LOCH STYLE
FLIES
SOFT WINGED BOB
FLIES
(WET
FLY OR
LOCH STYLE
FLY)
It
was the
summer of
2000
that I first became involved on English style Loch Style fly fishing
and
slowly I accumulated an arsenal of techniques and flies. The Mallard
& Claret was the first for me in this series. Whilst it has been
tweaked
at the edges a little this Mallard & Claret pattern remains
remarkably
similar to the original fly pattern that has its origins in England
some
500 odd years ago except for the introduction of a fuzz led body rather
than a hackled body and a soft wing instead of feather slip wings. In
contemporary Australia whist still popular as a
wet
pattern for stream fishing it is also my favorite top dropper or "Bob"
fly for lock style fishing.
I tie this fly in four distinct colours.
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MATERIALS FOR
THE MALLARD & CLARET
Hook Size -
8 to 14 long
shank
Thread - Claret
Tail - Golden Pheasant
tail
tips
Body - Claret seals fur
Rib - Fine copper
wire
Front Hackle -
Claret hen
hackle
Wing - Bronze Mallard wing hackles
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MATERIALS FOR ADAMS:
Hook Size -
8 to 14 long
shank
Thread - Grey
Tail - Golden
Pheasant tail
tips
Body - Grey seals fur
Rib -
Fine gold wire
Front Hackle -
Grizzly &
Brown hackle wound together
Wing - Grey duck
feather hackles
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MATERIALS FOR
THE BROWN/OLIVE:
Hook Size -
8 to 14 long
shank
Thread - Olive
Tail - Golden
Pheasant tail
tips
Body - Olive seals fur
Rib - Fine gold wire
Front Hackle - Olive
hen
hackle
Wing - Grey duck
feather hackles
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MATERIALS FOR
THE BLAE & BLACK:
Hook Size -
8 to 14 long
shank
Thread - Black
Tail - Golden
Pheasant tail
tips
Body - Black seals fur
Rib - Fine silver wire
Front Hackle - Black
hen
hackle
Wing - Grey mallard feather hackles
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A variation on my Soft Winged Bob flies
is to turn them into anchor flies for use as the point fly in a team of
loch style flies. They are attractive to fish and because of the
smaller size and additional weight they sink faster than most flies and
keep my leader straight making it easier to keep in contact with my
dropper flies. The weigh is a 2mm gold bead head and 8 wraps of .015mm
lead on the front half of the hook shank.
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FROM THE
FOLLOWING
INFORMATION YOU CAN WORK OUT THE PATTERNS FOR YOUR OWN SOFT WINGED BOB
TYPE
FLIES TIED TO IMITATE OUR AUSTRALIAN MAYFLIES
BAETIS
EMERGERS
TAN #14 Tan
tail and
body,
brown wings and ginger beard.
BROWN #14 Brown /
olive
tail and body, brown wings and brown beard.
PALE WATERY #14 Light
olive
/ grey tail, grey / olive body, grey wings and light olive beard.
BLUE WINGED OLIVE #14
Olive
tail and body, bluish grey wings and grey and olive beard.
GREY #12 Grizzly and
brown
hackle fibre tail, blue rabbit underfur body, grizzly hackle slip wings
and grizzly and brown hackle fibre beard.
BLACK #16 All black.
CAENIS
EMERGERS
GREY #16
Dress as for
an
Adams.
BROWN #16 All brown.
LEPTOPHLEBIIDAE,
ONISCIGASTRIDAE
AND KOSCIUSZKO EMERGERS
BLACK SPINNER
#12
Charcoal
to black.
RED SPINNER #12
Burgundy
to red.
LAMBDA DUN #12 Ginger
tail,
grey body, brown wing and ginger beard.
MARCH BROWN #12
Yellow
wool
tag, gold/brown rabbit fur body with yellow ribbing, brown pheasant hen
wing and partridge hackle beard.
TWILIGHT BEAUTY #12
Dark
ginger tail, black body, grey / black wing and ginger beard.
HIGHLAND DUN (Tasmania
particularly)
#12 Dark brown / olive tail, body and wing with brown and olive hackle
beard.
GREEN DRAKE #12 All
olive
green.
KOSCIUSZKO #12 All
cream
/ beige.
TYING
INSTRUCTIONS FOR A BLAE & BLACK SOFT WINGED BOB FLY
A)
- Wind the thread in touching
turns to the bend of
the hook.
- Tie in a length of fine copper wire.
- Tie in a tail of 6-8 Golden Pheasant tippets that
is as long of the hook shank.
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B)
- Dub on a cigar shaped body over
the rear 2/3 of the
hook shank.
- Wind the wire forward forming 4 or 5 equal segments.
- Using a piece of Velcro tease out the seals fur
fibres to represent legs.
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C)
- Directly in front of the body tie in hackle.
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D)
- Take 3 of four turns of the hackle directly in front
of the body.
- Wind the thread through the hackle locking it into
place leaving the thread in front of the hackle.
- Trim the excess hackle.
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E)
- Take bunch of hackle fibres and tie them onto the top
of the fly as a soft wing about the same length as the hook that sits
on top of the fly extending over the top of the fly at an angle of
around thirty degrees.
- Build up a neat head, lock off and trim the thread
and finally
varnish the head.
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