1/ First
off wrap a nice even base of thread starting from
near the front of the hook and extending to the
point where you are going to tie in your first part
of the fly, the ribbing. This point should be roughly
level with the barb on the hook as with most fly
patterns. Once this is completed go to the next
step.
2/ Take
a piece of silver tinsel and tie in at this point.
It should be attached so that it extends out to
the rear of the hook and is therefore out of the
way of the following steps. This is especially so
with this particular fly pattern as it is a finicky
one that can be difficult enough without having
to constantly move materials out of the way of the
workspace. Trim the excess and go to step 3.
3/ Now
get your piece of black chenille. Tie it in the
same way you tied the wire in previously. If you
are not using very thick chenille tie it in in the
middle section of the chenille allowing you to twist
the two ropes you create together. This will give
you the desired thickness required. Remember this
is a bulky fly. Trim any excess you may have and
move the thread forward to a point just to the front
of the lead.
4/ Take
your chenille rope and wind it forward to the thread.
Make sure each successive turn of chenille is to
the front of the previous one giving you a lovely
bulky body. Double up on wraps where necessary to
get the desired look to the pattern. When you reach
the thread tie it off and trim the excess chennile.
5/ Pick
out a ginger or brown cock hackle. Pick a pretty
big one out say for tying a size eight dry fly.
Tie it in at the front of the pattern angled at
45 degrees up and to the rear of the pattern. Trim
off the excess feather stubs and move to step number
5.
6/ Pinch
the hackle between your fingers or use your hackle
pliers if you prefer and wind it back to the rear
of the fly (palmered body). About 5 turns is correct
but one either side of this number will get the
desired look. When you reach the rear of the hook
you will notice you have no thread to secure it
with. Use the tinsel taking several tight wraps
in the same plane to hold it in place. Trim the
excess feather and proceed.
7/ Now
select four equal sized cock brown cock feathers.
The ones from a cheap cape (many of us have the
first capes we bought and these are ideal), you
know the ones with the black centre. Position two
on top of each other, shiny side out. Do this for
both pairs and then place back to back on top of
the hook as shown. Tie in at the front of the pattern
and trim the excess feathers.
8/
To hold this feather in place you are going
to have to do what you did in Step 6 with the palmered
feather and tie it off with the tinsel. To aid in
the ribbing gently stroke the fibres of the wing
feather apart. This will help greatly when winding
the rib in the next step. Once you have done this
and have the feathers lined up evenly Tie the feathers
in place at the rear of the fly with the tinsel
as in Step 6.
9/
Now gently take the tinsel and start to
wind it forward. It will be a little difficult and
you will not be confident with the way it looks
until you have completed a couple of these flies
but stick with it. Rib forward being careful not
to crush the feather fibres. Use up to 5 turns to
reach the front of the fly and then tie off with
the thread and trim. Feel free to gently stroke
the feathers back down and into position.
10/
All that is left to do is to add the eyes.
Take two Jungle Cock feathers of similar size and
tie in as shown with one on either side of the fly.
Be careful not to split them as the are delicate.
To strengthen them simply add a dab of head cement
to them. When you have tied them in evenly trim
the excess and whip finish. Add head cement as a
final touch and take fishing.
*Tips
- tail
should be roughly equal in length to the hook shank
- use a
poor quality cock feather as the black banding is an
important part of the design
The
Pattern
This
fly, popularised by colourful fly fishing identity Kaj
Busch is a real killer around the edges of lakes when
fish are cruising taking both yabbies and large drowned
terrestrial items such as worms. It is not a fly used
for blind searching ( as if you didn't know with a tail
like that! ) moreover it is a specialist sight fishing
pattern It is however especially noted as an
excellent fly for tricking those sometimes very difficult
lake Jindabyne cruisers and it is for this reason we
mention it. Its almost that time of year again and the
browns should almost be patrolling the edges searching
out food in the lake margins. So if you have the time
and luck into a slowly moving high pressure system;
grab your polaroids, a couples of horrors and get out
and give it a go.
