During a later PM, however, he brought up this subject again and I decided I really ought to find out what the connection is and perhaps even pursue the challenge of tying the originally dry fly pattern a la Leisenring/Hidy. Information on the internet about this fly is relatively sparse, but I was able to piece together enough details to get a fair idea of what it consists of – enough even to attempt to tie it as a flymph.
An English clergyman, Rev. Edward Powell, fished streams in the Shropshire region in the Welsh borderlands on a regular basis during the 1920’s – 1950’s. He is credited by author Christopher Knowles (in his book Orange Otter) and others with developing as many as 26 fly patterns that were especially killing on these waters. One of the patterns he named the “Baby Sunfly” as it was a smaller, slightly modified version of a D. Lewis fly called “Sunfly”. It was strictly a generic pattern, as Powell was convinced that fish mostly wanted black and brown flies.
The rabbit connection comes from the fact that the fur used for the body of the fly was/is the quite dark underfur found on the face of the English rabbit (not the better-known-to-tiers "hare", which is a different critter). The dry fly recipe is as follows:
Hook: Sizes 12 – 18
Thread: Brown or black
Tail: Black or coch-y-bondhu cock hackle barbs
Body: Dubbed rabbit face, from triangle of nose & eyes, very dark, tied full
Rib: Brown thread, 3 turns
Hackle: Black or coch-y-bondhu cock hackle, as many turns as possible
I tied the below on a vintage Herter’s 423 TDE hook, Size #14 using Pearsall’s Gossamer #17 brown thread. The collar hackle and tails whisks were taken from a nearly iridescent black feather found at the back of a coch-y-bondhu hen saddle. Since I do not own an English rabbit mask, the body is a blend of hare’s poll and black wool spun in #17 Gossamer on a Clark block.
- Baby Sunfly Softy.JPG (39.78 KiB) Viewed 4218 times
