Doug Swisher - Flies for Selective Trout: Complete Step-by-Step Instructions on How to Tie the Newest Swisher Flies

Copyright 2017 by Doug and Sharon Swisher

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

Cover design by Tom Lau

Cover photo credit by Doug and Sharon Swisher

Print ISBN: 978-1-5107-1716-9

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-5107-1717-6

Printed in China

C ONTENTS

A CKNOWLEDGMENTS

Family for support and encouragement.

Doug Brewer for his help creating action dubbing and other materials through the years.

Tony and Kathi Tomsu for their friendship and support.

Nick Lyons for his suggestions and referrals.

Dynamite day on the kick boat.

I NTRODUCTION

Great rod holder when releasing.

F ifty years ago, during the period when Carl Richards and I were working on the development of the no-hackle dry fly, emergent dun imitations were tied mostly with lots of bushy hackle. As the transition was made toward more natural, realistic-looking flies, we had to search for new tying materials, especially to imitate the freshly hatched species. Our first attempt at this project resulted in the use of a clump of deer hair. Our immediate success ratio skyrocketed, and this type of pattern was very easy to tie. Our next improvement was fanning the wings and splitting the tails to form outriggers and was also easy to do. But we felt the need for something else! The clump of deer hair seemed a bit heavy and clubby for the wings, so we replaced it with a matched pair of duck quill wings. This ended up being the final step in making a really polished-looking No-Hackle Dun.

We had all the right ingredients; the only problem was mounting the wings properly. If they were attached so that they radiated from the sides of the body, they provided super floatation. If they were cut wide and short, they were extremely durable. The greatest no-hackle flytier I ever knew was Bill Monaghan, from Detroit. We often fished together on Michigans famed Au Sable River. I could easily catch over twenty trout on his No-Hackle Duns. He and Carl Richards were the best flytiers I ever knew. They were both dentists; maybe their ability to tie such great flies was due to the fine work they constantly performed with their hands. The three of us often fished together, and of course it normally ended up being a contest of who caught the most fish on a single fly. Bill usually won, but Carl and I had our moments.

Back in the 1980s, right after Selective Trout was first published, many fly-tying books came on the market that were pushing the merits of the types of flies Carl Richards and I developed, like the No-Hackle Dun, Hen Spinner, Emerger, and Still-Born. Those were types of flies that had never been written about before. Then, a few years later, in the early 2000s, the emphasis switched drastically to what I would call streamer and attractor patterns. This book covers a few of the no-hackle types and many of our new attractor flies, like glow-in-the-dark, ultraviolet, brush flies, advanced pupas, and our action-dubbing versions. Also included are tips on how to fish them and where they were developed. Most of this change came about because of all of the new materials and tying techniques now available, making our new flies even more exciting.

A Montana beauty!

Parachute Madam X.

D RY F LIES

I n this section of the book, well first cover three of the most famous no-hackle flies, the No-Hackle Dun, the Duck Quill Emerger, and the Hen Spinner. Then, we will show you how to tie some of the more important flies we developed since the no-hackle era. These include the Madam X, which is the first dry fly with rubber legs; the Parachute Madam X, which is well known all over the world; the Button Fly, the first hatch simulator utilizing a rubber post; and the Double Parachute Hopper, which has a parachute hackle at each end, and the rear one under the wing has a rubber post. There are several more dry flies that have given us many wonderful days fishing on rivers and lakes.

Yummy, yucky, but delicious.

N YMPHS AND S TRYMPHS

T he dramatic explosion of fly-tying materials over the past few years, especially our new action dubbing, has greatly contributed to the development of great nymph and strymph patterns, with the emphasis on synthetics. This is good news to the animals of the world, as their numbers are constantly being pressured. Also, mans plastic imitations, in most cases, are more durable and attract more attention. Many are either perfectly round or trilobal in shape, stretchy in texture, and translucent, glow-in-the-dark, or ultraviolet in color.

THE STORY OF OUR ACTION DUBBING

My first attempt at tying flies was way back in the mid-1950s, right after I got out of the service. I had a couple of good tutors, Carl Richards and Ernie Schwiebert. Not that I began to approach their degree of efficiency, but it was great to have such good teachers. Back in those days, the most popular dubbing available was rabbit. To keep my cost down, I asked my hunting friends to save all the bunny tails for me. Then I would dye them all the various basic colorsolive, brown, yellow, et ceteraand, if youre familiar with rabbit rumps, you would get quite a variety of shades from dark on top to light on bottom. That way, I would get every color in the rainbow, saving the expense of buying so many packs of dubbing.

For almost forty years, the dubbing market changed very little, which is quite surprising. There were drastic developments in other fly-fishing products, like rods, reels, lines, and what I call shiny fly-tying products, such as Krystal Flash and glow-in-the-dark materials.

Soon after the original edition of Selective Trout was published, Carl and I started thinking about the possibility of mixing the legs right in with the dubbing. I remember many occasions sitting up all night in his cabin on the North Branch of the Au Sable River trying to figure out how to do it. Unfortunately, he passed on, losing the most talented combination tier/angler the world of fly fishing has ever seen.