Fountains of Youth – Classic trout flies that have withstood the test of time … flies that remain “forever young”
by Rusty Dunn
Fly fishing can be frighteningly complex. Every step of the process is fraught with decisions, decisions, decisions. What length of rod? What weight of line? What length of leader? What size tippet? Where to fish? Choosing flies can be even worse. Step to the fly bins of a well-stocked fly shop, and the decisions before you will make your head spin. Row after row. Bin after bin. Unrecognized flies of uncertain utility for unfamiliar waters. Fortunately, you can greatly simplify the process by returning to basics. The simplest flies are often among the best. This principle has been proved many times over by the wingless wet flies of the English north.
“North Country” wet flies originated near the English-Scottish border, a strikingly beautiful area home to wild, native, brown trout. It is a landscape of spirited, stony-bottomed, spate streams that drain the English highlands. It’s the birthplace of simple, elegant, and remarkably effective wet flies variously termed ‘North Country wets’, ‘spiders’, ‘wingless wets’, or ‘soft-hackled flies’. Such patterns are sparsely dressed jewels having slim bodies of silk, collars of soft feathers harvested from local game birds, and, optionally, a thin veneer of natural fur dubbed over the silk body. The hackle imitates appendages (legs, wings, antennae, etc) of insects emerging at the surface. Light hooks, sparse dressings, and water-absorbent materials cause wingless wets to enter the stream quietly and drift lightly on or under the surface. They are excellent flies for trout taking emerging nymphs just under the surface. Don’t be misled by the simplicity of soft-hackled flies. Trout all over the world enthusiastically endorse them!
The exact origins of North Country wet flies are not well chronicled, but their use in the UK increased steadily through the 1800s, especially in the north. Two influential and popular books published near 1900 are acknowledged landmarks of the fully mature North Country school: Yorkshire Trout Flies by T.E. Pritt (1885) and Brook and River Trouting by H.H. Edmonds and N.N. Lee (1916). The books introduced anglers worldwide to North Country patterns and methods.
The effectiveness of soft-hackled flies derives from the feathery movements of their materials underwater. The flexible fibers of water-soaked feather and fur wiggle with every puff of current, thereby imitating emerging nymphs struggling near the surface to escape their nymphal shucks. Soft-hackled flies work well when dead-drifted, but they can be even more effective when deliberately swung, twitched, or lifted upward before trout. Quivering movements of the soft materials and action of the fly imparted by the angler scream “this thing is alive” to otherwise wary trout.
Thomas Evan Pritt (1848-1895) described 36 soft-hackled flies in Yorkshire Trout Flies. Pritt did not design the patterns, but he cataloged popular flies of Yorkshire, detailed their materials, and matched individual flies to specific insects. His Snipe and Purple (also called Dark Snipe) is one of Pritt’s most famous flies. It imitates Iron Blues, a mayfly species of early spring that hatches throughout Britain. Iron Blues are not found in North America, but they are very similar to the many species of American blue-winged olives. Pritt described the Snipe and Purple as “a splendid (fly) on cold days in the early part of the season”. Indeed, it is. The Snipe and Purple is excellent when small dark-bodied mayflies are on the wing. It is a favorite of many discriminating anglers, including some wily English trout poachers! That’s quite a recommendation, and you should snipe a few trout yourself when the olives of a Driftless spring come calling.
Copyright 2023, Rusty Dunn
Snipe and Purple
Digital copies of Yorkshire Trout Flies (Pritt, 1885) and Brook and River Trouting (Edmonds & Lee, 1916) are available as free downloads at https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc2.ark:/13960/t80k28p1c and https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc2.ark:/13960/t43r12n1m, respectively.
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Hook:
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Wet fly, #14 – #20
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Thread:
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Pearsall’s Gossamer silk, purple (color No. 8)
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Body:
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Tying silk
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Hackle:
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One or (at most!) two turns of a dusky, dark, marginal covert feather of an English snipe’s wing
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Snipe and Purple
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Last Updated: October 4, 2023 by Drew Kasel
by Rusty Dunn
Fly fishing can be frighteningly complex. Every step of the process is fraught with decisions, decisions, decisions. What length of rod? What weight of line? What length of leader? What size tippet? Where to fish? Choosing flies can be even worse. Step to the fly bins of a well-stocked fly shop, and the decisions before you will make your head spin. Row after row. Bin after bin. Unrecognized flies of uncertain utility for unfamiliar waters. Fortunately, you can greatly simplify the process by returning to basics. The simplest flies are often among the best. This principle has been proved many times over by the wingless wet flies of the English north.
“North Country” wet flies originated near the English-Scottish border, a strikingly beautiful area home to wild, native, brown trout. It is a landscape of spirited, stony-bottomed, spate streams that drain the English highlands. It’s the birthplace of simple, elegant, and remarkably effective wet flies variously termed ‘North Country wets’, ‘spiders’, ‘wingless wets’, or ‘soft-hackled flies’. Such patterns are sparsely dressed jewels having slim bodies of silk, collars of soft feathers harvested from local game birds, and, optionally, a thin veneer of natural fur dubbed over the silk body. The hackle imitates appendages (legs, wings, antennae, etc) of insects emerging at the surface. Light hooks, sparse dressings, and water-absorbent materials cause wingless wets to enter the stream quietly and drift lightly on or under the surface. They are excellent flies for trout taking emerging nymphs just under the surface. Don’t be misled by the simplicity of soft-hackled flies. Trout all over the world enthusiastically endorse them!
The exact origins of North Country wet flies are not well chronicled, but their use in the UK increased steadily through the 1800s, especially in the north. Two influential and popular books published near 1900 are acknowledged landmarks of the fully mature North Country school: Yorkshire Trout Flies by T.E. Pritt (1885) and Brook and River Trouting by H.H. Edmonds and N.N. Lee (1916). The books introduced anglers worldwide to North Country patterns and methods.
The effectiveness of soft-hackled flies derives from the feathery movements of their materials underwater. The flexible fibers of water-soaked feather and fur wiggle with every puff of current, thereby imitating emerging nymphs struggling near the surface to escape their nymphal shucks. Soft-hackled flies work well when dead-drifted, but they can be even more effective when deliberately swung, twitched, or lifted upward before trout. Quivering movements of the soft materials and action of the fly imparted by the angler scream “this thing is alive” to otherwise wary trout.
Thomas Evan Pritt (1848-1895) described 36 soft-hackled flies in Yorkshire Trout Flies. Pritt did not design the patterns, but he cataloged popular flies of Yorkshire, detailed their materials, and matched individual flies to specific insects. His Snipe and Purple (also called Dark Snipe) is one of Pritt’s most famous flies. It imitates Iron Blues, a mayfly species of early spring that hatches throughout Britain. Iron Blues are not found in North America, but they are very similar to the many species of American blue-winged olives. Pritt described the Snipe and Purple as “a splendid (fly) on cold days in the early part of the season”. Indeed, it is. The Snipe and Purple is excellent when small dark-bodied mayflies are on the wing. It is a favorite of many discriminating anglers, including some wily English trout poachers! That’s quite a recommendation, and you should snipe a few trout yourself when the olives of a Driftless spring come calling.
Copyright 2023, Rusty Dunn
Snipe and Purple
Digital copies of Yorkshire Trout Flies (Pritt, 1885) and Brook and River Trouting (Edmonds & Lee, 1916) are available as free downloads at https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc2.ark:/13960/t80k28p1c and https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc2.ark:/13960/t43r12n1m, respectively.
Hook:
Wet fly, #14 – #20
Thread:
Pearsall’s Gossamer silk, purple (color No. 8)
Body:
Tying silk
Hackle:
One or (at most!) two turns of a dusky, dark, marginal covert feather of an English snipe’s wing
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