About 8 years ago a friend of mine scoffed at a midge pattern I tied up for him. I called it “Keith’s Purple Disbelief”:
Then, he caught this on the Lower King’s River - using it :
It occurs to me that there is some guy named Kelley “G” who also uses a Purple fly every now and then…but haven’t seen him around these parts in awhile…
PT/TB 
Thanks to everyone posting on this thread for their “takes” on my question.
I want to stress that I am simply wondering if there might be some scientific explanation regarding the often expressed appeal of “purple flies” as. I know that we all have our own anecdotal experiences with colors and materials in the flies that we tie and fish.
What triggered my question, again, is that when I used some long sprigs of UV ice dubbing in a little caddis pattern, and photographed it on the water, the sunlight brought out a “purplish tint”. I know that last summer I had a much higher rate of takes when I used the caddis patterns I tied with the bit of UV material! (Again my anecdotal information).
So, I was just thinking of this purplish tint and thought back to an apparent fairly recent increase (last 10 or so years) in the use of purple bodies on dry flies and I was wondering if they might be connected to what I saw in the photo of my caddis on the water with the UV material which gave off a few spots of “purple”.
Just trying to see if others might see a correlation…if there is a correlation, that is.
Thanks again!
P.S. I believe I did read somewhere, regarding the Purple Haze fly, that it was most effective before and after a hatch? That though makes me think it might be more of an attractor. In other words, if there were a hatch going on of a PMD, would it still be advisable to use a PMD pattern in the color of the hatch as opposed to using the same pattern with a purple body…Intuitively, it would seem that it would be best to “match the hatch” and perhaps try the purple body before or after the hatch before the trout were actively feeding on the duns…
… that I will experiment with purple.
I only fish flies that I have designed based on my own observations of the food items in the streams and rivers I fish. If I ever did observe a sustained volume of purple fish foods ( nymphs, duns, spinners, terrestrials, etc. ) where I fish, then I would be inclined to come up with a purple something - but since to date I have never seen a purple natural anything where I fish, it isn’t likely.
No need or desire to “up” my catch rate. I routinely catch enough to be quite satisfied with that aspect of my time on the water, and the days that are on the slow side just make the routine days more enjoyable.
An acquaintance, who is not a fly tier, routinely fishes a Purple Haze because that is the “revered” fly here in Western Montana. On those rare occasions that we happen to be on the same piece of water at the same time, he is always happy to “up” his catch rate by using one of the flies I give him. One day I came along a while after he started fishing a skwala hatch using a local guide fly with purple accents, with no results. I tied on one of my FEB skwalas, promptly took five fish from the water he had just fished, gave him the fly and watched him take as many on it in a matter of minutes.
John
John,
I’m certainly not promoting purple bodied flies. I am saying that my X-Caddis tied with a small group of sprigs ofpearl UV ice dubbing really outfished my plain ones this last summer, both on the Henry’s Fork and the Madison.
The UV pearl ice dubbing sprigs were incorporated in a similar fashion to those tied by Kelly Galloup of Slide Inn on the Madison who also believes this improves the flies’ effectiveness.
I tecently noticed, when photographing the fly on the water, that a couple “purplish” spots appeared given the light reflection.
That led me to simply ask the question if the improvement of my Caddis ties with some UV material might be related to reports of effective purple bodied flies. I have never personally tied or fished a purple bodied fly. I try to “match the hatch” by using colors of the naturals. But, this bit of UV on the X-Caddis working so well and hearing Kelly rave about it leads me to wonder what it is about that addition that helps so much.
Trying to figure it out. Certainly not promoting purple flies. Just trying to figure things out.
Here’s additional food for thought Byron…what’s the trigger ?
PT,
Thanks. Very interesting article I had not seen.
There have been times, during a BWO hatch, when Wiese’s purple haze cripple has worked better for me than the same fly in a more natural color. I don’t know why.
Lately I have heard several people highly praise a purple Chubby Chernobyl. I have not tried that one.
Interesting information Jayatwork!
Interesting fly. But, does anyone know where can you get lavender angel hair? I checked half a dozen places and none of them had lavender.
And I am not advocating against purple flies. I would encourage anyone to try anything they think might make their time on the water more enjoyable.
Perhaps the fact that I became acquainted with fly tying and angling and watched almost countless fly tying demonstrations in SE Idaho with folks like Mike Lawson, Bruce Staples, Bob Jacklin, Scott Sanchez, John Stenerson, Tom Banyas, Kelly Galloup, Kelly Glissmeyer, and a bunch of other highly regarded tiers and anglers, and none of them ever focused on purple, is why I generally regard purple as a curiosity.
When I came to Western Montana and first heard about the purple haze it was a novelty, to my experience, and the intense interest in purple in this neck of the woods was, and still is, amusing. The first time I saw Andy Carlson tie a purple haze, it struck me that the “magic” was in the slim, well defined, dark body, not the color. That has been a lingering impression.
But for me, that is all beside the point because a number of years ago I decided to rely on my own observations of the various trout food objects that were available to the fishies where I was fishing, and fish only flies that I developed based on those observations. That is not everyone’s game, and that is a good thing, especially for the commercial tiers who make a living coming up with new combinations of materials and new names to create a market.
John
And I am not advocating against purple flies. I would encourage anyone to try anything they think might make their time on the water more enjoyable.
Perhaps the fact that I became acquainted with fly tying and angling and watched almost countless fly tying demonstrations in SE Idaho with folks like Mike Lawson, Bruce Staples, Bob Jacklin, Scott Sanchez, John Stenerson, Tom Banyas, Kelly Galloup, Kelly Glissmeyer, and a bunch of other highly regarded tiers and anglers, and none of them ever focused on purple, is why I generally regard purple as a curiosity.
When I came to Western Montana and first heard about the purple haze it was a novelty, to my experience, and the intense interest in purple in this neck of the woods was, and still is, amusing. The first time I saw Andy Carlson tie a purple haze, it struck me that the “magic” was in the slim, well defined, dark body, not the color. That has been a lingering impression.
But for me, that is all beside the point because a number of years ago I decided to rely on my own observations of the various trout food objects that were available to the fishies where I was fishing, and fish only flies that I developed based on those observations. That is not everyone’s game, and that is a good thing, especially for the commercial tiers who make a living coming up with new combinations of materials and new names to create a market.
John
It may not be the usual “Angel Hair” from Larva Lace ( Unexcelled Fishing ):
https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B01MCTP5E7/ref=dp_olp_0?ie=UTF8&condition=all
PT/TB
Thanks for the link but, like you, I’m not sure what that material is. I think I may just get some lavender EP fiber. That’s quite fine, and I’ve had success with it in the past.
Incidentally, Byron, I’m becoming more of a fan of purple all the time. And, while I have yet to tie and try it, I intend to tie some Grape Slushy nymphs to use this year. That fly uses UV brown ice dub for the body, which I believe also looks purple.
If it ain’t chartreuse, it ain’t no use.
Just as an aside, I talked to the folks at Beartooth, on the Madison, who showed me how to tie one of their favorite flies, and they called it an olive, but it was tied with purple appearing flashy dubbing. But, I said, it’s purple! To which they replied, it looks olive to the fish. Very strange.
John,
I too admire those tiers. I first met Lawson when he was basically the little one man shop. He’s a great fisherman. I love that area. I’ve fished with Bob Jacklin. He’s one of my tying heros. When I first fished around Last Chance I was able to spend some time with Bing Lempke. He tied the smallest, most beautiful extended body flies I’ve ever seen. The Last Chance/Yellowstone area has some of the best fishing and fishermen I’ve experienced.
I got off subject, I know, but your post brought back good old memories.
I’m a fly tier/fisherman who’s sort of obsessed trying to learn all I can. Not necessarily to improve my catching ability, but just from the pleasure of always trying to learn more.
You hit the nail right on my head, ha! “but for the pleasure of always trying to learn more.” That’s my feeling, too!
One other item on the color purple. Scientist say it is the most visible wave length of electromagnetic energy, but purple rarely appears in natural things. Maybe it is just an attractor for fish because it is rare in nature or maybe it reflects hues of color in water that are natural to fish. Apparently, no one has come up with an exact answer to your original question, Bryon, but for what ever reason it works. So keep being obsessed with learning new things:-)
Looks like the stuff you might find in a kids Easter basket…
This article may be of interest to some…sort of raises even more questions…