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| Woodcutter tied by Steven Bird |
For a long time a simple
dark-olive & brown Wooly Worm, no tail, was one of my staples, especially
when fishing freestone streams, where it serves to simulate many of the larger
nymphs: drakes, stoneflies, dragonflies, & also sculpin & crayfish. Good
as the olive & brown Wooly is, I can never resist tampering with things
&, one day, I was looking at some plates of palmered Irish wetflies & thought the
style might lend itself well to my old favorite. A few misconceived trials
&, it eventually did – the result being somewhat more elegant laying in the
box, as well as a reliable hard worker in the water. Though I designed the
Woodcutter with local freestones in mind, the Irish fish this style in stillwater (‘loughe
flies’) as well, & I can attest it does work to simulate dragonfly nymphs in lakes,
trolled or stripped; & in a #10, it fishes for the big Traveling
Sedge of Northwest lakes; so the Woodcutter is versatile.
Woodcutter
Hook: #8 TMC
200R
Thread: Yellow
Tag: Copper
tinsel
Rib: Copper
wire
Body: Wapsi
Superfine BWO blend dubbed on a loop of the tying thread – build up the underbody
to a nice cigar shape with yellow sewing thread (or lead wraps) – when I want
bulk, I save time & expensive tying thread by mousing with sewing thread –
works for dubbing on larger patterns, as well
Palmer: Brown
shlappen – 5 turns evenly over the body (Saddle hackle can be used)
Hackle: Two
turns of speckled brown hen (I used Welsumer hen on the sample in the foto, but I also like brahma or pardo coq-de-leon hen for this one) - & finish.
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| Welsumer Hen |
