From time to time, there are some fly patterns that stand the test of time and should become immortal. In Australia, the ‘Pot Scrubber’ is probably one of these, in America the ‘Quill Gordon’ is another and here in the United Kingdom ‘Kite’s Imperial’ could be classed as such a fly, and there are probably lot’s of other patterns that could equally be included. We will each have our own ideas about that.
I first started reading about the ‘Kite’s Imperial’ some years ago after devouring books by Skues and Sawyer and moving into two books. One written by Oliver Kite – Nymph Fishing in Practice and the other by Philip Brown – A Fishermen’s Diary (a collection of articles published by Kite).
Kite was a Welshman by birth, moving to Lancashire in his teens and finally settling in Wiltshire after his extended duty in the British Army. Born in 1912, he settled in Netheravon, Wiltshire and took up residence (the Avon ran at the back of his cottage) across the road from the great Frank Sawyer becoming close friends and fishing companions. Unfortunately this friendship ceased abruptly and in his book Kite only briefly refers to Sawyer. The influence of Sawyer on Kite is obvious when reading his writings and referring to both the style of fishing and the flies used. Kite died suddenly in 1968 while fishing on the famous Test River.
Kite was a minimalist considering that presentation of the fly was more important than matching colour and the exactness of the insects. He published 6 dry flies as a writer (Hawthorn Fly, Pale Evening Dun, Apricot Spinner, Sepia Dun, a Brown sedge and the Imperial) towards the end of his life he found that just one, the Imperial, would catch fish no matter what real fly they were feeding on. He even reduced his fishing time and never fished the evening rise. What fishing he must have missed out on – spinner falls, midge hatches and massive caddis activity.
Kite was also famous for the ‘bare hook’ pattern. A hook with a thorax of fine copper wire – was this a further development of the Sawyer theory?
I was convinced that the basics of the pattern were right. It was effective in most situations, it looked great as a fly and I could catch fish when other patterns failed. I set about adapting the pattern into a spider. The "Kite Spider” was born
Oliver Kite tied his fly with a pronounced ‘thorax’ right behind the hackle. The idea was to dress the fly in “the normal Netheravon manner”. I am not sure what he means by this but I am convinced that he was referring to the thorax of a Sawyer Nymph. Was it effective? Probably not because the fish would not have been able to see it anyway.
Kite never quite stated specifically how he dressed the Imperial and there are various theories as to the exact dressing. His description is even open to interpretation:
“I dress the fly on a size 0 or size 1 (16 or 14). Tying silk is purple and the hackle is honey dun, in theory. The whisks should be greyish brown in spring, honey dun or nearest later. The body is made of about four undyed heron primary herls, doubled and redoubled to form the thorax.
The fly should be ribbed with fine gold wire. It was the combination of the purple silk and gold wire which led to the fly being called the Imperial.”
Does the purple show through the herl? Was the herl wrapped around the thread (heron is fairly fragile) and then wound onto the hook? How was the thorax tied? How many turns of hackle? You can see that Kite left a lot unanswered. Perhaps if he lived longer these questions may have been dealt with. What is certain though is he left the world with a wonderful fly as his legacy. It is used today all over England and during many different type of fly hatches.
I have retained the considered manner of tying the body – open turns of herl to let the purple silk to show (I believe that the use of purple is highly under-rated in fly patterns, especially dun patterns). I have replaced the thorax with a dubbing of Australian Possum (my twist). And, I have added a size smaller than what Oliver Kite would have used.
In his book 'The Fly Tyers Handbook', Malcolm Greenhaigh states that "trout will fall for its deceptive powers when they are feeding on a wide range of duns, from march browns and olives, to blue-winged olives and pale wateries and the tiny iron blue" Obviuosly he was referring to the 'Kite Imperial' dry fly but I have found that it is no less true for the 'Kite Spider'
Pattern:
Hook: Tiemco 103BL with the eye straightened. I tie it in sizes 15, 17 and 19. This picture is a size 17.
Thread: Purple Uni Thread 8/0
Body: 3-4 strands of natural heron herl in open turns to show the silk
Rib: Fine gold wire - turns to match turns of heron
Thorax: Natural Australian possum body under fur
Hackle: Genetic honey hen hackle - three turns
Head: Purple Uni Thread 8/0.
