Ed 2 The Demoiselle

The Demoiselle.
Back when I was turning from coarse fishing to fly fishing, I caught my (still) PB Rainbow, from Dever Springs. I was yet to take up the fly-tying hobby*, so my fly supply was modest to say the least; the one that did the business that day was a ‘Demoiselle’, supplied by Rod Box I believe, out Winchester way.

 That event remains vividly clear in my memory: I was fishing Spring ‘lake’ at a spot close by the road entrance, in the corner where a willow overhung the inlet pipe bearing water from the sparkling River Dever. It looked such a fishy spot I was sure there must be fish present, lurking in the willow’s cover or beneath the slow vortexes of loose, floating weed. A little side cast to my left dropped the fly into a clear patch, and once the fly sank from my sight, I began a twitchy retrieve. A bow-wave appeared to my right, zooming past in front of me and parting the drifting weed rafts, then my line locked solid. A serious struggle commenced with the trout pulling heavily with furious head-shaking, while alarm and anxiety rose within me at all the fronds of weed accumulating on my line, but, as often happens, once weed  had covered the fish’s eyes the fight went out of it and I was able to drag the heavy bundle of fish and weed into my net, heaving it up onto the bank. Fifteen pounds and ten ounces, without the weed, of solid, fully finned Rainbow.

 Later, an eleven-pound-plus one took me into my backing twice on the main ‘lake’ before I was able to overcome it, again falling for the Demoiselle. (My records show another brace of fish, less hefty but nevertheless crackers, graced my day, although neither came to the same pattern.)

 T’other day, looking through my fly boxes (all nineteen of them!) I realised there wasn’t a single Demoiselle to be seen. It is amazing how flies change with fashion, seemingly forgotten when the new ‘next big thing’ comes out, craze after craze after craze. Time to redress this omission, I think, especially with the weedy water of high summer already on the horizon. Here is my take on an old pattern, for fishing deep around the weed beds.

(* I thought of using the word ‘vice’ instead, but the pun was just too dreadful, even for me!)



The Demoiselle

Hook: Kamasan B200 #12

Thread: Ultra Thread, 70d, dark olive

Bead: 3mm gold bead

Tail: Bright green feather fibres (I have used dyed pheasant tail)

Rib: Gold wire, medium

Body: Whitlock’s SLF blend, ‘golden stone’

Thorax: Orvis Ice Dubbing, ‘caddis green’

Hackle: English Partridge, dyed yellow



Tying sequence:

1         Fit bead onto hook, attach thread and run touching turns down to start of bend. Catch in wire rib and tail fibres, tail should be approximately half the shank long. Run thread up to the bead and back again, then trim feather butt ends.

2         Make a fine noodle of the golden stone dubbing onto the thread and wrap carefully up two-thirds of the shank. Follow up with four or five turns of the wire rib to represent segmentation; secure wire and remove surplus.

3         Tie in the Partridge hackle by its tip, shinier side facing the bead, feather hanging over the eye of the hook. Create a noodle of the caddis green dubbing on the thread and create the thorax over the thread wraps securing the hackle. The thread should end up hanging by the bead

4         Using hackle pliers carefully make just two turns of the hackle, secure with the tying thread. Take a tiny amount of the caddis green dubbing and dub onto the thread, make three or four wraps at the bead to keep the hackle sweeping back, add varnish to the thread and make a whip finish, sinking the thread between the bead and the fine dubbing collar.

Note: (There is a picture of this fly, tied by yours truly, on my Instagram account vital291151)