants, beetles and bees are often the staple trout foods in this situation. The Humpy is a great searching pattern.”

The traditional humpy, deer/elk hair and red thread takes Claude about 20-30 minutes to tie (he’s still a bit slow) so it may be a bit long to tie on one of our nights. The foam back, red dubbing body and aero wing (below) takes about 5-10 minutes less. The royal humpy can be tied in a variety of body colours using dubbing or thread.

Recipe:

• Hook: 10-16 Dry Fly Hook (longer shank unless you’re a super tier) – I prefer 12 or 14
• Thread: Uni 6/0 or 8/0 Black Thread.
• Tail: Elk, Deer or Moose (hopefully one that doesn’t flare too much).
• Wing: White Calf Tail or Aero Wing (I use pink AW just because that’s what I have).
• Shell Back: Traditional (Elk hair), Foam – Brown foam. I have seen one website that recommends thin Computer Packing Foam.
• Thorax: Numerous options: Traditional – Red Floss, Alternatives –Red Hares Ear, yellow, or any other bright coloured dubbings, Peacock Hurl, wool.
• Hackle: Brown Hackle Feathers.

keyword dryfly

An evening that you can’t afford to miss… Evan of Createafly fly tying has agreed to host fly tying next week on Wednesday evening from 7:30 at Raiders Weston at 1 Liardet Street in Weston.

The theme will be “all those fly tying questions you were too embarrassed to ask”  so it will be a question and answer and demonstration session.  Please send your questions through to Evan so that he can prepare his answers and demonstrations.

My question is “Who was Mrs Simpson anyway and why is she known as a killer???”

Bring your usual fly tying equipment.

See you all there for an out-of-the-ordinary night!!!

Nathan led the team tying the bibio. He remarked that he did quite well with it at Tantangara Dam for the recent FFA event.

Black and red seals fur, silver wire and hen hackle. More details via email.

keyword wetfly

hosted by Claude

In Australia’s Best Trout Flies Revisited Pat Kennedy writes that David’s Aero Emerger has become his go-to fly whenever a hatch begins on the Mataura or its tributaries.  He notes that it rarely lets him down.  Suprisingly the black wing usually has excellent visibility, and seems to present a credible profile of an emerger dun.  When tying the wing, leave a small shoulder to suggest the wing-case of an emerging mayfly. Dub the body very sparsely so that it sinks when wet.  Prior to fishing, apply a small amount of floatant to the wing and shoulder only.

keyword dryfly emergerfly

This month Nathan will be showing us how to tie chironomids also known as buzzers or midge larvae.  They come in a huge array of colours and can be tied to float head up, tied bead head as a point fly, tied with or without gills or oxygen bubbles.

The materials you will need are:

– hook – pupa or caddis curved hooks #14, 16 or 18 or as small as you dare

– thread – black, olive or red

– silver ultra wire

– peacock hurl

– white poly yarn or similar

For those interested in entomology, take a look at http://www.mdfrc.org.au/bugguide/display.asp?type=5&class=17&subclass=&Order=7&family=252&couplet=0  which will tell you why red buzzers are red (red pigment haemoglobin to help them absorb oxygen), where they live and life cycle.

keyword wetfly

Claude is a relatively new member, but very much engaged – witness his previous contributions to Burley Line.  In the lead up to 2017 winter, he made some enquiries about files he should be tying over winter.  He sought advice from some notable fly tiers (and one not very notable at all – ie Bill). Readers might want to consider the final assembled list and contribute comments (I’m sure Peter will add ‘iron blue dun’ to the dry list).

Howdy Bill, Evan, Lyall and Nathan,

So my original intent was to find ‘5 flies of each type’ that I could tie over winter. As I’m fast learning, there is no simple answer … especially when trying to search what some of the recommended flies look like and you get multiple versions! I may have to get that Aussie Trout flies book I’ve been trying to avoid buying. I have added some links to some of the flies (not to buy, just to see what they look like). Below is a summary of the feedback I have received.

Thanks again for your advice 😊.

Dry:

• EHC – normal and CDC
• Royal Wolf (some ‘big’ to suspend nymphs)
• Black Mayfly spinner (doubles as an ant pattern)
• Midge ball?
• F Fly (a super simple dry with a CDC wing): https://www.troutflies.com.au/f-fly-black.html and http://flyandlure.org/articles/fly_tying/5_easy_to_tie_cdc_f_fly_patterns
• Stimulator: http://www.goulburnvlyflyfishing.com.au/Information/Fly%20Patterns/fly%2013%20royal%20stimulator.htm

• Some kind of muddler (marabou or minnow) for the lake. Interesting, Bill looks here for “something that floats and puts out a good wake when retrieved whereas Peter has always argued that one should retrieve slowly if at all.  I suppose it all depends on what the fish think it is at the time”

Most agreed with #14 or #16 for trout, but reminded Claude to consider some oversized dries to suspend nymphs and down to #18 for finicky eaters.

Emergers:

• Parachute Adams
• Aero Wing Emerger
• Possum Emerger
• Shaving brush
• Klinkhammer See http://www.goulburnvlyflyfishing.com.au/Information/Fly%20Patterns/fly%208%20klinkhammer.htm
• CDC emerger

Nymphs:

• PTN – all pheasant, peacock hearl, flashback, bead heads (copper, black, gold, orange, weighted, unweighted)
• Black/brown nymph – with and without Pheasant tail?
• Nathan’s trout run nymph?
• Sexy waltz worm? – an interesting fly I found on an Orvis podcast (https://loren.teamfreestone.com/tutorials/nymphs/sexy-walts-worm) will give it a try locally
• Scruffy hares ear
• Midge Pupa Chironomid: https://youtu.be/Nac9l3h_eXk
• Frenchie

Don’t forget to tie a variety using weighted/unweighted, bead head or not (copper or tungsten)

Wets:

• Biblio – https://www.troutflies.com.au/bush-bibio.html
• Woolly bugger: https://www.troutflies.com.au/flies/the-complete-wooly-bugger-collection-boxed.html
• Glo bug (using a beetle pattern?)
• Pat Kennedy suggested Hotlips
• Shrek:  https://www.troutflies.com.au/the-shrek-collection.html
• Magoo

Carp Flies: Evan provided some specific carp advice and added that “A lot of trout flies double as great patterns for Carp and Redfin, the following would be my ultimate Carp box in various weights, sizes and being creative with colours ie. nymphs don’t always need to be natural 😉”

• Spork size 6-10
• Unnamed jig Fly of mine that looks like a carrot…
• Buggers with and without hot spots, rubber legs, flash
• trout nymphs with and without hot spots, rubber legs, flash
• damsel nymph 
• parachute Adams size 10
• glo bugs

I suspect Claude was anticipating only a few fly patterns to concentrate on, but this is what happens when you ask 4 or more people for fishing advice J  I really appreciate his sharing this journey with us, also to the other contributors for their knowledge.  We’d welcome any additional thoughts from you too.

Please be patient with Bill with his first time out front.  He has jumped in here to fill a void – JQ was horrified to hear that recently he’s only been tying simple nymphs – especially as Bill hasn’t tied this one in years!

To follow on from Lyall’s lesson introducing us to use of deer hair (via the Elk Hair Caddis we tied in May) Bill will help people take the next step of spinning deer hair heads.

Materials:

Hook size can vary but let’s start with #6 – longish please

Deer Hair for head and top wing – Bill likes black

Marabou for tail and inner wing – purple used to be a hot colour.  Bill suggests Spotlight or Lincraft sourced dyed turkey feathers provide a cheaper alternative

Chenille or dubbing for body – your choice but size it to suit your hook size.

keyword wetfly streamerfly dryfly