CDC Brown Sedge English

In the last years, very few materials have found so many applications in the fly tying field as the cul de canard. This special feather, with its particular water repellent characteristic, is for many of us one of the most useful and important ingredients for building different artificials. Used in small tufts of fibres, the “magic feather” (this is one of the names used by the fly tiers for describing the cul de canard) can help us to form the wings of a large number of upwings imitations at the emerger stage. Mixing it with synthetic or artificial furs, we can create a special and versatile dubbing for realising the abdomen and the thorax of sedges, upwings, stoneflies and chironomids, increasing the elusive appearance of the flies and exalting in this way their alluring power.
One of the application that I consider particularly interesting of the magic feather is for building, with the dubbing technique, the floating structure of the adult caddis imitations. I appreciate it for the fact that a sedge made with a fluffy support collar, assembled with a dubbing of cock hackle and cul de canard feather’s fibres, mixed with a little opossum hair, can solve the problems of selective trout of a very clear chalk stream. The fish, in fact, can be induced to rise after offering of several of the more classic sedge patterns has proved unsuccessful. These flies can be also used successfully in turbulent and fast rivers, and thanks to the cul de canard extraordinary floating abilities, the artificials can be kept under control while they are swimming downstream thereby tempting the local trout.
The CDC Brown Sedges are the imitations that I generally prefer for my fishing. Their wings are made with two partridge or woodcock cover wings feathers and I like them both for the platform wing strength which they lend a fly, being resistant to the stresses of casting and playing of fish, and for the imitative qualities they give to the fly as they make it look like several species of insects.

INSTRUCTIONS

We start to prepare our imitation by fixing the hook on the vice jay and tying on the black thread. Next, we wax a short stretch of thread and we apply on it a small pinch of reddish/brown polypropylene, to make a compact dubbing. The dubbing is then used to form the fly body along the rear two thirds of the hook shank

We select two small feathers from the upper sides of the partridge or woodcock wings and we remove the soft fibres found at the base of the stalks. Then we spread a little of glue on both sides of them and before the glue dries, with the fingers of the hands, we smooth the two feathers. This operation will make the feathers to look more compact and with an elongated shape

Now we fix the two feathers on the hook, arranging them like the shape of a roof, attaching them with thread at the front of the abdomen. These wings must extend backwards a length equivalent to the hook shank, passing the hook bend. Next we bind down and trim the excess stalks

We clamp a small bulldog clip onto the fibres of two natural beige cul de canard feathers and of a long natural red cock neck hackle (the three feathers must be arranged one on the top of the other, in order to make a sort of sandwich), and add a mat of opossum hair. 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 thread and we insert into it the blades of the bulldog clip holding the opossum hair and the cul de canard and the cock hackle fibres

We make a few turns of the dubbing spinner to increase the tension on the thread, then we slowly open up the bulldog clip and remove it from the thread loop. The thread will spin itself around the freed fibres to form a mixed rope of CdC and hackle

The compact dubbing loop is wound around the front third of the hook shank to create a soft flowing collar to the fly. Next, with a pair of scissors, we reduce the length of all those cul de canard fibres that appear too long

We cut off two fibres from a pheasant tail or a mallard shoulder feather and we tie them in just behind the hook eye, so they project forwards in a vee to represent the antennae of the fly: these antennae must have the same length of the hook shank

Using a few turns of thread we make the artificial’s head which is then finished with a whip-finish and with a small drop of clear varnish

The CDC Brown Sedge can now be used during our next fishing trip, ready to be attached to the leader to induce a rise from a very difficult trout that has become well versed in the tricks of anglers who tackle it with traditional, predictable adult caddis imitations

MATERIALS LIST

HOOK: long shank size 16 to 12
THREAD: black
BODY: dubbing of reddish/brown polypropylene
WINGS: partridge or woodcock cover wings feathers
THORAX: natural beige cul de canard feathers, hackle of natural red cock’s neck and opossum hair trapped and twisted in a dubbing loop
ANTENNAE: two fibres of pheasant tail or mallard shoulder feather