You could say the Jingler is a ‘cult fly’. Originated about
200 years ago to fish mayfly hatches on the River Tweed, the Jingler patterns have
been in use for quite some time, having gained a reputation as a killing fly in
the Border Country region of its origin. Yet I’m not really sure why the
Jingler pattern, often called a ‘soft-hackle dryfly’, has never gained wide usage
with American anglers. Being convinced of the pattern’s effectiveness, I’m left
to suspect it might be the Jingler’s unconventional looks responsible for its
relative absence from American fly boxes. ‘Looks’, everybody knows, will get
you far, while unconventionality is no great booster. Some say the Jingler is
downright ugly. And sure, the design may not reflect the refined elegance of a
Catskill style dry, but to my own eye Jingler flies possess a certain utilitarian
elegance that is lively, evocative and pleasingly abstract. It is interesting
though, from what I can gather from the writings, in the Jingler’s long history
the design has always been considered somewhat of an oddball, obscure, yet
never without ardent fans. Some swear by it and will fish nothing else.
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| March Brown Jingler |
(I’m not that zealous. Live by only one pattern, no matter
how good it is, there’s bound to be days you will die by it too).
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| Green Drake Jingler |
Though a dryfly, the Jingler design incorporates the three
pillars of good wetfly design: obfuscation; light; motion. Basically, it is a
floating soft-hackle fly, buoyed with the addition of rooster hackle palmered
over the thorax area. Tails are generally rooster or waterfowl flank. Bodies
are usually dubbing or quill. Most often the soft hackle is partridge or hen,
though not limited to that. The original pattern was wingless, though more
recently some tiers add a CDC wing between the palmer and front hackle. Border
Country tiers often add tinsel, as a tip, or wound over the thorax before
palmering the rooster hackle. I like the latter method, the tinsel glinting
through the hackle after it is wound.
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| Hendrickson Jingler |
Though it may look odd in hand, a Jingler is
stunningly realistic when hunting on the water and difficult to discern from naturals
drifting near it. The patterns featured here are untried originals of my own devise, but I'm fairly certain they'll do the job. I think the Hendrickson version on the left would serve equally as well for March Brown.
