A nod to Glanrhôs

[midlander]

The original Glanrhôs style pattern was a wet where the wing was formed from the tip of the hackle that was used for the legs. This wee one's taken a bit of a side step and used a separate hackle tip. So not a Glanrhôs really but inspired by the style nonetheless. A bit quicker and easier than a Starling wing at any rate and arguably a bit more translucent.

Hook: Hayabusa 373 #12.
Thread: UNI-Thread, light olive.
Tail: Brown cock dyed sun yellow.
Body 1st bit: A mix of old gold grey squirrel, sun yellow pine squirrel and olive hare under fur.
Body: 2nd bit: A mix of medium brown grey squirrel and dark crimson pine squirrel.
Rib: Fine gold tinsel
Wing: Medium brown dun hen hackle tip.
Hackle: Furnace dyed brown olive.

A bit Cock Robin-ish and yep, there's a whole lot of squirrel going on.

[greenock]

Like it mate can see that working at one of the small waters i goto.

[stevekale]

Very, very nice.

Now I see why you were asking about squirrel awhile back. Looks like you've been busy dyeing as well.

Out of interest, did the original call for squirrel or is there another reason for you venturing away from seal fur?

Any more of the reasoning behind the fly would be appreciated also.

[Hans Weilenmann]

Alex,

It is an interesting, and quite tying-effective in collar&wing use. I tied up a batch for my upcoming trip to New Zealand.

Here are some samples:













Cheers,
Hans W

[benlikestofish]

That's a lovely looking fly Alex, those dubbing blends are very animated.

Haven't really played with Squirrel, but might just do so now.

I like the wing and am interested in the concept, but am unsure as to whether I would prefer grey mallard. As I always think of a cock robin to be fished very slow, and in that case wouldn't a few strands of mallard have more movement?

[midlander]

That's the style Hans, in its true form. As you'll know, it was originally designed for the glanrhos beat of the Wye and as an upstream spate pattern it has plenty of life and movement. It also means the fish have less time to scrutinise it. I decided that for a still water application it might fit the bill a little better if the wing wasn't limited by the hackle colour. Probably a bit picky of me but I just prefer it that way. Not true Glanrhos by any means but there we go.

You'll have to let us know how those old time classics perform in NZ.

Steve. I still love SF for just about anything but a couple of years ago I got hold of some pine squirrel and was attracted by the barring on the fibre. You get the blue under fur, a buff band and a brown and black tip. With grey squirrel you get the blue under fur a buff band, a black band and a white tip. With all that bandng you get three or four shades per dye and as the staple is pretty short you can mix the whole lot in and get a really busy, dare I say lively, effect. Look on it as a hare or rabbit alternative but with the added advantage of the finer, yet prominent barring.

As for the wing. Well, I was just reading a spot of Woolley whilst waiting for the kettle to boil and it happened to be on the Glanrhos page and I took it the idea from there.

[North Country Angler]

Very nice Squire! Always worth waiting for, that priviledged glimpse into the Ferguson fly box...

M

[midlander]

Originally Posted by benlikestofish

That's a lovely looking fly Alex, those dubbing blends are very animated.

Haven't really played with Squirrel, but might just do so now.

I like the wing and am interested in the concept, but am unsure as to whether I would prefer grey mallard. As I always think of a cock robin to be fished very slow, and in that case wouldn't a few strands of mallard have more movement?

Well, it's not specifically a Cock Robin replacement, more a sort of olive type thing. The picture doesn't really show the olive hues of the blue under fur. Think of a top dropper cripple type thing, an alternative to a winged Hare's Ear or Greenwell's Glory. All the same, I'd argue that a fine translucent hen hackle tip wing is pretty mobile compared with a bronze wing.

[Former member]

I have found this method also effective on Duckfly patterns when I use white tips to tie up adult versions. Nice fly M.
Cheers
Gerry