Tie
your Daddy-longlegs green
I hope readers will forgive me for repeating something that I have mentioned
several times before, something that really seems to improve your chances
of sport but is ignored by other angling writers in all the many different
publications that are devoted to the sport.
Here we are at the beginning of a very enjoyable time of the fishing year
when it is very much worthwhile to take advantage of the presence of crane
flies that we call daddy longlegs on our stillwater trout venues.
The damper the weather has been the more daddies we see on the water.
They are poor flyers and fall to the surface after being blown by the
wind, and then they get trapped in the surface film where they lie with
their long legs trailing behind them.
How the trout love to eat the flies which are such easy prey.
To my surprise and frustration all of the many angling writers who give
their recommended dressings for the crane flies seem to have forgotten,
or not believed, the advice given many years ago by the late, great Richard
Walker.
He told us that though the natural flies do not have bright green bodies
if you tie your artificials with bright green fluorescent bodies you will
find that on most days you will get very many more trout taking your flies
than is the case with the usual brownish bodied ones.
It really is true as I have proved to myself on many occasions.
Those anglers who tie their own flies have a big advantage nowadays when
they tie daddies.
The most useful material for making the trailing legs of daddies is fibres
from the centre tail feathers of a cock pheasant.
Tying two knots in each strand of feather to imitate the angled legs is
a fiddly business.
Some of us have made do with just one knot in each fibre, but Walker set
some boy scouts the task of double knotting the fibres as part of their
bob-a-job week!
However, some of the firms that specialise in selling fly tying materials
are now selling cock pheasant centre tail feathers with every single fibre
double knotted.
The real flies like all true insects have six legs, but since the feather
fibres are delicate I used to put as many as ten legs on my flies to allow
for a few to break off in use.
Remember, tie your daddies green. It really works.