I mentioned this fly in passing in my last post so I figured you might like the dressing. I know it annoys me when people allude to specific flies then don’t tell you how they are made! I make a couple of different versions, one wet and one floater, to cope with different conditions. Let me be very clear, this is not a fly for ever day use. My experience of this one is a dismal failure on most waters but just occasionally it works and when it does it works very well indeed. So tie up a couple and tuck them away in a corner of a fly box, you never know………….
Let’s start with the wet version. Size is important, the naturals are not big, so a size 14 is about right. Maybe in your part of the world there are larger black or very dark sedges and you could risk going up one or two sizes. I like to use a Kamasan B175 for the extra strength that hook provides. The waters where I find this fly works hold large browns, so that little bit of extra metal gives me some degree of security in the heat of battle.
Tying silk is purple or crimson. I form the body with rabbit or moles fur which has been dyed black. I have been known to add a small gold tag before winding the body but I seriously doubt if that additional effort is appreciated by the fish. The wing is made from matching slips of crow secondaries or you can use magpie tail just as well. The hackle is a couple of turns of black hen tied in front of the wing.
The dry pattern is very similar but I add two CDC feathers dyed dark grey as an underwing. This gives both a better shape to the wing and at the same time increases the floatation qualities of the fly. The black hen hackle is replaced with a short fibred cock hackle of the same colour and I give it at least 4 turns to increase ‘buzz’ effect.
Claretbumbler 