Branchu

Jean Guy Côte's beautiful fly for cold water salmonids in a slight Joergensen conversion

	A beauty W Martin Joergensen
	Wood Duck wing  Martin Joergensen

Branchu is the Québecois word for wood duck, and a very suitable name for this fly with its characteristic wood duck wing.

I first stumbled over this fly in an article by Paul Marriner in the magazine Fly Tyer. I immediately fell for its simple beauty and perfect winter fly colours. I tied up a few very close to the style that were tied up for the article. Quite a beefy fly with a good body volume. Côte's fly also bore a couple of Jungle Cock eyes. None of mine ever did that, not even the first ones.

The original was made for trolling large lakes, but I wanted a fly, which was more in the tradition of my usual sea trout streamers meant for casting. These are slimmer and typically have more swept back wings and hackles. I need the flies to be able to sink down to fishing depth themselves. Very fluffy flies have troubles sinking quickly enough for my type of fishing.
Well, the conversion wasn't that difficult. I basically just removed a bit of the body material and wound the rest on a bit more tightly. I also replaced the original seal's fur with Scintilla. Not out of political correctness, but more because I had plenty Scintilla and not so much seal's fur.

Slender profile  Martin Joergensen

I have been vary pleased with the result, which in my eyes has kept the beauty of the original, which is mainly in the colours, but still adheres very well to the style of fly that I want for my sea trout fishing.

I haven't fished the fly lately, but hauled it out of its storage because this winter seems to become a very mild and productive one. I used to have the fly in my winter box, and probably will again. Winter sea trout can be difficult to entice, but this fly can do the magic.

About Branchu

Type	Streamer
Originator	Jean Guy Côte
Tied by	Martin Joergensen
Difficulty	Easy
Target species	Brown trout Atlantic salmon (sea run) Steelhead (sea run) Sea trout (sea run) Brook trout Arctic char

Materials

Hook	Kamasan B800, size 4-2
Tying thread	Orange 6/0
Tail	Golden Pheasant tippet
Body	Orange dubbing - seal's fur or Scintilla
Wing	Wood Duck flank - yellow or natural. Mallard is a possible alternative
Hackle	Furnace or cree
Head	Tying thread

Tying instructions

1. Tie in a small bunch of tippet as a tail, about half shank length or a little less
2. Dub the body to a slender, cylindrical shape
3. Taper it down in front. Leave room for wing and hackle
4. Tie in a small bunch of wood duck as a wing, length as the body
5. Tie in a hen hackle, shiny side forwards
6. Turn the hackle wet fly style and make shure it lies rather flat
7. Trim the hackle stem
8. Form a small head
9. Whip finish and varnish

Branchu  Martin Joergensen

1. Tie in a small bunch of tippet as a tail, about half shank length or a little less
2. Dub the body to a slender, cylindrical shape
3. Taper it down in front. Leave room for wing and hackle
4. Tie in a small bunch of wood duck as a wing, length as the body
5. Tie in a hen hackle, shiny side forwards
6. Turn the hackle wet fly style and make shure it lies rather flat
7. Trim the hackle stem
8. Form a small head
9. Whip finish and varnish

Go to article start ^ User comments

From: Dave McFall · grumpy_flyfisher·at·hotmail.com Submitted October 9th 2005 The Branchu as tied by Jean Guy Cote incorporated a jungle cock nail split in two and placed 1/2 on either side of the body. See Stewart and Allen Trout Flies for one tied by JGC. Thanks for the site I really appreciate it.

Did you find the above interesting?
People who looked at the above also looked at these pages: Hello Austria! Austria is much more than skiing and climbing The Alps. The fish... The Zuddler Question: What to you get when you combine elements of a Muddler... Fly patterns Section: The best fly patterns from all over the globe	This other story related to "sea trout flies" might also interest you: Copper Frede Patterns: Combine the Danish killer patterns Frede and Copper Bully with a Wooly Bugger... Not surprisingly a deadly combination Go to the story Click to see other stories with the keyword "sea trout flies"
A few random articles for your entertainment Fly Fishing for Striped Bass Wild River Press, the publisher behind this and a other new books, is setting the bar extremely high for the genre of fly fishing information books, where the author doesn't offer a quick overview but rather an in depth master's course. "Fly Fishing for Striped Bass" continues that trend, and in doing so kicks it up a notch. The author simply blew my socks off. December 10th 2007 Better fishing pictures: Use a fill flash More ways to improve your fishing photos. This time about using your flash in bright daylight—even in sunshine. You might think that the flash on your camera is for taking pictures when it’s dark. Wrong! March 24th 2006 Build a rod, 2: Reel Seat and Handle The handle is both an important part of any rod and a whole project in itself when building a rod. Jan-Ole Willers helps you choose a shape, select the cork and plan added features such as a fighting butt. May 29th 2007 Small Fry: The Lure of the Little Lepomis auritus, the redbreast sunfish, does not receive the front-page press of its cousins the bluegill, the crappie, and the black bass. This species deserves increased specific attention, though, especially from fly anglers who prefer to fish flowing water, because the redbreast is the stream sunfish. July 14th 2008