I was having a think about a wee fishing problem I have and came up with what I hope is a solution. I am not claiming this is original or unique or anything, but have to admit to not having seen this variant of a well-known pattern myself. So not going to name it the “Unfamous owl” or anything.
Anyway the problem: Like lots of anglers I have a number of Shuttlecock Buzzers tied and in my fly box. Its a great wee fly- provided you can get the balance right between the hook and the tuft of CDC that suspends the body just in or below the surface film. The fly though has two problems for me.
- If you catch on it it gets all greased up and its hard to keep it fishing well after a fish.
- it’s not a particularly good fly to act as a sighting fly when fishing buzzers below- it tends to get dragged under then become waterlogged.
I will fish lures if I have to ( though I am not an especially enthusiastic lure angler) but in stillwater situations prefer to fish a team of nymphs or buzzers under a buoyant fly. Sometimes this is referred to as fishing the Bung- the Bung being an especially buoyant fly often a Booby variant- sometimes it does not even have a hook. A lot of anglers simply use a stick on, or tie on Indicator. Again I won’t say never to this but its very much like float fishing and to me, while it is obviously effective, seems at odds a little with Fly Fishing at times.
The way Itry to fish it, is a cross of these methods, akin to “Klink and Dink” or New Zealand style, where I have a big buoyant dry fly with a couple or three buzzers or nymphs suspended beneath. When fish are coming to the surface its very effective and I have caught fish like this, on the dry, as well as on the nymphs or buzzers beneath. However at this time of year a full on dry fly is a bit of a waste of a hook, at best you really hope you might get a fish to take just under the surface. The Shuttlecock buzzer seems just the fly, but then tying a couple of epoxy buzzers underneath will sink it fairly quickly. How to keep it afloat and visible?
Deer Hair Yellow Owl
How about this- a Shuttlecock buzzer but instead of CDC as the support, fine Deers hair. I use this material a lot in my dry flies and it will float all day can be deslimed easily and restored to service. This one is a Yellow Owl variant, so a Yellow Quill body with a Deer Hair plume. The trimmed deer hair forms the thorax which also acts as a buoyancy aid to the fly. Being Yellow it should stand out too. Its a long shot it will catch a fish this late in the year but at least its not a wasted fly on the cast, it is fishing, and I feel slightly better than fishing an indicator. I will try it next time I am out and see how I get on. Watch this space.
UPDATE: Tried this out at Burnhouse on Sunday, and as a sighter it worked really well. I would not say flawless though. After trying a batch of these I water proofed them by Ginking them and then leaving them to dry out on a radiator over night. Never caught a fish with it or the buzzers but that’s just the way it is, on this occasion.
In use the only problem I had was a tendency for the deer hair to flare out, I think mainly as a result of casting. It could be restored to a slimmer profile by re-Ginking, the Gink allowing the hair to groom into a tighter bunch again. I fished two fairly heavy buzzers under it and it stayed firmly on the surface and never showed signs of becoming waterlogged at all. So I would say a reasonable success, maybe need to look at my technique for holding the hair togteher more when in use but did what i wanted it to do.
How do you fish a yellow owl fly
So what we call a yellow owl up here, is a colour variant of the Shuttlecock Buzzer style emerger pattern usually for stillwater. So fish as a dry fly, it’s most effective fished entirely static in the area of rising fish. Depending on the wind if it’s blowing away from you. you might want to let a little slack into your line to prevent the fly being held back against the direction the water and wind wants to take it. If it’s drifting across or towards your position you just want to stay in contact with the fly without imparting any drag. When fishing it back try to bring it in slowly. It’s not unknown to get a take while its being retreived but it’s not really a pattern for fishing on the retreive. Don’t bring it in too fast or you will soak the CDC “wing” which will stop it floating. The wing is usually CDC, I have experimented with deerhair, and you can also use closed cell foam like booby eye cord, trimmed to shape ( sometimes called a sugar cube emerger) or with a wee foam ball held on with some material from a pair of old tights or stockings usually referred to a suspender buzzer. The sugar cube variant is quite a robust pattern.