FLYMPH FORUM

Drifting the river, we encounter back-eddies that, in summer, accumulate organic slicks composed, mostly, of the oil & debris of decayed & decaying insects from past nights hatches. Mixed with that dusty miasma are a number of still-living & edible wee insects. There are usually some trouts cruising the back-eddy slicks, tipping & sipping. The other guides, with their bobbers & beadheads, generally avoid these fish because they know they are difficult & won't eat that gear. We call these fish "scum suckers." I love them. I carry a 10', 5wt rigged with a DT & 15' leader tipped with a single Partridge & Yellow, especially for scum suckers. Thread bodies fish cleaner in the scum, as dubbing tends to gather it.

I can't think of anything more zen simple than this fly, nor as difficult to tie. It is buck naked & there's no hiding in the details. I think the trick with this, or any fly, is to get it 'right' without resorting to primness. When tying, making bait, I don't think about a rigid metric of correctness while I work. I've seen it. I'm visualizing perfect-circle grabs under lowering skies, on those summer scummed seam-lines. Trying to put that mojo into the fly in my vise. Constantly washing my hands while handling the yellow silk, it still colors with my doings.

Lovely piece of writing, Steve, and a wonderful example of "just right" tying. I've not seen better.

Steve,

Your description reads as poetry, and captures the moments of anticipation on the river. Thank you for taking me along (virtually).

Such an elegant fly... the essence of simplicity. Your photo should be framed as art.

Your love of “scum suckers”, comes thru in every detail...

I'm just here to inhabit the miasma.

Very cleanly dressed fly. It may be my computer screen and it's color rendition, but the yellow silk has a slight green tint to it, as if it were waxed with cobbler's wax. Just curious if that was the case. Beautiful fly.

REE04419 wrote: ↑Sat Jan 26, 2019 9:43 am Very cleanly dressed fly. It may be my computer screen and it's color rendition, but the yellow silk has a slight green tint to it, as if it were waxed with cobbler's wax. Just curious if that was the case. Beautiful fly.

The tint you see might be the result of wrapping such a light colored silk over a black hook. I tried photographing this effect some years ago, if I could only find those pics now. It definitely sent me running back to bronze hooks for light colored flies.

I do love the hackle on this fly. Perfect length and density. Good looking fly, Steve.

Timeless simplicity, and new tyers don't overlook the translucent color shift of wet silk on a bronze hook!!

REE04419 wrote: ↑Sat Jan 26, 2019 9:43 am Very cleanly dressed fly. It may be my computer screen and it's color rendition, but the yellow silk has a slight green tint to it, as if it were waxed with cobbler's wax. Just curious if that was the case. Beautiful fly.

No, not waxed. The shading on the silk in the photo is from my fingers. No matter how often I wash my hands while tying I've never tied a clean Partridge & Yellow. No Matter. I read somewhere that the fingers of Yorkshire farmers impart the perfect color to Greenwells. Somebody gave me the black hooks, though I usually tie on cheaper bronze. Here it is soaked. Not too much different than the effect with bronze. Might not be the prim yellow a fly tyer may want to see, & it wouldn't be my first choice for a light pattern, but it strikes me as very life-like as an AP, & the trouts seem to agree.

Besides fishing the scum line it should be good for a little yellow stonefly hatch.

Roadkill wrote: ↑Sat Jan 26, 2019 5:50 pm Besides fishing the scum line it should be good for a little yellow stonefly hatch.

Yep. And seen them in the scum line too.