Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Green Sedge Inspiration

The Green Sedge Fly

I never forgot my first experience of catching a fish on a fly of my own creation. 


My first success at marching the hatch was on Glimpse Lake in British Columbia. I was wearing an old goose down vest, and while casting to some rising fish, I noticed that a few down feathers had leaked from the vest and settled on the lake. A gentle breeze tumbled them across the surface when suddenly a fish rose to a feather and snatched it. I was stunned! A fish taking a feather? 

Then fish started feeding all around the boat. I peered closely at the water's surface and confirmed that a hatch of No. 8 green-bodied caddisflies was occurring. The fish were taking the adult caddis and the feathers with equal abandon. I dug into my fly tying kit and tied a close resemblance of the caddis using grizzly hackle, green wool and feathers from the hole in my vest. The imitation had a perfect shape for the caddis wing, and as soon as I starting casting I was hooking one fish after another. It was an ecstatic moment.  As the feeding subsided, I realized that I had finally "matched the hatch" with my own imitation. 

Materials:
Hook:     No. 9672 Mustad, Sizes 12-10
Thread:  3/0 black monocord
Tail:       Grizzly hackle fibers
Body:     Insect green yarn wrapped with palmered grizzly hackle
Wing:     Mallard flank feather
Hackle:  Grizzly (tied dry)

1 comment:

  1. I like how a little observation can inspire a new fly. It's amazing, all you had to do is watch what the fish were eating.

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