WATER CRICKET
Thread: Yellow.
Rib: Black thread.
Hackle: Feather from the back of a starling.
A very useful pattern when strong winds are blowing a wide range of land-bred insects (beetles, dung flies, leaf hoppers etc.) onto the water.
DUBBED BODY PATTERNS
There are two types of dubbing: light and not light. In the latter, the usual method of dubbing, the thread becomes lost in the dubbing. In light, sometimes called ‘touch’, dubbing only the merest wisp of fur is used so that, when the dubbed thread is wound along the hook shank, every turn of thread is still visible through the haze of dubbed fur. To help keep the fur in place, use a solid rather than a liquid wax.
WATERHEN BLOA
Thread: Yellow.
Body fur: Mole.
Hackle: Waterhen underwing covert.
Outstanding during a hatch of olives.
SNIPE BLOA
Thread: Straw.
Body fur: Mole.
Hackle: Snipe underwing covert.
Good during a hatch of paler upwinged flies.
The following two wet flies are useful during a hatch of caddisflies, when the pupae are at or close to the surface, of a summer evening.
WOODCOCK & HARE’S LUG
Thread: Orange.
Body fur: Hare’s ear.
Hackle: Woodcock upper wing covert.
HARE’S LUG AND PLOVER
Thread: Primrose.
Body fur: Hare’s ear.
Hackle: Golden plover upper wing covert.
DARK WATCHET
Thread: Orange and purple (see below).
Body fur: Mole.
Hackle: Jackdaw throat or coot upperwing covert (otherwise, any small black soft hackle)
Use orange tying thread, tie in a separate length of purple, so that the two are tied in together at the end of the hook shank. Dub one of the threads very lightly. Then twist the two threads together and wind up towards the eye to create a segmented body. Cut off the excess purple and use the orange thread to tie in the hackle and finish off the fly.
Highly recommended during a hatch of darker water-bred flies, or a fall of dark land-bred flies.
HERL-HEADED FLIES
In these, the fly is completed with a couple of turns of herl in front of the hackle. The three described were devised as imitations of small stoneflies. They are most effective in fast, turblent streams.
DARK NEEDLE
Thread: Orange, waxed so that it becomes quite dark.
Hackle: Tawny (brown) owl upperwing covert.
Head: Peacock herl.
LIGHT NEEDLE
Thread: Red, waxed so that it a deep red.
Hackle: Snipe underwing covert.
Head: Peacock herl.
WINTER BROWN
Thread: Orange, waxed so that it becomes quite dark.
Hackle: Woodcock underwing covert.
Head: Peacock herl.
THORAX SPIDERS
These are the latest soft-hackled wet flies to be devised, being pioneered by Harold Howorth and Frederick Mold in the 1940s and 1950s. The addition of a thorax gives the fly more of an insect profile. The first two are excellent during a hatch of dark midges or a fall of small black landbreds (e.g. black gnats).
BLACK MAGIC
Thread: Black.
Body: Tying thread.
Under thorax: Fine copper wire wound to create a small ball (optional, but is does help the fly penetrate the surface film).
Thorax: Peacock herl.
Hackle: Black hen.
HENTHORNE PURPLE
Thread: Purple.
Body: Tying thread.
Thorax: Peacock herl.
Hackle: Mallard upperwing covert.
This fly usually fishes in the surface film, held there by the mallard hackle. It is therefore a simple emerger pattern.
Trout