FLYMPH FORUM

Common on the rocky rivers of northern UK, this fly has close relations around the world. Here in the UK it hatches generally sometime between mid-day and mid afternoon (and is often confused with the False Brown) during March and April. It is difficult to be precise as weather changes have a great influence on when they start to appear and for how long.
Tis is a large up wing fly for the Northern rivers. With a body up to 15mm its tails can be as long as 30mm. The natural dun has a dark brown body with pale yellow-straw banding.
There are many spider patterns for this and Pritt gave five dressing (Great Brown, Brown Drake & Dun Drake) in his book.
"No 11 Hook 3
Wings - From the tail of a Partridge
Body - Pale orange silk, dubbed with a little Hare's ear and yellow mohair, mixed; ribbed over with a little yellow silk.
Tail - Forked with two strands from a Peacock tail
Legs - From the back of a Partridge."
"No 12 Hook 2
Wings - From a quill feather of a hen pheasant
Body, Tail and Legs - as in no 11"
"No 13 Hook 2
Wings - Hackled with a reddish feather from he outside of a Woodcock's wing
Body - Orange silk dubbed over with a little fur from a Fox's ear"
"No 14 Hook 2
Wings - From tail of a Partridge
Body - Orange and yellow silk twisted, dubbed with fur from a Fox's ear
Leg's - From a Wren's tail"
"No 15 Hook 2
Wings - from the Hen Pheasant's wing
Body and Legs - Sames a No 14"
He went on to explain
"The five dressings here given admit of little preference as killers. The hackled fly - though comparatively rarely dressed - will be found very successful on cold, rough days, and the winged flies are indispensable on fair days through March, April and not frequently into May."
Following on from the Kite Spider, I offer another version which works equally.

Hook - Tiemco 103BL (eye straightened)
Silk - 8/0 Uni Thread Yellow
Body - Brown Condor substitute (3 herls) twisted and taken down the body in open turns to show the thread
Rib - Very fine gold wire
Hackle - 2 turns of brown English partridge back feather
Head- Sing;e turn of Brown Condor substitute (in the style of Lister).

Sorry about the lighting - I need to improve.

Nice pattern and what looks to be a nice tye. I'm always interested in local variations of flies based on commonly found insects. Our local March Brown duns tend to run to claret highlights rather than yellows, but I've seen photos of some eastern NA versions that have the pale yellow banding.

Getting good photographs of flies can be tricky, but there are a few things you can do. Here's a link to get you started: Guide to photographing flies.

I just use a simple point and click Pentax Optio W10 6(?) Mpx digital camera for my shots. I've found that the single most important thing you can do is have very good lighting. I normally take shots under bright fluorescent lighting (augmented with the built in flash) and the shots are quite passable, but if the light is the least bit spotty (if I'm on the road for example) the results are undefined at best and out of focus at worst.

What camera do you use?

Aaron

Philip - That is quite an interesting dressing. I especially like the idea of the open spirals of the herl (to show the body color). When I read about the ribbing, I am currious to know if it is counter ribbed, or if the rib follows the herl. Could you comment on the rib?

When I first saw the original dressing of the Kite Imperial (which this fly was inspired by) I had thought that the ribbing followed the herl. It didn't nor does it in this pattern. It is counter ribbed.

Aaron,
Thanks for the link, it will help.
I use a Canon EOS 350D with a EFS 17-85mm lens combined with DCR250 macro lens. I am still experimenting. The closeness is okay as is the clarity. Light I need to work on.