Viking Lars | Saturday, 14 March 2020
I’ve been tying a bunch of flies for a friend who was going to Argentina for sea trout on Rio Gallegos, and I’ve been putting off some ideas of my own for a while. I was almost done with my friend’s flies when he suddenly had to cancel the trip on short notice. That gave me the time to sit down a wind onto hooks a few ideas I’ve had in the back of my head for a while and fill some empty spaces in my own boxes.
Have you ever experienced that? You sit down with a very specific purpose and before you know it, you’re doing something completely different. This happens a lot to me, both in flytying, at work and life in general. I sat down in front of the vice (or is it behind - and is it vise or vice?) to tie some of my Cinnamon Saltwater Shrimps, and before I even get properly started, I’m tying something else. Not an idea I’ve had kicking around, but one that just popped up.
It has no name yet (you have to catch fish on a fly before you can name it), but it’s just one of those flies I know will work - and work very well. It imitates nothing and everything and just looks alive.
The tail is ring neck pheasant, the body UV Nice Dub, the palmer hackle is nandu body feather (a strange and excellent feather) and the front hackle is also ring neck pheasant. After the first few I decided to use the philoplume behind the ring neck feather for the head. All the feathers are really soft and the fly will undulate with stripped in and pulsate gently when paused. This *will* be a new favourite of mine, I’m sure.
Nandu was in Denmark available only in one shop, and I’m not sure where it’s available now (emu might be similar, I’m not sure, but I think you can get that). The shop I got it from is closed (thankfully I have plenty). I was first presented with nandu by my friend Jens, who ran Bird & Feather Flytying here in Denmark, and well-known, Danish fly fisherman, Henrik Leth, was the first (I think) to really popularise the material.
I’ll leave you now with this untested, unnamed fly and hope it still gives you jut a little inspiration.
Have a great weekend!
Lars
PS - the PoD is phone picture under LED-lihgting, so please excuse the not-so-great quality.