The Snatcher by GlassJet, on Flickr
Hook: #16 light. Thread: yellow, well waxed. Body: peacock herl. Rib: fine gold wire. Hackle: very light ginger genetic hen, palmered.
One of my own patterns, to twitch in the surface and just beneath.
To tie this, I tied in the rib, then the peacock herl, then the hackle. Then I wound the rib around the herl, then wound the hackle around the both, then wound all three in open turns down the shank and tied off at the head.
There is a method behind this madness. Towards the end of last season I was playing with a pattern to suggest the willow fly, that is very common on my river, september / october. I ended up using a #14 dry hook, brown ostrich herl and a furnace genetic hen, and tying it by wrapping the hackle around the herl then winding both together. It caught very well. I fished it in the surface with a touch of floatant, and it has also caught well throught this year as well, working well when olives are about, but also 'just bringing them up'.
I do wonder if twisting the hackle like that puts a bit of extra kick in there, for river fishing in a faster flow?
However, as I subsequently found out, I was not quite as original as I thought, as this was how Charles Cotton used to tie his palmered flies in sixteen hundred and something! So, orginal, perhaps not, but in good company? Most definitely.
I am looking forward to fishing this one anyway. We'll see.
Please don't feel the need to be polite!
Andrew.
