Found some Wood Duck Flank feathers, so had to use them in a traditional style Ginger Fly.
Hook…Gamakatsu Barbless 14
Tails…Coq de leon fibers
Abdomen/thorax…Amber Super Fine Dubbing
Hackle…Ginger
Wings…Wood Duck Flank (Divided)
That’s one nice looking bug.
nice looking fly byron,
have you considered a couple light cahills, hendricksons, or quill gordons. dont know where you fish at but back in the mid 60’s about all i would throw was a light or dark cahill wet pattern in the adirondacks.
Yes, I have John.
It is a very interesting point, you raise.
My fishing is primarily " Out West" which I mean to be Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming.
As I have mentioned here before, out there you will hardly ever find a “traditional” or Catskill style fly.
Most fishers out there use newer and more fast water floating flies. For example, comparadun/Sparkle Dun Stle flies.
And, if you look at Harrop’s flies, many are tied to represent struggling emergent flies, and very often with CDC.
Deer hair patterns are very popular out on the big, rough water streams out West.
Ummm, Is it fair to say that a comparadun or sparkle dun is more of a fast water fly than a traditional Catskill?
Yes, I believe so. "…and more fast water floating flies "
You don’t agree?
No, I think you’re wrong on this one.
Although I’ve never been, my understanding is that the Catskill Rivers are very fast and the flies were developed to handle this (remember, the Wulff series was developed there). Meanwhile, I think that the split tail of the comparadun or zelon tail of the Sparkle Dun would not support the fly as well as the Catskill hackle tail.
Caucci himself has said that while he developed the Comparadun before ever fishing the Upper Delaware, the long slow pools of the Upper Delaware were perfect for it.
Steven,
Can you explain why the big fly shops out West no longer carry the traditional style flies?
I may check on that with Craig Matthews of a Blue Ribbon Flies in West Yellowstone.
The presumption here is that the rivers in this area are all that fast. Is the Yellowstone really that fast? I’ve fished it and wouldn’t call it that. The Bighorn? No. The Firehole - I’ve only seen pictures, doesn’t look like it.
Of course, there’s the Madison. I’ve fished the 50 Mile Riffle - nothing natural is going to float for long there.
And then you have the famous spring creeks where Harrop has done most of his experimenting. By definition, these are slow moving.
First off, that’s a beautiful fly, Byron, and very nicely tied.
None the less, I’m not sure that I would side entirely with your hypothesis that sparkleduns and comparaduns are the preferred floating patterns for fast water rivers, versus those traditional Catskill style ties. I’ve probably fished all of these style flies in both eastern and western rivers as much as anyone (I was fishing the Delaware watershed long before guys like Caucci came along to commercialize, and substantially degrade the experience of fishing it, IMO) and I think I come down more on the materials used in the fly construction, the floatant used, and the fisherman’s skill, more than the fly style as far as how well they float in fast water.
Personally, I prefer something like a parachute fly on faster water, and find they float better for me, than a sparkle dun, for example.
In my opinion, guys like Matthews and Harrop sell more of the style of the flies that they do because those flies are easy, fast and cheap to tie versus Catskill ties, plus they work, obviously. And, the more they tout those styles, the more people buy them.
Thanks John.
You could well be correct. Hard to know for sure.
I will say that I have found the Sparkle Dun to be a wonderful floater - even in riffle water. Although that is just an example of a Western used fly. Of course, the Sparkle Dun was created to represent an “emergent” stage of the insect. A cripple with a trailing shuck as opposed to a dun having completely emerged into the imago stage.
I still believe Western fishers prefer a “heavier” dressed fly…often with deer hair. Sorta what Jack Dennis popularized.
Probably no clear answer. However, I have put the question to Mike Lawson 's shop and Blue a Ribbon.
Will update if, and when, I get their input.