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JUNE 2013 -
SEXY X2
MAGAZINE -
65
rod
tip,
set-
ting
the
hook.
Artifi-
cial flies
In broadest terms, flies
are
categorized as either imitative or at-
tractive. Imitative
flies resemble natural food items. Attractive flies trigger instinc-
tive strikes by employing a range of characteristics that do not
necessarily mimic prey items. Flies can be fished floating on the
surface (dry flies), partially submerged (emerges), or below the
surface (nymphs, streamers, and wet flies). A dry fly is typically
thought to represent an insect landing on, falling on (terrestri-
als), or emerging from, the water’s surface as might a grasshop-
per, dragonfly, mayfly, ant, beetle, stonefly or caddis fly. Other
surface flies include poppers and hair bugs that might resemble
mice, frogs, etc. Sub-surface flies are designed to resemble a
wide variety of prey including aquatic insect larvae, nymphs
and pupae, baitfish, crayfish, leeches, worms, etc. Wet flies,
known as streamers, are generally thought to imitate minnows,
leeches or scuds.
Throughout history, artificial flies constructed of furs, feathers,
and threads bound on a hook have been created by anglers to
imitate fish prey. The first known mention of an artificial fly was
in 200AD in Macedonia. Most early examples of artificial flies
imitated common aquatic insects and baitfish. Today, artificial
flies are tied with a wide variety of natural and synthetic materi-
als (like mylar and rubber) to represent all manner of potential
freshwater and saltwater fish prey to include aquatic and ter-
restrial insects, crustaceans, worms, baitfish, vegetation, flesh,
spawn, small reptiles, amphibians,
mammals and birds, etc.
Fly fishing knots
A few knots have
become more or less
standard for
attaching the various
parts of
the fly lines and back-
ing,
etc., together. A detailed
discussion of most of these
knots is available in any good
book on fly-fishing. Some
of the knots that are in most
every fly angler’s arsenal are: the
improved clinch knot, which is com-
monly used to attach the fly to the leader, the
overhand slipknot, or arbor knot, which is used
to attach the backing to the spool, the Albright knot
which can be used to attach the fly line to the back-
ing. A loop can also be put in fly line backing using a bimini
twist. Often, a loop is added to the business end of the fly line
to facilitate the connection to the leader. This loop may take
one of several forms. It may be formed by creating a loop in the
end of the fly line itself or by adding a braided loop or a loop of
monofilament nylon (as in Gray’s Loop). Alternatively, a single
length of monofilament nylon, or fluorocarbon, may be tied to
the end of the fly line using a nail or tube knot or a needle knot.
A loop can then be tied at the end of this monofilament butt
length or butt section using a double surgeon’s knot or a perfec-
tion loop, to which the tapered or untapered leader, also looped
using a double surgeon’s knot or a perfection loop, may in turn
be connected via a loop to loop connection. The use of loop to
loop connections between the fly line and the leader provides a
quick and convenient way to change or replace a tapered leader.
Many commercially produced tapered leaders come with a pre-
tied loop connection.
Some traditionalists create their own tapered leaders using pro-
gressively smaller-diameter lengths of monofilament line tied
together with the blood, barrel knot or “surgeons knot”