Pritt Interactive - Cub Down Bloa (No. 54)

[letumgo]

I would like to try out a new idea for an interactive post, to discuss a specific pattern in detail. Original materials of construction, and modern substitutes for difficult to obtain materials. I would like to post the recipe for the pattern, and ask people to tye up a copy of the fly and post it for discussion.

ONLINE VERSION OF THE PRITT BOOK (thanks for the link Roadkill):
https://archive.org/stream/yorkshiretro ... 8/mode/2up <--- This link takes you to the recipe.
https://archive.org/stream/yorkshiretro ... 1/mode/2up <--- This link shows a painting of the fly.

No. 54. CUBDOWN BLOA
Hook Size I
WlNGS. From the inside of a Swift's wing, or from a Lapwing's apron.
BODY. Yellow silk, dubbed with down from a Fox cub, or fur from a water Rat.
LEGS. From a Plover's feather.

FISHING TIP: Useful towards evening through June and July.

Let me get the ball rolling with some questions, and comments:
1) What modern hook size should be used?
2) Does anyone know the specific species of swift or lapwing Pritt used? Can swift wings or lapwing apron's still be purchases? If so, where? If not, what would be a good substitute material?
3) Fox cub and water rat are both difficult to find. What would be good substitutes?
4) Is there a particular plover feather that would be used for the legs (hackle, wing, tail)?
5) What particular insect does this pattern represent?

Please chime in with whatever opinions you may have. If there is enough interest in this sort of post, we can repeat the process with other Pritt patterns, or other historical patterns.

[letumgo]

Images from a Common Swifts wings:



Chimney Swifts wing:

[tie2fish]

Some "off the top" observations/opinions/questions:

The color and sheen of the swift wing feathers shown in the closeup photo remind me immediately of crow. But what, exactly, is meant by the "inside" of a swift's wing? Would that mean the underside? Or perhaps the side of a flight feather opposite the leading edge? The drawing gives me the impression of folded wing feather barbs.

I believe that muskrat is similar to water rat, and the underfur on the red fox patch I have is also a light grey. Perhaps the down from a fox cub would be even finer (thinner) and thus a good choice for touch dubbing.

The legs ought to be mobile in my opinion, which would narrow the plover hackle down to the neck/upper back area.

[Mataura mayfly]

1) What modern hook size should be used?
2) Does anyone know the specific species of swift or lapwing Pritt used? Can swift wings or lapwing apron's still be purchases? If so, where? If not, what would be a good substitute material?
3) Fox cub and water rat are both difficult to find. What would be good substitutes?
4) Is there a particular plover feather that would be used for the legs (hackle, wing, tail)?
5) What particular insect does this pattern represent?

#1)Modern hook choice? May depend on just which hook manufacturer Pritt was using. Each seemed to have their own scale, close to each others, but some makers "000" was the same as others "00". In my way of thinking #1 would equate out to #15..... or maybe #14 or 16, dependant on style and manufacturer.
#2) Sorry, not sure. Not sure of protection status of either bird and if it can still be harvested or bought/sold. Lawrence Finney would be my first "port of call". Not having either material on hand I would hesitate to call a suitable sub.
#3) Fox cub should be able to be sourced from Europe or the UK (again Lawrence?), as should water rat. The introduced rat we have here is often referred to as "water rat" and they will swim without provocation. I will do some research to see if they are one in the same, if so there are a couple in my freezer!
#4) Unsure.
#5) Unsure.

Edit: Our introduced rat is the "Norway Rat" and I think "Water Rat" is a local slang name. The Water Rat above may be the European Water Vole?

Ray, you realise now I will be trolling through a lot of old English pattern books to try and find more information..........
Last time I was in Ireland in Winter, Lapwings were often grouped together on grass areas/verges of town margins, almost as common as Crows.

[DUBBN]

I don't have one item in my inventory that comes close to any of the items on that recipe list. Including silk.

[redietz]

#1)Modern hook choice? May depend on just which hook manufacturer Pritt was using. Each seemed to have their own scale, close to each others, but some makers "000" was the same as others "00". In my way of thinking #1 would equate out to #15..... or maybe #14 or 16, dependant on style and manufacturer.

I usually equate a size 1 to a size 14

#3) Fox cub should be able to be sourced from Europe or the UK (again Lawrence?), as should water rat. The introduced rat we have here is often referred to as "water rat" and they will swim without provocation. I will do some research to see if they are one in the same, if so there are a couple in my freezer!

Edit: Our introduced rat is the "Norway Rat" and I think "Water Rat" is a local slang name. The Water Rat above may be the European Water Vole?

Yes, water rat is the water vole. It's the same animal as Rat in Wind in the Willows. It's a protected species. However, it's also 1st cousin to the muskrat, so you could use that. The usual substitute, however is mole (the waterhen bloa for example was water rat in Pritt.)

I don't know the answer to the other questions.

[daringduffer]

I received a kit muskrat from a forum member as a substitute for water vole/rat. I suppose it would be as good a substitute (or better) as mole. The cat I used to have once showed me a giant water vole but kept it for himself. They are not protected species here, but I have never met one without body...

Neither lapwing nor swift is precise enough. Hard to suggest a sub. Lapwing could be Green Plover

http://www.flymphforum.com/viewtopic.ph ... ing#p23724

NO. 50. DARK BLOA.
Wings. Feather from the inside of a Swift's or Waterhen's wing.
Body. Reddish brown silk.
Legs and Tail. Brown hackle.

From another MC post:http://www.flymphforum.com/viewtopic.ph ... ift#p26242

dd

[Kelly L.]

Nutria just may fit the bill for the right material. The only problem is, the diseases associated with them. I have seen them in Texas.


http://www.aaanimalcontrol.com/Professi ... utria.html
<<<
Nutria Diseases:
The most common disease associated with nutria is caused by strongyloides myopotami. This is nematode which causes “nutria rash” in people who handle the rodent. In reality, the rash is the nematode entering the skin and being attacked by the immune system. These rodents also carry leptospirosis, toxoplasmosis, and a host of other intestinal parasites. >>>

http://www.eattheweeds.com/nutria-coypu/

Here is a video of one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvGl0AAkmzk

[letumgo]

John Shaner (Greenwell) took time from his busy schedule to tye two version of the Cub Down Bloa. I have photographed his flies to share with the forum. Take a look at these delicate little beauties.





Terrific job John. When you have time, could you fill us in on the materials you used.

PS - To give a sense of scale, I photographed these flies on an old wooden spool of Pearsall's Gossamer silk thread. (ignore the color of the silk - my yellow silk is on one of the new plastic spools which did not suit the historic nature of these flies).

ADMINISTRATOR EDIT - ADDING COMMENTS FROM JOHN SHANER (John sent me a PM with the following additional background information):

John wrote: "The hook is a Sealey Round Bend, marked size 14 but closer to a 16, and over 80 years old. It's an eyed hook and although I could use a blind eye, I think this will make a more modern interpretation. If I have time, I may do a second fly on a Sneck bend 16 for contrast.

The Swift came from a recently found wallet of materials circa 1880. The feathers are in remarkably good condition, no moth damage, and are all identified in the wallet. The traditional substitute for Swift is Starling dyed in dark blue ink, but the Swift Subs I have aren't even close to the real feather.

I don't have Fox Cub so I'll use Water Rat. It's a bit glassier than Muskrat and shorter in fiber, a bit longer than Mole and not as dense. Mole is a better sub than Muskrat and more traditional. Water Rat is wonderful to work with but hard to come by. The small pieces I have I found years ago and now the WR is a protected species so there isn't any coming into the market.

I am going to use a Plover hackle from the wing bow. I believe there is a great deal of artistic license in the Pritt illustrations so the hackle will be longer than that pictured. The overall profile will be close to a spider with a bit of wing and should, hopefully, be close to the original tie. It's also possible that originally the Plover was tied in as a false hackle; just a few fibers tied in under the wing. This would make for a shorter hackle, more like that in the illustration. I'll go with my spider style hunch and we can all discuss it on the Forum!"

[Donald Nicolson]

A very interesting project.
As regards 'cub down', not exactly banned but difficult to obtain.
Watervole - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watervole.Banned.
Swift - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swift. Banned.
Lapwing - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lapwing, Not sure,try Cookshill or Glasgow Angling.

Plover - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plover, not sure, as above.
I cannot think of any easy substitutes.