The name of this fly is Welsh and literally means “little devil”. Regarded by many as one of the best flies ever created this fly is a great tie on as trout take it for everything from midge pupa right through to nymphs and stick caddis. I normally fish smaller sizes as a midge pupa and from time to time use larger sizes as a point fly in a team of wet flies on a floating or intermediate line. I tie it both with and without weight and find the addition of a small black tungsten bead makes it a handy anchor fly or a good prospecting fly in running water.

Materials

Process

A	[member Link=”p=345″ Title=”Bead heads”] Wind the thread in touching turns to the bend of the hook. [member Link=”p=10018″ Title=”Understanding hooks”] Tie in a tail equal in length to the shank of the hook. [member Link=”p=1734″ Title=”Tails on flies”] Tie in length of red copper wire. Medium wire is good for size #10 and small suits size #14.

B	Tie in several strands of peacock herl. Form the herl into a herl rope. [member Link=”p=700″ Title=”Roping peacock herl”] Wind the herl rope along the rear 2/3 of the hook shank to form an acorn shaped body. Lock the herl in that position but don’t rim off the excess herl.

C	Wind the wire forward forming 4 or five segments on the body of the fly. [member Link=”p=2656″ Title=”Body segments on flies”] Take a few turn of the wire in front of the body and then worry off the excess wire.

D	Tie a length of the holographic tinsel on each side of the fly in front of the body with the excess lying along the side of the body.

E	Pick up the peacock herl rope and build up a thorax just slightly thicker than the body and finishing just short of the eye of the hook. Tie the herl rope off and trim the excess. Pull the holographic tinsel forward forming a cheek on each side of the fly. Lock the cheeks in place and trim the excess holographic tinsel. Tie in a beard of cock hackle fibres. Build up a neat head of thread. Whip finish and varnish the head.