AUTOPSY

FLY AUTOPSY

While living in South Africa more than fifty years ago now, I was often sent a battered and bedraggled fly with the request to tie a dozen of that particular pattern for some Fly fisher usually from one of the Rhodesia’s, Kenya, Tanganyika or Uganda. Who was convinced that, that particular fly was an absolute necessity for survival.
Quite often the sample fly was so mangled the only way to identify it was to dissect it very carefully after washing it in warm soapy water and allowing it to dry. Then using a magnifying glass, a Jeweller’s Loup and a copy of A. Courtney Williams’ “A Dictionary of Trout Flies” as a reference. Come up with what I thought the fly could be.
Most times I must have been either on the money or very close as quite often I would get a thank you note with a cheque and an order for a dozen more flies.
One of the strange things as it turned out was. Most of those battered and bedraggled flies turned out to be a Greenwell’s Glory both Wet and Dry or a very close variation. It would seem that the Greenwell’s Glory was at that time, a very popular fly among the Dry Fly Fraternity of those countries. The second most common fly was the good old Coch-y-Bondhu Dry always a good fish fetcher.
I had tied flies for a Sports Shop in Natal for a spell but, gave up tying commercially when I realised Fly Tying was Ruling my life and Fly Fishing was coming a distant second and, my children were beginning to call me Uncle.
It was through tying for the sports shop that my name became known in some fly-fishing circles. That in turn resulted in Fly Fishers seeking me out when they needed some flies in a hurry.
SO THE QUESTION IS; How many of you Hooked On Fly Tying Gentlemen have performed an Autopsy on a fly to try and determine what pattern that tattered bundle of feathers and other strange bits and pieces really represented?

A good story friend.
Thanks

I read an article in a publication of The American Fly Fishing Museum.
It did an autopsy of a Carrie Steven's streamer fly.


Brk Trt

I used to have a few direct customers for a few dozen flies per year, and occasionally someone would give me a tattered fly and ask for some to be made. I’ve unwound a few flies, more often to see the tier’s methods than to identify the materials.

Years ago a salmon fisher gave me a terrible looking bird-like waking fly. He wanted copies to bring to Russia to fish in rivers I’d never heard of. It was a monstrosity, made of deer hair and moose mane on a large bent hook. I failed with my copies until I took the original apart to see how the tier had reinforced the big bird wings. Later the salmon fisher reported that my flies brought vicious strikes when pulled across Russian currents, while upstream and downstream other fishers caught nothing on their standard patterns.

You mention the Greenwell’s Glory and Coch-y-Bondhu, and if I could get a few proper wet necks for those I would be a happy man. I’m substituting golden furnace on a few patterns, and even those good furnace necks are hard to find.

We moved last summer and now we have room for chickens. I’m thinking Rhode Island Red hens for my wet Coachman patterns, and some kind of roosters that will give me the Greenwell necks. Nice to dream, anyway.

Some interesting thought here. My experience has been that often the mangled fly works better than the original new one. Of course, pretty flies do sell better…but there’s the evil twist. ;)

I’ve done quite a bit of reverse engineering on flies and have at times meticulously plaid around with them in order to get to whether there’s one or two particular elements that’s reason alone for its success. Sometime I’ve found it, but more often than not it’s a combination and even then there are no guarantees…seems like fish change their minds just as often as humans. :problem:

We’re veering from the subject t of the autopsy. Maybe that’s okay.

Gerard, your “reverse engineering” of flies brings to mind the ‘Game of Nods” that Vincent Marinaro described in his book IN THE RING OF THE RISE. He changed and changed again the elements in flies and recorded the responses from the trout until he had the variation that gave him the most “nods,” and the most captured fish.

I have done the same thing, as best as I can. I don’t have the controlled conditions that Marinaro had to work with, and I don’t have the number of hours that it would take to really do it right.

A good friend, sadly since deceased, was an accomplished experimenter with fly patterns. I saw Jimmy take others’ flies apart to see what made them tick. He developed a number of patterns that were deadly on local streams. For every deadly pattern, I am sure there were other variations that were poor to fair to good flies. Jimmy wasn’t satisfied with good; he kept working on them until they were great.

Hi Guys; Reverse engineering has always been a good method of finding out just how a fly was put together. What the value of eliminating certain ingredients to produce more "Nods" is, is a bit vague to me, as I have always considered Profile to be an enormously important component of any fly to have the fish Nodding continiously.

The fly I fish with almost to the exclusion of all others is my Jax Roughy[DRY] It's profile was determined by Lee Wulff's Wulff Coachman for the front part of the fly but with a radical change to the Tail of the fly. I found after a good deal of experimenting with Trout as the Judge that a good bushy tail seemed to get a lot more nods than the convential tail.

I also found that by using one piece of Calf tail for both wings and tail the fly floated better and far longer than with the convential tail.

Jax Roughy has served me well here in New Zealand with good reports from fishers in The U.K. Chile and other parts of Europe. Mainly from Fly fishers I have met here in N.Z. who were given a fly or two to try out on their home waters.

The reverse engineering I did, I beleive, was to use less materials to acheive a similar profile to the original with to my mind a better performance in the endurance stakes of the fly.

I have a Step by step of the Roughy in Word Format which I would be quite happy to E Mail to those who would like to try Jax Roughy. Just P. M. your e mail addy to me and I will send a copy of the SxS. Jax

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jax

Hi Guys; Reverse engineering has always been a good method of finding out just how a fly was put together. What the value of eliminating certain ingredients to produce more "Nods" is, is a bit vague to me, as I have always considered Profile to be an enormously important component of any fly to have the fish Nodding continiously.

The fly I fish with almost to the exclusion of all others is my Jax Roughy[DRY] It's profile was determined by Lee Wulff's Wulff Coachman for the front part of the fly but with a radical change to the Tail of the fly. I found after a good deal of experimenting with Trout as the Judge that a good bushy tail seemed to get a lot more nods than the convential tail.

I also found that by using one piece of Calf tail for both wings and tail the fly floated better and far longer than with the convential tail.

Jax Roughy has served me well here in New Zealand with good reports from fishers in The U.K. Chile and other parts of Europe. Mainly from Fly fishers I have met here in N.Z. who were given a fly or two to try out on their home waters.

The reverse engineering I did, I beleive, was to use less materials to acheive a similar profile to the original with to my mind a better performance in the endurance stakes of the fly.

I have a Step by step of the Roughy in Word Format which I would be quite happy to E Mail to those who would like to try Jax Roughy. Just P. M. your e mail addy to me and I will send a copy of the SxS. Jax

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Jax,
just to add to the Roughy story .
My grayling days get me more than a few folks asking for patterns and can I dress the guests some ,well i dont mind doing a wee few ,but 3 or 4 selections for a day twice a month doe's not do it for me .
So have tied up with a rather skilled pro dresser , and have asked for the Roughy to be included in the ACW (how I am known on most forums) Kennet selection .
It really is a revelation of a pattern , its caught me trout and grayling from rivers and lakes from North of Scotland ,to the Southern Chalkstreams ,via the Welsh rivers and Northern freestone rivers .

Many times I have had to do Fly Autopsys. I have one well known Fly Tyer (Fly fishing author & legend), who will send me a certain pattern and want several dozen (I don't know if he is trying to quiz my knowledge all of the time; but luckily he has been happy with what I have tied for him so far, and for this particular guy I consider a legend, it is a great honor).
I especially believe that for beginners, doing an "Autopsy" on a fly teaches a great lesson in pattern construction, etc.