A Little ScarletI tied this fly with chironomid hunting trout in mind. I wanted a small dark fly with just a hint of scarlet SLF in the thorax  area to represent the insect’s haemoglobin that often flushes through the insect prior to it emerging.

The body of the fly is created with black 8/0 tying thread and is layered down from the eye to the bend of the hook three times, when the rib is wound back up to the thorax area using the same black 8/0 thread. A soft, loose dubbing is applied for the thorax. Here I have used grey rabbit under fur. This fine, soft dubbing will trap air and hold the resulting air bubble when the fly is submerged. A pinch, and a very small one at that, of scarlet SLF is added just before the hackle. Aim to have the SLF and hackle fibres touch and mix slightly with each other. The hackle is a soft badger hen hackle and is fairly short in the fibre. Once tied in it is swept back slightly and held in position with a turn or two of the thread.

Being a flymph to represent a dark chironomid (non-biting midge) I will be fishing this fly on the lochs using wind and wave action to drift the fly into likely looking areas. The chironomid is perhaps our most abundant stillwater fly and can be seen hatching from even the smallest of garden ponds. Therefore it is also one of our most important stillwater fly species.

 

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