 FLY
OF THE MONTH
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YELLOW
PARTRIDGE DEVAUX
By Luca Montanari
The
first time I saw
the elegant "body-ringed" flies made
by Devaux in the fishing shops of
my city, I was quite perplexed that
artificials so
singular in the shape and rich in
plumage could earn the favour of
many fly fishermen. My doubts about
the alluring qualities of the Devaux
flies were motivated by an absolute
principle to which I referred myself
at that time, a principle that established
the efficacy of any imitation depending
on the moderate fibre density of
its hackle collar. This used to be
a rule that I respected quite strictly.
It allowed me to tie artificials
with quite good imitative characteristics,
but questionable for structure and
buoyancy.
- One way of solving the floating problems of my
flies was to use hooks with very fine-wire shanks,
which reduces the overall weight of the fly. However,
such a solution simply led to more disconcerting
problems: such hooks tended to be fragile, and if
they penetrated the bony part of a big fish's mouth
only partially, they easily straightened out completely,
or even snapped, during the fight. This induced me
to reconsider the validity of tying flies with bushy
hackles on strong and medium weight hooks. It's less
depressing to get an evident refusal than to find
oneself disconsolate over the loss of a beautiful
trout as a result of a straightened hook.
It surprised me to see that my thoughts on the limited
attraction of overdressed flies were unfounded in
practice. In fact, I faced very few situations in
which a thin-bodied imitation, extremely similar
to the insects in the water, proved itself to be
more efficacious than an analogous pattern built
with consistent quantity of materials. I also found
out that using flies rich in hackles can be excellent
on some occasions, especially fishing at the dusk
on fast water. On such occasions I want my imitations
to remain well visible on the surface to allow me
to make a well timed strike: just in this way I can
see exactly when the fish rises to my fly.
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Materials List: |
Hooks: |
Mustad
ref. 80000
sizes 12 to 16 |
Thread: |
Yellow |
Body: |
Yellow
thread |
Ribbing: |
Black
thread |
Tail: |
Light
blue-dun cock hackle fibres |
Hackle: |
- Partridge
hackle and light blue-dun cock hackles
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My newly developed interest in artificials
with bushy collars embraced every kind of imitation
that was present at that time on the market, including
those Ephemera representations with conical bodies
tied with the original Devaux technique. My experiments
with conical body flies let me give "life" to
a series of personalised patterns: artificials that
are useful during the different months of the fishing
season. For the summer evenings, I tied the Yellow
Partridge Devaux, a sort of elaboration of the original
699 dressing, conceived to imitate the Heptagenia sulphurea
or the female Baetis muticus at the sub-imago stage:
insects quite popular on the waters of many European
rivers, which can induce the trout to assume a selective
feeding behaviour by their yellowish colour.
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Tying
instructions:
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Step
1:
The
first step for building the Yellow Partridge Devaux
involves tying in the yellow thread and binding in
a small partridge hackle by its tip on the centre
of the hook shank. The partridge fibres must be a
little longer than those of a cock hackle which we
would use for a similar hook for a traditional fly. |
Photos
and fly by Luca Montanari
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Step
2:
I
grip the stalk of the partridge hackle in the
specific pliers and I wind it two or three
times around the hook shank, creating a thin
collar. Then I tie in the stripped stem of
two light blue-dun cock hackles, putting them
in front of the partridge collar. Again, these
hackles must have the fibres a little longer
than those of a hackle which we would use for
the same size of hook in a traditional fly |
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Step 3:
With
the hackle pliers, I wind one after the other the two
cock hackles along the front half of the hook, stopping
them just behind the eye.
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Step
4:
I
now make the fly head with a few turns of thread and then
I finish it with a whip finish. |
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Step
5:
I
slide a small plastic cylinder from the eye side and push
it until it reaches the hook bend, going beyond the hackle
collar. I then push the ring forward a little, stopping
at the imitation head, so that the hackle collar fibres
are funnelled forwards, to form an umbrella around the
hook eye, with the points protracted forward. |
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I
attach the yellow thread to the rear of
the hook and bring the thread to the bend. Then
I tie in a tuft of long fibres cut off
from a big light blue-dun cock hackle,
so that the points of these tails extend
slightly longer than the hook shank and
the butts lie closely up against the hackle
collar. After that, I tie in a length of
black thread, which will be used later
for the ribbing.
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Step
6:
I
wrap the yellow thread in tight turns along the rear two
thirds of the hook shank to form the body. Some of these
turns will be made over a short stretch of the hackle collar,
which contributes to giving the body a uniform conical
shape. |
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Step
7:
I
make the ribbing of the fly with open turns of the
black thread over the body.
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Step
8:
Using
the yellow thread, I catch in the black thread and trim
its exceeding portion. Then I whip finish over the front
part of the body. |
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Step
9:
Now
I can remove the plastic cylinder from the abdomen and
I apply a small drop of clear varnish to the head and to
the body to make the fly more durable and able to resist
the teeth of a huge trout. |
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Luca
Montanari
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