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Previous Flies of the Month Jul 2009 The Silly Bugger Aug 2009 AcidTone Nymph Sep 2009 EZ Nymph Oct 2009 X Fly Nov 2009 The Weena Jan 2010 Moustique Feb 2010 Xstarossa Damsel Mar 2010 BercX (Bead Head Rainbow Charlie X) Apr 2010 Twilight Woolx Bugger May 2010 Lady McConnell June 2010 Foam Back Damsel/Dragon Xnymph July 2010 Shuttlecock Aug 2010 Grease Fly Sep 2010 White Porn and Lemon Juice Oct 2010 Champions Caddis Nov 2010 Vans Beetle Jan 2011 The Ultimate Fly Feb 2011 Soft Hackle Mar 2011 Dentons Deadly Diver Apr 2011 CdC and Guineafowl May 2011 Tenkara Kebari Jun 2011 Butterflies and Moths Jul 2011 CdL Matuka
A.K. Best's Big Brown Coq de Leon Matuka
Once again we have a fly that uses up some of those feathers that usually get left on the cape with no purpose in sight. Those long webby hackles at the bottom of your Coq de Leon patch are ideal. This pattern featured in the Nov/Dec 2007 edition of Fly Rod & Reel Magazine
Wrap a
layer of lead (or substitute) on to a number 2 (or smaller) streamer
hook,
from just above the hook point to an eye length behind the eye.
Fasten
the lead down with your thread and a little superglue, then advance the
thread to the eye.
Prepare
a matching pair of two long webby feathers, and strip off a bottom
portion as long as the hook shank.
Palmer (wind) the hackle behind the eye, tie off, trim, whip finish and add a drop of head cement.
Tie on a base of thread on a long shank dry fly hook, using a thinnish thread. Create a reverse tapered body as shown, and prepare some claret mole dubbing (or substitute) on the thread.
Prepare
two feathers from a male pheasant
neck (or any other pretty feathers you can find) and tie them on as
shown, one at a time.
Secure the feathers
nicely and tie off
and trim your thread. If the left over feather shafts (feelers) are too
long then trim them to size.
Tenkara
Kebari (traditional Japanese
fly)
This is a Fly which I got from a sketch by Yoshikazu Fujioka. I have had good success with it in local waters as it is very 'alive' on the water. It can be fished with the 'old fashioned' rod and reel, as well as Tankara style :-) Traditionally Japanese pheasant is used for the wings and hackles and Zenmai (flowering fern) for the body, but I have substituted for locally available materials.  Using a Hanak nymph hook with Griffiths 14/0 thread, tie in a clump of feasant tail fibres about one an a half times the hook shank.
Tie in a
grey
CdC feather near the tips then pull forward as shown
Wind
the thread forward, then follow with the CdC. Trim
off the CdC shaft leaving as many fibred behind as possible. Tie them on
individually as shown, they must
splay in a V shape both vertically and to the rear so that they form
wings. Prepare
a pheasant rump feather as shown Tie it
in by the tip just in front of the hen feathers, wind, then tie off and
trim. Tie in
a clump of feashant tail fibres as shown, with the tips as far as the
tail.
You can
now
either finish the head (below), or add some peacock herl (above).
The
finished fly (above) and an underside view below.
My
last magnificent day on the river was partly due to the flies that I
was using. A peacock herl and starling soft hackle, below a Guineafowl
hackled dry above. The spots on the guineafowl feather come out as nice
bars when it is wound around the shaft. Lay
on a base of
Griffiths 14/0 grey or dun thread
onto a grub hook, #14 to #18.
Tie
in a long grey CdC feather loosely in
the centre then pull through until just the tip sticks out as shown,
tighten the thread, add an extra wrap or two, then move your thread
forward.
Wind the CdC towards the eye, making sure you cover the bit where you tied it on. When you get to about two eye widths from the front, tie down the CdC, then tie back the remaining shaft on the top facing the rear. Trim, leaving a bit of stalk with its fibres attached.
Tie
in a trimmed small guineafowl feather
by it's tips, and trim off the excess tip.
Mar 2011
Denton's Deadly Diver (Offshore Clouser) Designed by Bob Clouser and bastardised locally by Denton Ingham-Brown. This is the offshore DDD initially made for snoek, but is perfect for any offshore situation where you need to get a fly down fast. With the fly weighing over 10 grams, you are not going to be able to do a double-haul cast, but rather an undignified lob. 
Prepare your 'evy eyes by supergluing on your eye of choice, following with a coat of Liquid Fusion (especially on the sides). Liquid Fusion is preferred to Epoxy as it dries very clear, does not yellow over time, but more importantly, has some give, so that it resists toothy fish better.
Tie on the 'evy eye using the usual figure-of-eight wraps. Make sure you use a strong thread (I prefer Danville B-monocord, and swop over to flat waxed thread later) and lots of superglue. A non-waxed thread absorbs the glue better. Make sure you put on a lot of wraps, tying a whip knot every now and then, as this fly may take a lot of punishment.
Take your thread back towards the shank of the hook, tie in some braid, and bring it forward again. Now is a good time to change threads to the colour of your choice.
Glue the body and the wraps on
the eye with Liquid Fusion and put aside to dry
Once dry, flip the fly over and
start tying in your body material underlay, followed by some nice big
flash. Use good strong stiff material like Super hair.
Tie in your top layer and trim
at an angle so the head finishes up nicely.
Finish your head, cut off any
excess bits sticking out. You can get rid of the niggly bits with a
quick flash of a lighter. Do a final layer of thread over the head,
whip finish twice, and glue with liquid fusion.
Feb 2011
Soft Hackle Fly
This
particular version of a soft hackle fly has been very successful for me
in the last few weeks on the usually temperamental Holsloot River.  Lay a base of black thread on a grub or nymph hook. Tie in a peacock herl brush a quarter way back from the eye and tie it down on top of the hook as shown, then advance your thread back to the start of the brush. Using a brush is important as it has twisted copper wire which adds just the right amount of weight.  Wind the herl brush forward, secure it & trim.  Select a starling wing covert (the soft feathers above the flight feathers). Select from the left or right wing, depending on which way you are going to wind as only one side of the feather has a nice geen sheen. In the example above the sheen is on the bottom side.  Now go and look at this months fly tying tip, and apply your newly learned hackling skill to this task.  Using your thread as the hackle pliers, wind the hackle forward with touching turns, and finish off the head with a whip finish. It may be necessary to trim of the stub on the hackle if it cannot be covered with thread. T.U.F.F. (The Ultimate F... Fly)
Every
Fly Tyer from Dame Juliana's time has aspired towards the ultimate fly.
The one that no fish will refuse. This fly does not even have to be cast, you can put on the grass next the the water and it will catch fish. The only problem with this method is that it takes time. This fly is so good that fish are willing to evolve legs or wings to go and get one off your fly tying bench!
November 2010 van der Beetle (Van's Beetle)
 The inspiration for this fly comes from the Good Doctor's Foam Beetle (as shown by David Weaver in Favoured Flies Vol 2). The real innovation on the above fly is the use of a 'van der Merwe' hook aka. Mustad 37140.The inspiration for this fly comes from the Good Doctor's Foam Beetle (as shown by David Weaver in Favoured Flies Vol 2). The real innovation on the above fly is the use of a 'van der Merwe' hook aka. Mustad 37140. As can be seen, the hooking ability on the fly must be legendary, but a word of caution. This has not been tried this one at home, but as you read this I will be testing it on the yellows of Sterkfontein dam, where the original (made with foam) was 'born'. The fly is tied with a minimum of trimming, with some deer hair left untrimmed for legs.
Tie on your thread at the back of a 'van der Merwe' hook (Mustad 37140). Cut a clump of deer hair and get rid of the underfur. Tie the deer hair on with two loose wraps, just enough to hold it in place. (White has been used for clarity) You don't need to let it go like I have for the picture. Now cut off the long piece while holding on to it, so you can use it again. You want to try and get both sides the same length and to the length you want in the final product so that you don't have to trim it.
Proceed with the standard spinning procedure. Push back and start the next piece, again using the size you want in the final product.   Spin the next piece, and push back. Once two bits of deer hair have been spun, do the third, but do not do the second trim as you want the pointy ends to become legs.  
If you require an indictor, tie it in as shown. Continue spinning clumps until you reach the eye of the hook. Then all that remains is to trim the underside, and you are done. October 2010 Champions Caddis
(with thanks to Jeremy Lucas) The 2010 World FF Champs were held on the San River where hatches of danica mayflies were prolific & gammarus shrimps were migrating upstream. The fish weren't interested in imitations of these & most teams moved over to Caddis imitations as there were sporadic hatches, and the flies were working. Jeremy Lucas (ex-England) was guiding Team Australia before the event, and this is what he came up with. During the event he observed that most of the best teams were using very similar flies.  Using a #12 or #14 dry fly hook (I used a Sprite Perfect), furl some bright orange nylon wool or floss to create a tail. (This one is a bit on the long side, as I prefer more fly & less hook). Tie it on and prepare a noodle of squirrel or hare mask/ear dubbing.  Dub the body till about two thirds or three quarters to the eye  Tie in an underwing of two CdC feathers, tips aligned with tail.  Cut & stack some deer or klipspringer hair, and tie on as you would an elk hair caddis.  You can then finish it off, unless you want a sighter to help you see the fly. In that case, put a bit of the wool or floss on top, tie down, trim & then whip finish. September 2010 WPLJ (White Porn & Lemon Juice) Fly
(with apologies to Frank Zappa) Looking into my fly box one day, I realised there were no attractor streamers, so the search for a suitable pattern was on. The best candidate IMHO was the Mickey Finn, and thus I started tying.  Looking at the fly, I realised that there is not much movement in bucktail, so the next logical step was to substitute the deer hair with marabou. It looked pretty good, but I was still noy satisfied with the fly, more movement was required and it needed a bead head to get some depth. In the next sequence, sequins were added, to create some turbulence in front of the fly. Turbulence alone can be a fish attractor, so turbulence and movement must make a killer fly.  This was the result, and the next weekend when things were really slow at Lakenvlei, I hauled out the MMMF (modified marabou mickey finn) and proceeded to catch a good number of fish, when others were not doing well at all. The fly moves best on a steady retrieve, so the best method was a fast figure-of-eight retrieve. What also worked (watch out, because here comes heresy) was just letting the fly follow the boat as the wind drifted it. Trawling! There, I said it. I trawled a fly because it works. Sinking line, small drogue, and Bob's your enemy. On the way home I ws thinking about making the same pattern in baitfish colours, as it is the time of year that there are fingerlings in the water. Hence the colour combination of white & yellow. And the name? Its quite wierd, but I have to give credit to the Frank Zappa song that was playing while I was thinking about the fly, White Porn & Lemon Juice Fly Tying Instructions for the WPLJ  Use a #8 x2 or x3 long shank hook. Put on two sequins (in sequence) with the cupped part facing forward. Put a tungsten bead on backwards. Two sequins are used as one alone breakes quite easily. Using black head varnish, glue the two sequins together & move the bead up and colour it black too. You could use black sequins & black beads.  Lay a base layer of thread, return thread to eye & tie in some red copper wire along the underside of the hook shank as shown. Then tie in some flat tinsel at the back & advance your thread to just behind the bead.  Wind on the tinsel in overlapping turns, trap with the thread & trim it.  Wind the wire forward as shown, trap with thread, and break off the tag end.  Tie a generous clump of white marabou onto the TOP of the hook shank, as close behind the bead as possible. Trim excess.  Follow that with a layer of yellow marabou, followed by a light topping of brown or olive. On top of that goes a short piece of black marabou. Dub a small clump of black marabou onto the thread.  Finish off by winding on dubbing & then two whip finishes. Pull out any excess dubbing. Your WLPJ is done! Grease Fly
(with apologies to Capt. Dan Blados, creator of the Crease fly)  Capt Blados' Crease fly is a really effective fish catcher, especially for elf (shad) in the Western Cape. While experimenting with some great material called 'liquid fusion' I came up with the idea of making a transparent Crease fly and hence, the Grease fly. Being transparent it allows you to make pretty good imitations of baitfish, especially glassies, which are a favourite of elf. Fish it in exactly the same way as you would a crease fly, on the surface with an erratic jerky retrieve to create 'pops'.  Squirt out some 'Liquid Fusion' onto a teflon or waxed baking sheet and allow it to dry before peeling off.  Cut a piece of marabou as shown, and tie onto a saltwater hook of your choice, using 3/0 white thread. Make sure a bit of the feater shaft sticks out the rear (about 1/4 hook shank length). The shaft is must cover the entire hook shank, to just short of the eye. Make sure it is on the top. Also try and tie the marabou 'vertically' like a tail.  It should end up looking like this. Next , move your thread back to the tail, making sure you cover the hook properly. Tie on some large saltwater flashabou at the rear of the hook, followed by some gold mylar ON TOP of the hook shank. Then move your thread back to the eye.  Wind the flashabou forward in overlapping turns, then tie off and trim Move the gold flashabou over the top of the hook shank, then tie and trim. On larger hooks two pices can be used. The gold imitates the insides of the baitfish we are imitating.  Cut the piece of 'liquid fusion' sheet into a crease fly shape, you can make it larger and trim later. Apply 'liquid fusion' to the hook shank quite liberally, but be careful of messing up the marabou. Do the same to the inside of the cut sheet, then fold it over the fly and hold with a paper clamp. Take your time and get it just right.   Once dried, trim to final shape, stick on eyes, and coat the whole fly with a layer of 'liquid fusion' Add on some gills with a permanent marker, and you are done. Make sure that wen you are finished you have a 'cup' in the front as shown in the right hand picture.  A variation using holographic foil under the 'liquid fusion'
July
2010
Shuttlecock While not so commonly fished
around here, these flies are very popular
overseas, and as our Commonwealth team members recently discovered, are
very
effective.
The idea is to suspend a buzzer pupa just beneath the surface, using the CdC as a floatation device and as a strike indicator. Use your favourite buzzer patterns, tie them shy of the hook eye, and add the CdC. They are mainly fished static, but can be twtched or moved. You could also suspend another buzzer or two from it New Zealand style to help you cover deeper water.  Secure an Owner Mosquito Red #12 hook (any size 10-12 nymph hook will be OK) and wrap on touching turns of 6/0 red thread. Trap in some wide pearl flashabou (or mylar) and thin red red flash, continuing with the thread to around the bend as shown. Move thread back to eye (neatly), whip finish and trim.  Wrap pearl towards the eye in overlapping turns, securing with a half-hitch and then trimming. Wrap the red flash in open turns and secure with a half-hitch. If
you are brave, you can skip the thread
part, tie on the pearly mylar using the same method you use to start
thread. Then wind it down halfway, and hang your hackle pliers on it to
weigh it down and prevent it unravelling. Trap in the red flash, and
continue winding it down and then back again, where you lock it with a
half-hitch. Bring the red flash forward, lock with half hitch and
continue.This will save you a
lot of time.
 Lock these on with the red thread, then secure three CdC feathers as shown after alighning their tips. Trim the back end of the CdC in a sloping cut, and tie on a peacock herl. Move the thread to the front of the CdC behind the hook eye. Wind the peacock herl to make a thorax, then bring it to the fron where the thread is and trap with the thread. Trim the herl, and make a few turns under the CdC while lifting it, so that it cocks' a little. Secure with a whip finish and trim thread. Thats it. I recommend fishing it with a 'stopper' knot that will allow it to sit correctly in the water.  This is another version using the same base, but with a wire wrap. Another alternative is shown below, where the pupa is tied further back on the hook, and thus hangs a bit deeper in the water.  Using a nymph hook, start the thread halway back from the eye, down the bend as shown, trapping in some silver wire. Return the thread and buid up a 'body'. It works a lot easier with a thicker thread, so Use Danville's Flat waxed thread. This can also be 'un-spun' to create a smoother body.  Before you completely finish the body, wind the wire forward as shown, then trap and trim.  Once the body is complete, tie off and trim the thread, and make some cheeks using flourescent craft paint. Dont bother with anything other than a toothpick (of which you should always have. Put aside to dry by sticking into a piece of foam to avoide messing the paint. While it dries, make some more, and when they are all dry, give them a coat of head cement or sally hansens (the latter dries quickly)  It should then look like this.  Add the CdC as per the previous fly using the balck thread and tie off.
May 2010 Lady
McConnell
April 2010 Hook: 1XL Wet (Grip ) Catch the marabou just before the
head, secure nicely and trim off excess. You can varnish or glue the
head
or leave it plain. To the top
January 10  Either stroke and arrange the CDC to make wings, or use a figure-of-eight motion with the thread. I prefer to just arrange the feather. Tie off thread. Glue is option, my feeling is that it adds to the weight, so I leave it off.  The feather has been arranged into wings. At this point you could also trim the wing degrees to make it look more like a mayfly wing.  As this fly is not very visible, you could add a tiny blob of fluorescent craft paint to the head. Fish it in calm water with longish leader, so that the fly floats gently onto the water surface. For this reason I am sparse with the body material and thread to try and keep the fly as light as possible. If it gets wet, squish it in some toilet paper and give a few false casts. If that fails, shake it in your favourite desiccant powder. My preference is to add an X-Twhat on a dropper (New Zealand style) to increase my chances. Below, a small Smalblaar brown that fell for the Moustique. To the top
Start with black thread wrapped sparsely down to hook bend. Tie in CDC feather by tip after stroking barbs back. Trim off excess, tie in herl, trim excess and move thread to front with sparse turns. September 2009 Wind down the hook till near the bend. Hold
the material against the hook to prevent it unravelling, then let the
loose end relax and unwind. Start pulling the material tighter as you
go around the bend of the hook, holding it down every now and then to
untwist the loose end.
As the rivers are going to tend towards the
high side at the start of the season, it may be a great idea to haul
out those rusty nymphing skills. If you really want a challenge you
could try French nymphing, but that's another matter altogether. Its not weighted, just dense and smooth. The trick here is that Acetone melts Acetate Floss, so the air spaces disappear, the profile gets smooth and it sinks like a stone. If you really want it to go down even faster, you could put on a thin lead under body. You can then 'dolly up' your fly, but it works
just as it is. Experiment with colours, but the reds, burgundy and
greens work best in my experience. July 2009 Fish at a commercial fishery can sometime be
quite challenging if not on a feeding binge. These fish that have "seen
it all" require something a bit different in terms of a trigger. It's
either the colour of the day which could take some hours to figure out,
or "aliveness" (movement). The forward facing marabou provides a huge amount of moment and even changes shape so that the fly evolves as it swims. A visit to Jonkershoek on a miserable day had me loose the first prototype in a tree, but the second produced two fish in two dams quite quickly. Prototype two was buggered a bit by the second fish, leaving it without its collar. To preserve its reputation it was retired. This is essentially a woolly bugger without
hackle and including a reversed collar of marabou. Tie it in any
colour, but a combo should provide better contrast and thus better
visibility in murky water. Fly illustrated with front collar being blown back to show how it looks in the water
Slip a bead onto hook, tie in marabou tail and some krystal flash Tie in chenille and advance thread to head Tie in some marabou tips behind the bead and facing the other way. Allow them to roll around or 'spin' so that they are evenly distributed around the hook. The length sticking forward should be the length of eye to end of tail Trim some of the back of the feathers off, but leave a tag which is then wound behind the marabou tips to form a collar. Tie in with a whip finish (use your hands,
otherwise you are in for a tangle) and glue over thread. |
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