The use of flies that want to represent the terrestrials - that are those insects the life of which does not depend on a narrow bond with the aquatic habitat, but that nevertheless can come up to the banks of a river or of a lake for completely fortuitous reasons and, falling accidentally into the water, become the eventual meal for a fish - is considered by many anglers a secondary importance strategy in the fly fishing field, at least if compared with the tactics for approaching the water with the imitations of up wings and sedges. Indeed, if we consider that the ephemeras and the trichopters are very often the primary food for trout and grayling, it seams logic that the "fly fans" are much more inclined to use baits with the appearance of such invertebrates. However, what we have seen in these last years, it has been a growing proliferation of fly fishermen always more skilful and prepared, able not only of actuating sophisticate techniques for getting better presentations of their artificials, resorting to refined casting systems, but also of using, with appropriate choice, specific flies for facing nearly every situation: imitations, in practice, of sedges and of up wings and, in some case, of chironomid and of stone flies.
All this has contribute to increase the wiliness and the selectivity of our finny opponents, especially in those areas where it is imposed a catch and release regulation, accustomed to a constant coexistence with the elegant shaggy tricks proposed them by the different anglers. From here, although we can have at our disposition a large selection of flies very similar to the insects present into the water, it is not always averted the possibility to receive a definite refusal from the fish that we are attempting. A problem, this, that sometimes can take proportions of disquieting embarrassment for us, considering that it can put us in a condition of incapacity to understand the reasons of such apparently unjustified failure, inducing us to try all our stock of flies before we find one, if even not very imitative, effective to produce the rise.
My argument, put in this way, can sound absurd and perhaps without of logic, and maybe in part it is so. The fact is that in fishing field, especially in that one about the fly, many situations that seem difficult, or even impossible, can be get over putting at our back what is rational and appealing ourselves to the fantasy and to the intuition. Projecting this concept to the case of very selective trout and grayling, the logic would suggest that for getting their catch we individualize the exact imitation of the insect that the fish are taking. It happens so, instead, that, stressed by the hundredth refusal of our verisimilar ephemera, or sedge, representations, we try to connect to our leader a gaudy and colourful fly with the same shape of o big caterpillar, or of a nourishing flesh fly, provoking in this way the desired rise.
The grounds for such unexpected success can surprise us, inducing us to think that an odd fish behaviour can be caused by fortuitous coincidences. Anyway, if we consider that a trout, or a grayling, can be persuaded to take our bait for reasons of greediness, our catch finds an its logic aspect. To this we must add that a fish can refuse our traditional flies because it got used to see regularly them crossing over its head, but it can show itself unable to discover the trick hidden in an artificial characterised by unusual shape. I have had the opportunity of observing events like this fishing with voluminous terrestrials, especially with the imitations of plump dipterous, managing sometimes to rise also those selective fish that appeared almost uncatchable.
Among the selection of these special artificials, one that results definitely effective in many "difficult" situations is the Bibione: an ochre yellow fly, with the thorax's cover made with an orange golden pheasant tippet feather, which I conceived for imitating a particular bibionid present on the banks of some river regularly visited by me, but that I learned to use principally as a searching fishing artificial.
All this has contribute to increase the wiliness and the selectivity of our finny opponents, especially in those areas where it is imposed a catch and release regulation, accustomed to a constant coexistence with the elegant shaggy tricks proposed them by the different anglers. From here, although we can have at our disposition a large selection of flies very similar to the insects present into the water, it is not always averted the possibility to receive a definite refusal from the fish that we are attempting. A problem, this, that sometimes can take proportions of disquieting embarrassment for us, considering that it can put us in a condition of incapacity to understand the reasons of such apparently unjustified failure, inducing us to try all our stock of flies before we find one, if even not very imitative, effective to produce the rise.
My argument, put in this way, can sound absurd and perhaps without of logic, and maybe in part it is so. The fact is that in fishing field, especially in that one about the fly, many situations that seem difficult, or even impossible, can be get over putting at our back what is rational and appealing ourselves to the fantasy and to the intuition. Projecting this concept to the case of very selective trout and grayling, the logic would suggest that for getting their catch we individualize the exact imitation of the insect that the fish are taking. It happens so, instead, that, stressed by the hundredth refusal of our verisimilar ephemera, or sedge, representations, we try to connect to our leader a gaudy and colourful fly with the same shape of o big caterpillar, or of a nourishing flesh fly, provoking in this way the desired rise.
The grounds for such unexpected success can surprise us, inducing us to think that an odd fish behaviour can be caused by fortuitous coincidences. Anyway, if we consider that a trout, or a grayling, can be persuaded to take our bait for reasons of greediness, our catch finds an its logic aspect. To this we must add that a fish can refuse our traditional flies because it got used to see regularly them crossing over its head, but it can show itself unable to discover the trick hidden in an artificial characterised by unusual shape. I have had the opportunity of observing events like this fishing with voluminous terrestrials, especially with the imitations of plump dipterous, managing sometimes to rise also those selective fish that appeared almost uncatchable.
Among the selection of these special artificials, one that results definitely effective in many "difficult" situations is the Bibione: an ochre yellow fly, with the thorax's cover made with an orange golden pheasant tippet feather, which I conceived for imitating a particular bibionid present on the banks of some river regularly visited by me, but that I learned to use principally as a searching fishing artificial.
|
|
INSTRUCTIONS
We start to tie our Bibione by fixing the hook on the vice jay and tying on the black thread. After that, we wax a short stretch of thread and we apply on it a small pinch of yellow seal fur (or substitute), making a compact dubbing. The dubbing is then used to realise the fly body along the rear two thirds of the hook shank
Cut off a small orange black barred feather from a golden pheasant tippet, we tie in it for its top, fixing it in front of abdomen and at twelve o'clock of the hook shank, taking care that its bright side faces the body
We take now two long and broad hackles from a blue dun cock neck and we tie in them for a point near to their apical stretch, fastening them with the thread just in front of the abdomen and trying to place them at V shape, so to represent the wings of the imitation. For reasons of stability on the water, the wings must extend backwards for a length equivalent to one time and half than that of the hook shank
Now we clamp a small bulldog clip onto the fibres of two natural gray cul de canard feathers and of a long blue dun cock neck hackle (the three feathers must be arranged one on the top of the other). With a pair of very sharp scissors, we trim away the feathers fibres caught by the bulldog clip close to the point where they are attached to their stalks
We form a dubbing loop with the black thread and we insert in it the blades of the bulldog clip holding the cul de canard and the cock hackle fibres
|
|
After we have make a few turns of the dubbing to increase the tension on the thread, we slowly open up the bulldog clip whilst removing it from the thread loop. The thread will spin itself around the freed fibres to form a mix of CDC and hackle rope
We ompact the dubbing so composed and we turn it around the front third of the hook shank, making the gauzy thorax of the fly. Then, with the scissors, we reduce the length of all those cul de canard fibres that appear too long
We turn towards the golden pheasant tippet feather and we fix it just behind the hook eye: this let us to create the thorax's cover of the fly
Using a few turns of thread we make the artificial head that is then finished with a whip finish and with a small drop of clear varnish
|
The Bibione is ready to be used during our next fishing
expedition, maybe to tempt a very clever fish that is used to recognize
the trick hidden in the traditional dry flies
|
|
MATERIALS LIST
HOOK: regular shank size 14 to 12
THREAD: black
BODY: yellow seal fur (or substitute)
WINGS: the tips of two blue dun cock neck hackles
THORAX: natural gray cul de canard fibres mixed with blue dun cock hackle fibres
THORAX COVER: golden pheasant tippet feather
THREAD: black
BODY: yellow seal fur (or substitute)
WINGS: the tips of two blue dun cock neck hackles
THORAX: natural gray cul de canard fibres mixed with blue dun cock hackle fibres
THORAX COVER: golden pheasant tippet feather
