Fly of the Month – Oct

The Floating Sparkler Fry

Hook: Competition Barbless, size 10, (from Flybox), or similar.

Thread: Black Veevus GSP, 50D.

Wing and Tail: Holographic black and gold Angle Flash, or similar.

Underwing: Olive Aero Dry Wing.

Body: 3mm White Plastazote foam cylinder.

NB: Superglue is an essential component in the tying of this pattern.

TYING

Photo 1. Place the hook in the vice and lay down a bed thread from the eye to just before the bend. Remove the thread tag and return the thread to the eye.

Photo 2. Take a bunch of flash material approximately 10 cm in length and tie it in on top of the shank so that equal amounts of material extend behind the hook bend and in front of the hook eye. Keeping the flash material on top of the shank, bind it down with thread to just before the hook bend.

Photo 3. Trim one end of the foam cylinder to a point and tie in the cylinder by the prepared point and then take the thread to the eye.

Photo 4. Add a touch of superglue to the thread underbody and carefully wind the foam over the glue stopping at the eye. Secure the foam in place with several turns of well waxed thread and remove the excess foam.

Photo 5. Double a length of Aero Dry Wing and tie it in centrally with the front half forward of the eye.

Photo 6. Take the thread in front of the flash material and wind it back pushing the forward facing materials upright in the process. Whip finish and remove the thread.

Photo 7. Pull all the upright material evenly back over the top of the foam body to form a tight head, and keeping the material in this position, brush some superglue onto the front of the material while continuing to hold the materials in place until the glue soaks in and sets. Once set, the flash and dry wing material should lie along the top of the foam body.

Photo 8. Apply a light coat of UV resin to the head section of the fly and cure it with a torch.

Photo 9. To complete the fly, trim the material with an angled upward cut to give a “fishy” shape.

Tying tips

• This is a very simple, if somewhat unusual, pattern to tie, and as its construction relies heavily on the use of Superglue, be careful not to get glue on your fingers while giving the glue plenty of time to permeate through the wing materials and to dry thoroughly. The glue needs to be runny in order to permeate between the strands of the flash material, so the fresher the glue the better.
• If Angle Flash is not available, your favourite flash material can be substituted for the tail and wing material.
• Only use Plastazote foam cylinders for the body. High density foam cylinders are not pliable enough to be easily wound around the hook shank.
• Olive and black are good alternative colours to use for the body.
• Although I don’t bother, decal eyes can be added as an additional trigger point, if required. Just glue them in position, coat them with UV resin and cure with a torch.

Fishing notes

• Coldingham Loch has good populations of perch and sticklebacks that become an important food resource for the trout from July onwards, but particularly towards the end of the season when stickleback and perch fry congregate in large shoals in shallow water around bankside structure such as jetties, dying weed beds, along the edge of the lilies and around the large stones in Swing Gate Bay. As a result, a floating or long midge tip line are usually the best options for fishing the floating sparkler fry pattern.
• I usually fish the pattern as a single fly using short pulls with long pauses to imitate an injured fry slowly floating to the surface, but it can also be popped through the surface, or as part of a team with a couple of Diawl Bachs or pearly pheasant tail nymphs above it.