Zug Bug

Fountains of Youth – Classic trout flies that have withstood the test of time … flies that remain “forever young”

by Rusty Dunn

The popularity of many fly-tying materials changes with time. New materials appear in the market, are popular for a few years or maybe even a few decades, but even­tually fade from use, being replaced by newer (usually better) materials. The old materials disap­pear into obscu­rity, only to be encountered later as amusing odd­ities. Try to find flies today tied of hog’s wool, sea swal­low, stoat tail, kapok, hedge­hog belly, wren tail, or mon­key fur. It won’t be easy. Each of these materials had its fifteen minutes of fame, but they are now oddball rel­ics found mostly in antique fly boxes and long-forgotten angling books. On the other hand, some tying materials have graced our hooks for cen­tu­ries. They are the furs, feath­ers, fibers, and flash whose ability to fool trout has never been surpassed. Such mater­ials that have sur­vived the most demand­ing test of all … the test of time. Read More

Little Marryat

Fountains of Youth – Classic trout flies that have withstood the test of time … flies that remain “forever young”

by Rusty Dunn

When you next tie a size #20 fly to your leader, give some thought to the engineering behind that little wisp of forged steel underlying the fur and feathers. The strength of your hook might be key to subduing the trout of your dreams. We take strong, lightweight hooks for granted, but prior to the late 1800s, hooks were big, heavy, and poorly suited for dry flies. Dry-fly fishing developed in the late 1800s due to advances in hook manufacturing. George Selwyn Marryat, arguably the greatest pioneer of dry-fly design, described at the time properties of a hook needed for dry fly work:

“…the temper of an angel and penetration of a prophet; fine enough to be invisible and strong enough to kill a bull in a ten-acre field.”

You may not land a raging bull on your size #20 hook, but that tiny curl of steel will have no difficulty corralling an angry trout. Read More

The Original Pheasant Tail

Fountains of Youth – Classic trout flies that have withstood the test of time … flies that remain “forever young”

by Rusty Dunn

What is your absolute favorite trout fly? The fly that catches trout for you on any stream, day after day, week after week, month after month, throughout the season? If you were mandated to carry but a single fly pattern, what would fill your fly box? Many experi­enced anglers, including both everyday fly fishers and distin­guished experts, would opt for a Pheasant Tail Nymph. The Pheasant Tail is one of history’s great­est flies; per­haps THE greatest fly. A promi­nent online vendor of commercial trout flies today offers no fewer than 36 var­i­a­tions of the venerable Pheasant Tail. It’s for good rea­son; the fly is simply a trout-catching magnet. Read More

Michigan Hopper / Joe’s Hopper

Fountains of Youth – Classic trout flies that have withstood the test of time … flies that remain “forever young”

by Rusty Dunn

Walk through late summer grasses on your way to a trout stream and – if you’re lucky – you’ll hear the buzz­ing and clicking of grasshoppers fleeing before you. Play your cards right, and you’ll soon be hooked to an angry trout. Hopper season is the most en­joyable time of year for many fly anglers. It’s na­ture’s reward for suffer­ing through the indigni­ties of hatch matching, tiny flies, fussy fish, and foul weather earlier in the season. No need for delicacy when fishing Jiminy Cricket. Tie a pinkie-sized hunk of fur and feather to 3X tippet, splat it noisily into trout water, and be ready for famously indelicate strikes. Trout often take hop­pers with violent erup­tions of water, fly, and leader. Read More

Orange Partridge

The technology of fly tying took a giant leap forward in 2,640 BC when, according to legend, a Chinese Em­press named Leizu discovered that the natural glue of silk­worm cocoons could be softened in hot water and a long thin filament of pure silk unwound from each cocoon.

Adams Midge

Fountains of Youth – Classic trout flies that have withstood the test of time … flies that remain “forever young”

by Rusty Dunn

“Of all feathers required for fly dressing, the hackle is the most important and, unfortunately, the most difficult to pro­cure.” –F.M. Halford, 1886 in Float­ing Flies and How to Dress Them

How times have changed. If Halford could visit a fly shop today, he would be astonished. The quality and variety of modern dry fly hackle is extraordinary. Colors that used to be as rare as the crown jewels are now as com­mon­ as a knockoff Rolex. How did it happen? A handful of meticu­lous, observant, and persistent fly tyers raised chickens for decades, choosing and breed­ing at each generation only birds with the best quality of hackle. Such ‘selective breeding’ yielded today’s birds having long uniform feathers with thin flexible stems and short, stiff, glassy barbs. Read More