 FLY
OF THE MONTH
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RED
SLF GAMMARUS
By Luca Montanari
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- The
gammarus are crustaceans that are quite common
in many rivers, but the occurrence in a particular
river depends on vegetation and level of pollution.
These invertebrates spend a good part of their
time hidden between the plants and the stones of
the river bottom, moving from a pasture zone to
another with fast and regular swims. Whenever they
move, however, they risk to become the easy target
of fish attacks, especially in those periods of
the year in which up-wings and sedges make sporadic
hatches and prefer to stay well protected in the
hiding places of the river. All this makes gammarus-looking
flies particularly attractive for trout and grayling,
and it should not surprise us that many fly fishing
techniques, to be very effective, suggest the use
of such imitations.
In
the case of the "Polish technique", for example,
in which nymphs well suited for turbulent and fast
waters are used, a great majority of anglers prefer
to use slim and quite weighted imitations of gammarus.
They are often mounted in a number of two or three
on a leader with droppers. These artificials can
be built with the fur of various animals and furnished
with trembling appendixes, or tied with compact
dubbing of synthetic fibres, such as the Red SLF
Gammarus: a splendid nymph that I learned to build
following the dressing that the Norwegian fly tier,
Torill Kolbu suggested to me.
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Materials List: |
Hooks: |
Mustad
mod. 80250,
sizes 14 to 6 |
Ballast: |
Fine
lead wire |
Thread: |
Red |
Body: |
In
four sections of equal size. The firsts three
realised with
Partridge SLF Master Class (MC15), (MC20) and (MC18); the fourth prepared with
Partridge SLF Master Class (MC27) mixed with hare's fur e |
Back of the body: |
Pale
brown Magic Shrimp Foil, or latex |
Ribbing: |
Fine
copper wire |
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Tying
instructions: |
Step
1:
I
start the building process of our fly by clamping
the hook into the vice jay and wrap a piece of fine
lead around the shank, in order to realise the ballast
structure of the fly. Next, I tie in the thread on
the hook and wrap it around the lead turns to secure
them firmly to the shank. |
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Step
2:
With
the red thread, I tie in a short piece of fine
copper wire and a strip of pale brown Magic Shrimp
Foil, or latex, fixing both onto the hook bend. |
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Step
3:
I
wax a short section of the thread and distribute a small
quantity of clear orange Partridge SLF Master Class (MC15)
on it, followed by one of scarlet red (MC20), and finally
by one of claret (MC18), forming a compact dubbing. Next
I wrap the dubbing around the three rear quarters of
the hook shank.
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Step
4:
I
push the strip of Magic Shrimp Foil forward, placing it
in such a way that it covers the body, and then I fix it
over the hook portion lacking in dubbing. |
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Step
5:
I
make the ribbing by winding the copper wire around the
fly body in wide coils. |
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Step
6:
Now
I make the Magic Shrimp Foil strip free from the thread
turns and push its front edge backwards, stopping the copper
wire in front of the body portion already prepared. |
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Step
7:
I
cut away the surplus of the copper wire and then wax a
new section of the thread, over which we distribute a small
quantity of brown Partridge SLF Master Class (MC27) mixed
with hare's mask fur. I compact the dubbing and turn it
around the front quarter of the hook shank, in order to
finish the fly body. |
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Step
8:
I
push the strip of Magic Shrimp Foil forward, placing it
to cover the back of the last body section, and then fix
it just behind the hook eye. |
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Step
9:
I
trim away the exceeding part of the material used to form
the fly back and then I build the gammarus head with repeated
turns of thread followed by a whip finish. |
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Step
10:
The
Red SLF Gammarus can now be used for your next fishing
trip, ready to tempt a beautiful trout that is feeding
on small crustaceans in the clear water of a river or
a lake.
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Luca
Montanari
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