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EVOLUTION OF A FLY
If you have followed my web site over time you will recognize that to a
large extent the flies that were featured 5 years ago have been replaced
by similar flies with only minor changes from those featured 5 years ago
and sometimes quite different flies that are designed to do the job of those flies that have been replaced. Why is
this so? Well the answer is simple. As I have spent time fishing I have
made subtle changes to some flies to make them work better and I have
replaced other flies with alternative flies that work better for me.
That process continues and in many cases there have
been so many changes to to original and the fly that replaced them that the flies I now fish
with often bears no resemblance to the flies which I started with.
One trap with this process is that there is a tendency to keep the originals
in your fly box, just in case, and to stuff the new version into the
ever increasingly cramped fly box somewhere in the corner. The result
here of course is a fly box so congested with flies (often for the same
job) that when you want a particular fly you know its there but you cant
find it, or even worse, you forget the latest update which you
determined was better than the previous version and finish up fishing
the inferior previous version.
I'm pretty ruthless with my
fly boxes and apply the following suggestions almost as rules.
- One of the things I try
to
promote is the importance of limiting most if not all of your fly box
to
just those flies that you are confident
work
for you, you understand what they can be used to represent, and you know how to fish.
- Remember "FLIES
CATCH
MORE FISHERMEN THAN FISH".
- Don't add a fly to your
fly
box just because you like the look of it. Think about its "FORM
&
FUNCTION".
- Its important to "LOOK
AT A FLY & HOW YOU FISH IT FROM THE FISHES PERSPECTIVE".
As a
result, when a tie of a fly evolves or a better option is found I
stop tying the earlier version and go onto the new tie. Because I
fish a lot I can then go back to testing both versions whilst
natural attrition (like trees, break offs and just wear and and
tear) quite quickly takes care of the inferior flies which I replace
with the new version. I guess this also leads to the question of how
many of each fly you should carry in you fly box or boxes. For trout
fishing I carry five fly boxes: nymphs, streamers, emergers and
grubs, lock style flies and of course dries. Each of those boxes is
fully packed but never over packed.
Here is a picture of my nymph fly
box showing what I mean. Note that every fly in the box is visible and that
there are no flies hidden under other flies and also that there are only one
tie for each job at hand. For flies that I use a lot of I might carry 5 or 6
of each size and for flies that I only call on occasionally the number drop
to just 3 or 4 of a particular fly. The result of this disciplined approach
is that I have around 300 to 400 flies in my vest at any one time and I have
all the bases covered. Sure there are still fish I can't catch but at least
when I fish to them I am fishing with confidence in that I know the flies I
am using work for me, I understand
what they can be used to represent, and from my experience I know how to
fish them.
As illustration of this evolutionary process I just wanted to have a
condensed potted look at how the current damsel that I am using evolved.
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When I first started
fishing I am not sure if I even knew what a damsel was . I am
confident that what I would have tied on for damsel feeders was just
an every day olive nymph. I am sure that worked on occasions but as
my fly fishing skills and my knowledge of entomology increased I
recognized that what I was fishing to damsel feeders didn't really
meet the form and function of the natural. Not only that by today's
standards it was a really ugly fly. |
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| There were undoubtedly several steps leading to this next
version that
took me from using just a basic olive nymph to using a purpose tied
nymph which like to natural was quite thin. This was a big
improvement but again as my experience and skill level increased I
recognized that there was still plenty of room to improve.
This is still a great nymph / damsel imitation and if you want to
carry a thin nymph in your fly bow this one is pretty good.
STEVE'S DAMSEL
QUICK LINK |
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As my knowledge of
entomology and my basic observation skills developed I gained a
better understanding of what the natural damsel actually generally
looked like and found out that there are over
100
different
species of Damselflies in Australia. The lava have a lot in common. They are usually
slender
with three terminal gills, that present as tails, their bodies have around 10 segments, they have 6
legs
and they often have emerging wings. Most appear to be shades of yellow
/ olive and brown / yellow with some being quite dark and others
quite pale.
Finally, significantly from an anglers point of view, they form a
significant part of a trout's diet. |
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| I wanted more than just a thin nymph and I experimented with a
couple of representational versions based more on the appearance of
the natural. They all worked some of the time but I always felt that
some of the triggers of the thinner nymph / damsel were not there.
What I am referring to here is the things that cause your fly to get
a trout's attention. At most times for a trout to be attracted to
your fly it has to be recognized as possibly being something that's
on the trout's menu, or to be noticed enough not to spook the fish
and to cause it to mouth the item to determine if its edible.
Key triggers in both of these actions are what I refer to as "form
and function". Things like swimming action, movement in fly tying
materials, colour, eyes, tails etc. Whilst the representational
versions still had good triggers overall their performance was not
much better than the thin nymph / damsel.
In discussing triggers its also worth mentioning that a further
possibility is that the fly may "trigger" an aggression strike but I
tend not to focus on that as a criteria when tying flies "to match
the hatch". |
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| This is the best version yet. It has the general form and
function of the natural as well as good triggers including overall
form and function as well as movement in the tail, emerging wing and
legs, and it has eyes.
DAMSEL
QUICK LINK |
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| Earlier this year I was given a fly by Len Orbit who is the
Executive Officer of Rec. Fish Australia. I took Len for a short
polaroiding trip and Len was good enough to
target and net two thumper browns. We had a great time and of course
one of the things we spoke of was flies. Len is South African and he
still had some flies from home with him. This one took my eye.
Clearly a Damsel but it exploited the colour red in the eyes as a
trigger. In this case the eyes were made of red chenille and that
got me thinking. I tried red chenille on my representational damsel above
and it worked well but the eyes had lost some of their definition so
there was more work to be done. |
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| I have since substituted closed cell foam for the chenille and
that seems to be a real winner. I can now put an eye ball on the fly
with a black permanent marker and with the foam eyes on top of the
fly any tendency for the fly to lay on the side is diminished. I
have also done away with the beard and instead represent the legs by
teasing out some of the dubbing material. Its still early days and I
am taking every opportunity to test this latest version but and at
this stage and early successes suggest that it will take over
the role of the damsel nymph that has a spot in my nymph fly box.
DAMSEL NYMPH
QUICK LINK
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Even then the evolution with not be complete. I will continue to tweak the
fly where possible and may even replace it with a better fly if that comes
along.
Tight lines,
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