Cinnamon Sedge

The Phryganea varia is a large sedge that you can find in many clean and well oxygenated rivers. Its hatching takes place in the summer time and the highest concentration of adult insects on the river surface can usually be recorded at sunset, when the sedges leave the diurnal shelters in order to indulge in the ritual of their reproduction. It is interesting to notice that these trichopters make a sort of migration along the river, flying upstream for hundreds of meters before choosing a place to lay their eggs. All this activity on the part of the sedge causes strong excitation of the trout, inducing them to attempt in acrobatic jumps in order to intercept the preys that fly near their hunting lies. From here, selecting an appropriate imitation, like a Cinnamon Sedge, the “flier” also has the opportunity to take those big fish which are usually indifferent to Ephemeral imitations.

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Step 1:

I start to prepare my sedge by fixing the hook on the vice jay and tying on the brown thread, which I use to bind, close to the bend, the tip of a small light brown or ginger cock hackle and a tuft of long fibres taken from a pheasant tail feather.

Photos and fly by Luca Montanari

Step 3:

Now I wind, in wide turns, the cock

hackle on the hook section covered by the peasant tail fibres, and I secure it at the edge of the body.

Step 5:

On the index finger of my left hand I place the two strips of fibre, arranging them in a “V” shape. Next I put the thumb of my left hand on the wings, and then I place them along the hook. Then I tie them in front of the body, passing the thread along the point at which the two fibre segments intersect. At the end of this step, the wings must have a roof shape and a length a little longer than the hook shank

Step 7:

With the hackle pliers, I wind one

after the other the two cock hackles

along the front third of the hook,

stopping them just behind the eye.

Step 9:

The Cinnamon Sedge is now ready to be used on my next fishing expedition, ready to be attached to the leader as a fly for search fishing, or when I see some brownish trichopters jumping on the surface of the river.