Jan's GP

Jan's GP - A Swarm

Jan's GP - Side View

Jan's GP - Top View

Bob Petti

In 2003

I went to my first fly-tying lesson with Dave Ryding showing me the basics. Well, I was completely hooked then, couldn't stop tying and tying. Fortunately, I had two awesome fly tying friends, another, Eric Sayer, who sadly passed away. I used to see him two or three times a week. Having learned the basics, I started to experiment with fly patterns, some good and some not so good. You know how it is, the waste bin is a graveyard for terrible flies!

One day,

while fishing my favourite water, Barnsfold in Lancashire, which is surrounded on one large side with a good head of pine trees round the reservoir, I noticed quite a few terrestrials being blown on to the water. The trout were going crazy for them. But then as I started to notice what they were, I couldn't make my mind up wether it was a beetle or some kind of Wood Wasp. Finishing my day, I came home and played around for a few days looking to imitate what I had seen previous but without much success.

A funny story

came about when I awoke one morning at 3.00am and could see in my head how to tie the fly. One hour later the fly was finished, the greatest feeling in my life, my general purpose terrestrial. I then quickly proceeded upstairs to wake my wife and show her. At 4.00am this seemed a bit crazy to her but I managed to appease her with a cup of tea.

The next day

I took the fly to Barnsfold, cast out , and let the fly drift from left to right. Suudenly, a trout hit the fly that hard, I was unprepared and was broken off ! I couldn't believe it so I quickly tied another one on to my fly-line and went out again, within minutes I had a nice 3lb Rainbow in my landing net. Ninety minutes later, I had a total 22 takes resulting in 16 Rainbow, my best ever fishing experience. Frank Casson, who owns Barnsfold Waters, came over and asked jokingly, was i "fishing on maggots" because nobody on the reservoir was catching anything. I gave him the rod and showed him the terrestrial, which he believed was fantastic. He cast the fly out once more and caught a Rainbow himself. He then turned round, laughed, and said, jokingly, "i'm going to ban the fly".

Over the next

few months the fly has proved a great success, taking many trout, and which I have given readily to other anglers who themselves have had great success. Many of the flies have found themselves on other waters, ranging from reservoirs to rivers, producing great results. The windier the water - the bigger the fly. It's so exciting watching the trout take them so viciously. They are easy to tie and you can make many different coloured variations and sizes.

Fishing's fishing,

and we all know how hard it can be - the fly's not the answer to everything, it's not a wonder fly - but you always feel confident you can take a fish when the conditions get hard.
Please e-mail me and let me know how you get on, good luck, jany@blueyonder.co.uk
Special thanks for their encouragement and help: Bob Petti, Frank Casson, Peter Whittle and Dave Ryding.

Materials

Tying Instructions

1. Tie the thread on at the head and catch in a length of the brown ethafoam
2. Take the thread to a point round the bend, trapping the foam along the shank
3. Dub the seal's fur up a point opposite the hook point
4. Bring the foam over and tie down firmly
5. Add wings pointing up and back Dub approximately 1/8" up shank in front of wings
6. Bring foam forward and tie down firmly
7. Take thread behind wings, 3 - 4 turns, to angle them at about 45 degrees
8. Take thread to base of foam, tie in hackle, take thread to eye
9. Tie hackle in tight close turns to just behind eye and tie it off
10. Bring foam over and tie down
11. Cut off foam and finish behind the eye leaving the actual eye clear
12. The back and thread that is showing are coloured with a Letraset brown marker pen.