Braided-Butt Damsel (Fly Pattern)
If you’re not into fly tying the above title could give you pause, but if you are into the “vice of the vise,” then here’s a post for you. This has already been up over on GB’s blog, but I figure why not post it here, as well? This is from GB’s 1991 book, Designing Trout Flies (the illustrations are from yours truly, created between classes and study sessions while I was at the U of Wisconsin). So, without any more unnecessary introduction, here’s the Braided Butt Damsel:
One question that I/we often get about this fly (inspired by a pattern that my father saw in New Zealand back in the 1980s) is, “Why don’t you use foam for the post, it floats better?” The answer is based on years of observing damselfly hatches and is fairly simple: because sometimes we want the fly to sink. If that sounds odd, keep in mind that “dry flies” (or perhaps more accurately “dry insects”) sometimes aren’t so dry….
All images/image text Copyright © Gary A. Borger. Used with permission
