Not Ure usual Red Tag

 Idly killing some SI time, I hauled out a bunch of ‘The Angler’ magazine dating from 1949 to 1953, given to me years ago by a former colleague. In the September 1953 one, I came across a scrap of paper, presumably a page marker, on which someone had drawn a fly. I read the article: “Our Friend Thymallus” by one Maurice Hartley. The text mentioned the ‘Red Tag’ being a lady killer on the River Ure, Yorkshire, later also mentioning the efficacy of ‘Sturdy’s Fancy’ as well. What jumped off the page at me, however, vis the Ure and Red Tag, was “20 years ago” … “My father and I that day took 75 fish, averaging from half to three-quarters of a pound each, and returned to the water almost as many more.” Talk about the good old days!

 I looked closely at the sketch before turning to reference works from Taff Price, Malcolm Greenhalgh, and even Mike Harding. These noted the aforementioned patterns were used in both dry and wet fly fishing, but I thought immediately that for the fish numbers quoted, even a Red Tag starting as a dry fly would very quickly become a wet! The apparent ‘wing’ in the sketch caught my attention, there being none in my reference works, although Robert Smith’s excellent presentation at the recent BFFI pointed out that many of the ‘northern’ patterns were often winged, within their local tying customs, varying village to village. When I thought about the white hackle fibres of the Sturdy’s Fancy I wondered if they were representative of bedraggled wings? With a huge leap of febrile fantasy, I pondered whether the drawing was suggesting a Red Tag with an addition of a white wing? Perhaps I ought to tie a couple to try, although Lord knows when I’ll have the chance to try one? Here’s what I came up with, following the said TP and MG versions, but you’ll spot the cop-out in the winging right away, however it saved my fevered brain from additional angst! Now I’m wondering who made that sketch, and why? I suppose these things help pass this dratted SI time.

Materials:

Hook : Sizes 12 to 16 Spider or Wet (the illustration is a 14)

Thread : Black, 8/0

Tag : Red wool, unfurled after tying-in (3 ply)

Body : Bronze peacock herl, two strands, wrapped over a dab of superglue

Wing : White Aero wing, (one fourth of the strand)

Collar : Red Game hackle (brown), only two wraps, then tied off and head formed with tying thread