In modern “match the hatch” dry fly fishing, this style of fly has gone the way of greenheart and the gut leader.
In a couple of old books I have recently read, the author not only assumed the reader used bivisables, but fished them more often than the winged flys we use today.
I have always carried a few and I remember days when they were just the thing.
As recently as this past weekend I caught a few trout on a bivisable.
I was wondering if anyone else still fished this very productive style of fly.
Yes. I always keep some in my box. Its a good “I have no idea what to use” solution and I find myself there way more than I like to admit.
jed
Yup dud, LF’s favorite fly is a one color one. [url=http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flytying/fotw/2198fotw.html:a5d02]http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flytying/fotw/2198fotw.html[/url:a5d02]
Dudley,
Yes. Maybe it’s just me but I think they are particularly useful during a caddis hatch or on very roily water.
Allan
I have to say I do and will use them a lot. My daughter recently tied the fly JC brought up for a swap. She gave me 2 of them and the next weekend we went fishing in the smokies and I tied one on my leader and caught a nice Brook Trout on the 2nd cast. Since then I have tied 6 each of them in sizes 10-14-18 in 6 different colors. That is one great fly. So far I have fished 4 different colors and caught fish each time. John
I wish you all everlasting flies and tight lines.
[This message has been edited by bassman (edited 10 May 2006).]
Ed Engle, in his book “Tying Small Flies” points out that the bivisibles, renegades and full hackle flies roll across the surface that may be just the ticket on some fish especially during a midge hatch. Maybe it is that little rolling motion that helps make the griffiths gnat work so well.
Ed goes into some detail on some of these patterns.
All the time!! One of mt favs is all grizzly hackle tied very thick. Works well on most trout I fish for.
Wyo-blizzard aka Bloody Tom Bonney
Lately I have replaced the usual dry flies with the “invisible”. It’s very easy to tie, but I can’t show you for obvious reasons. I find that using this pattern eliminates all those pesky rises that interfere with my casting practice.
Eschew Sesquipedalian Obfuscation
Dudley, You got me thinking, which could be dangerous!! I used them in the passed but not for a long time. Think I tie a few up!!
Bill
In the book “The 40 Best Trout Flies” by Robert H. Alley (Frank Amato Press) the Bivisible is listed as #4. Alley says “the bivisible is one of the favorite flies for lakes, it is considered an attractor”. The Irristible is #5 the Adams is #1. I have had good luck with the Bivisible fly from size 18 up to 6, it all deppends. I also like them in shades of grey/black. Jonezee
I learn more about the world while talking to myself when fishing alone
[This message has been edited by Jonezee (edited 10 May 2006).]
You gents may be dating yourselves.
I was introduced to these by my 90 year old flyfishing partner when I first started FF. His go-to fly. Very effective flies- no wonder their designs have endured. We use a grey hackle in our local riffle.
God Blesses!
A wing & a Prayer! ----*<(((><~ ~ ~ ~
Quinn
3 of my most productive flies are the bivisible, griffith gnat and the bear paw. I don’t go fishing without them.
Bivisible and Griffith’s Gnats are two of my favorite flies to fish and to tie and to teach someone how to tie. Mine aren’t beautiful but there’s something amazingly productive about those palmered dries.
Hi,
I’ve had a fair amount of success with a Whickham’s Fancy this year, which is not much more than a winged version of LF’s “mono-visible”. Full palmered dries are often used here when the cicada’s are about. They are also used to represent beetles and other such bugs.
I’ve read in a few NZ books where the author’s recommend a “Mole Fly”, which I understand to be a full palmered fly. I’ve not seen one, but an internet search indicates it’s an olive bodied fly, no tail, red hackle palmered along the body, and winged like a Whickham’s fancy. Not sure if the net version I found is the same as the NZ pattern, since the authors only indicated the fly by name and didn’t give the dressing.
- Jeff
[This message has been edited by JeffHamm (edited 10 May 2006).]
Very effective in Western Mass (for me) using whatever on the rear and white up front
More great info from the pages of FAOL
The Bivisible first shows up in literature in 1926, which certainly qualifies it as an ‘old fly’ - but it is one still in use today and can be found in the major fly catalogues. There are some differences in tying, such as with or without a tail, in two-tones with the white face, or in various other colors. However, here is the original.
Quoting from Fly Patterns and Their Origins, "The idea of the Bivisible and its apt name must certainly be credited to Edward Ringwood Hewitt. Mr. Hewitt in his Telling on the Trout, 1926, states:
“Dark colors are more visible to the trout from below than light colors, and, therefore, take more fish under most conditions and are more generally used. They are often, however, more difficult to see on the water than the lighter flies. This is the reason for my favorite design of fly which I call the Bi-Visible which consists of a palmer-tied brown hackle on the head of which is wound a small wisp of white hackle. The white resting against the brown becomes very visible in most lights to the angler; on the other hand, the trout see the brown hackle from below better than any other color used. This fly is by far the best of any I have yet seen for all species of trout and it is based on a sound physical principle.”
“The Brown Bivisible with the white wisp at its head, which I myself introduced, although palmer flies somewhat similar had been in use for many years in England. The white wisp enables the angler to see the fly readily, hence the name I gave it - Bivisible because I can see it and the trout can see it. The fly in various sizes is certainly the most universally useful fly we have, and is perhaps more fished now than any other dry fly. Palmer flies are made in various colors and are called Bivisibles in tackle stores, but this is incorrect. The true Bivisible is brown, with a white wisp of feather at its head.”
Credit for the Badger Bivisible goes to Charles Merrill of Detroit, in his day reputed dean of Detroit fly tiers and founder of the F.F.F.F. Club. Mr. Merrill died in 1940."
And how about the crackleback? An easy tie that works well for me.
The bivisible was a go to fly on the smaller creeks for me in the west side of the Sierras.
Seege