Some Thoughts on Flies

Some Thoughts on Flies (with apologies to the inventor of the Consett Budgie!)

“What did you catch that on mate?” And “What are the best flies for this place?” Are typical questions that I, like the rest of you, am happy to answer. A list of familiar names trips off the tongue: Diawl Bach, Super Glue Buzzer, PTN, GRHE, Zonker, Blob. You know the score: a mix of tried and trusted patterns combined with the latest, must have, absolute certainty, guaranteed to empty the place, super fly.

I’ve got a confession to make. Purists stop reading here!

My Diawl Bach probably doesn’t look like yours and you might not recognise my Concrete Bowl, but they still catch as many fish, probably more. I’ve really only come to realise this quite recently, but I’ve been deconstructing my fly patterns for a number of years now.

So what the hell is going on?

I started fly fishing in the late 80’s and, like many, I soon took a fly tying course so that I could tie my own, and I suppose this is where the trouble started! I was taught by a guy called John Gilpin. As one of the regulars at Toft Newton John had been involved in the development of a fly called the Concrete Bowl and this was one of the patterns that he taught in his class.

For those of you who don’t know the pattern it’s a fly that neatly falls into the genus Lumph. It’s joined there by flies such as the Tadpole, the Woolly Worm and the Montana. Flies which probably started out as a loose imitation of something or other, somewhere in the world, but which have become resident in our fly boxes due to their sheer munchability. They have that nymphy quality which makes us feel good and a cut above the guy just down the bank thrashing the water with a Consett Budgie.

I now realise that the Concrete Bowl was the start of the slippery slope. By the time I learnt it from John it had already started to mutate in the hands of a thinking angler. Marabou had replaced the chenille body and the palmered hackle (a la Woolly Worm) had gone the way of all flesh. As I diversified from river fishing into the wild and windy upland reservoirs of the Washburn Valley the Concrete Bowl became my lifeline. It took stockies as well as any other fly, but it also had that extra something that appealed to the wary, twitchy survivors of the post-stocking, catch and release frenzy. It even tempted those rarities in these deep, cold, acid waters: lithe and silvery over-wintered rainbows.

As I gained experience the fly began to mutate in my vice. Only slightly, mind, nothing that would make it unrecognisable to Mr Gilpin. But mutate it did. These early modifications were really only to make it easier to fish slowly. So it lost a bit of lead, became smaller, slimmer and grew a longer tail. This allowed a very slow figure of eight retrieve or a slow drift round in a breeze. See I told you it was almost a nymph!

The original mini lure version of the Concrete Bowl. It looks a little dumpy because it’s tied on a size 10 competition hook

As taught to me by John Gilpin. Note how the chenille body has been replaced by marabou. The body is still quite chunky as it’s heavily weighted with 2 layers of lead wire. The tail is trimmed to cut down on tail nipping. Tied on a long shank size 10 lure hook

And then I discovered Fritz! No, not the big German in the lederhosen, the lovely, shiny, twinkly stuff beloved of modern lure designers. Well it is technically chenille and it did look good at the pointy end of my Concrete Bowl! Pearl tinsel. Hmm… did you know if you stretch it carefully it produces a lovely, iridescent ribbing material? Wow! A new, must have, absolute certainty, guaranteed to empty the place, super fly! Well it was at least twice as effective as my original tying.

My final version. The body is now much slimmer, the rib is stretched pearl twinkle and the thorax is a few turns of lime green Fritz. I leave the tail long as I rarely get problems with tail nipping. This one is tied on a size 12 long shank lure hook

I blame my brother for the next bit. It’s all his fault for moving within spitting distance of Rutland Water. I discovered lowland reservoirs and grown-on rainbows. I soon became a regular visitor to chez Meeghan-minor and, purely by accident you understand, the banks of Rutland Water. The good old Concrete Bowl still worked, but regulars soon converted me to the delights of the Super Glue Buzzer and the Diawl Bach. And soon, clamped into my radioactive vice, the poor little devil started to mutate. This time it was due to a combination of reading around the subject of anorexic nymph patterns, the success of the fly itself, and pure laziness!

I’d read about the success of the anorexic patterns developed by the likes of John White and, coincidentally, the teeth of the rainbows I caught put my shop bought flies on a crash diet. I soon noticed that the tatty, skeletal flies that I’d used on previous trips were noticeably more successful than plump, shiny new ones. This forced me to the vice, and my natural idleness started to make me wonder what I could leave out to make the fly easier to tie. Now I hate beard hackles. They are fiddly to tie and I always get them the wrong length. That was the first to go. The rib became stretched pearl tinsel (remember that?). And I just happened to have some fluorescent orange thread lying around in my fly tying box that looked just perfect under the peacock. Now I can’t say that this fly is any more successful than a sparsely dressed conventional Diawl Bach, but it is a lot easier and quicker to tie and it eats most shop bought versions for breakfast!

Diawl Bachs. My deconstructed versions are on the left. The top one is tied on a size 10 carp hook and the bottom one on a size 14 wet fly hook. I trim the peacock after tying to give a slimmer body. The ones on the right are shop bought. The bottom one has been slimmed by repeated contact with trouts’ teeth!

I’ve used the same techniques on the Montana and the Blob and can vouch for the fact that in both cases the modified version is as effective as the original.

Blobs. My version is on the left, a shop bought version on the right. Note that mine is tied slimmer and has a short marabou tail. Mine is tied on a size 14 wet fly hook. Those of you going to Press Manor might care to note that I did very well there on this fly when I last attended an FM fish-in

A shop bought Montana nymph. The tail and hackle are highly mobile, but the chenille thorax is bulky on this size 12 hook

The Concrete Montana. The thorax is trimmed lime green Fritz and I’ve done away with the hackle. This colour does well as a damsel or mayfly nymph substitute when I’m feeling lazy! Tied on a long shank size 12 lure hook

So there we are. The common theme is that over time I’ve consciously, or unconsciously, simplified the original pattern. Taking bits out and seeing what happens and replacing materials as new, more effective ones appear. The Concrete Bowl has really been deconstructed back to its distant ancestor the Tadpole, or maybe an Egg Sucking Leech (sounds like an insult on the Barbel forum that!). The Diawl Bach is still recognisable as a descendant of the original, but it’s much simpler to tie and has a certain extra something against most commercially tied versions in general use. It’s early days yet on the Blob, but I’ve had some success with my version. Its not quite as in your face as the shop bought version, but then I will probably never use it in the circumstances for which it was originally designed on the highly competitive match circuit. The Montana looks a little too much like the Concrete Bowl for my liking (hence the name) and I’ll have to give it further though I think.

Feel free to take these patterns and work on them yourselves. Just let me know when you develop a new, must have, absolute certainty, guaranteed to empty the place, super fly!

Oh, and for those of you who have never seen one, here is a Consett Budgie:

The Consett Budgie

Dressings

Concrete Bowl (Sean’s version)

Hook:size 12 long shank lure hook weighted with one layer of fine lead wire
Tail:black marabou
Body:black marabou, tied in at the tips
Rib:stretched pearl tinsel
Thorax:lime green Fritz, trimmed short
Thread:black

Concrete Montana

Hook: size 12 long shank lure hook weighted with one layer of fine lead wire
Tail:olive marabou
Body:olive marabou, tied in at the tips
Thorax:lime green Fritz
Thorax Cover:olive marabou
Thread:black

Diawl Bach (Sean’s version)

Hook:size 14 wet fly (or a heavy carp hook – I use a size 10 ESP Raptor)
Tail:a few ginger cock hackle fibres
Body:a single peacock herl (tie short and trim after tying to slim the profile)
Rib:stretched pearl tinsel
Thread:fluorescent orange

Blob (Sean’s version)

Hook:size 14 wet fly
Tail:peach marabou trimmed short
Body:peach Fritz trimmed short after tying
Thread:fluorescent orange

**Harrison’s Owner Hooks Competition Contender**