I was looking at the tying for the Griffith's Gnat and it gave me the idea to attempt a smaller than normal tying for me based on it's simplicity. It does not represent anything specific but rather intimates something midgy in it's shape. So here goes!



Materials -

Hooks - Kamasan B160 size 14 and Kamasan B525 Whisker Barb size 16

Thread - UTC 140 Olive ( you need a thread that can lie flat or thinner than normal tying thread for this one)

'Shuck' - Fine Mother of Pearl Mylar

Hackle - Black cored Olive (came from the ****** pack again) or you can use plain Olive, Dark Brown or Black, whatever takes your fancy at the time of tying.


Method -

Lay your thread down flat on the hook shank. You can get this to happen by catching in your thread and letting the bobbin hang and untwist itself.



Catch in at the end of the shank a doubled over strand of the mylar and hold in place with two turns. Leave the loop facing the eye of the hook.



Gently pull the mylar through the thread until the shuck is to the length of your liking or cut to length of you have plenty of it.



Strip the flue from the hackle stalk and lay along the length of the hook and catch in over the mylar. This has the effect to produce a couple of tail whisks as the fibres stick out along the hook.



Trim the stalk and mylar before returning the thread to the eye end of the hook.



Follow the thread with the hackle in tight turns against itself. If the fibres are lying flat, push them back with the next turn to get a flue brush look.



Finish off the head with 2 or 3 whip turns and apply varnish with a dubbing needle to the head to finish. You do not need to build this up at all but if you prefer you can.

TIP - If you have fibres sticking out in front of the eye, hold back the body hackle and flash burn these off with a lighter, the fibres burn faster than fingers so there is no risk to you!



The finished gnat / fly/ thing.



And some I prepared earlier, with and without the 'shuck' effect.

__________________
Roddy

"Sod it! I am going out to sink a klink!"

Nice work Roddy, that little posse will catch you many a fish. I've been a Griffiths enthusiast for many a moon since being introduced to it by by Chris Lea on the Derbyshire Derwent just below the confluence with the Wye. This was back in 89-90 and I was knocked out by the genius of the pattern,not to mention knocked out by 30 odd browns,grayling and wild rainbows it accounted for that day! Needless to say,I was quick to the vice that evening and before the night was done, my finest cape (which wasn't that fine in those days to be honest) had a big bald patch where the size 16 to 20 hackles used to live! I soon invested in a couple of Metz and Hoffman cree and grizzle's.
I'm not 100% on the history of the Griff, and I find it hard to belive that this pattern was not created by the ancient Egyptians or Izaac Walton or someone long before George Griffiths was credited with the pattern.
For me it's one of those ultra rare patterns that combines many many of the criteria that we wish we could cram into every fly we tie but for various reasons cannot... simplicity,durability,floatablity,ease of tying,cost,beauty,and fish appeal. It really does score a whopping 10 in every department.
I even have a dedicated 'Griff box' containing about 50 Griffs in Olive,Cree,Grizzle,and black in sizes from 22 up to 14 which I carry with me always wheather on stream or stillwater.The Griff has caught Browns,Rainbows (stocked and wild),Grayling,and even tempted an Arctic Char to the surface for me in Iceland! Next time you pop down to Chile or New Zealand or Iceland or Slovenia... sure, listen to the local wisdom and nod yer head,then pop on a Griff in the appropriate size and fool that difficult fish
I rarely bother with the peacock herl (apart from the odd occasion,more out of respect for the originators dressing than anything else) and find it no less effective. A feather wrapped around a hook..Job done and you have in your hand,in my opinion the most inspired fish catching innovation since the discovery of the barb!

Great to read that Scratch.

How has the pattern fared for you on Stillwaters and how do you fish it ?

Also, in tiny sizes, can you see it ??

__________________
Irish by birth, Munster by the grace of God.

Spider...
I use it often on stillwater,but to be honest,not as often as on the river where it is usually my first line of attack (unless of course there happens to be a major hatch of lesser spotted blue winged buzzer duns or something which needs to matched) when the fish are up and about.
I use the Griff on stillwater on its own usually in a flat calm...when it's as flat as a witches tit and presentation is key. For some strange reason (probably due to the way the Griff sits) you get a gorgeous loop of tippet up and away from the fly and then down into the water...there is no tippet lying like a cable on the water...providing of course you de-grease every 10 mins or so,and after every fish. The griff doesn't usually need treating with floatant - all those hackle points and air see to the floating job just fine,and after a false cast or two it's dry as a bone - no dubbing or any extra baggage to soak up the drink. Maybe treat it after a fish or two.
It seems to be equally effective wheather fished in or on the film - how you achieve this depends on flotant,'density' of the tying,twitching it a bit to get it to snuggle down in the film etc... you'll get the hang of it.
For me, the beauty of the Griff and it's fish taking abilities lie in it's vagueness. It can be many things to a trout - midge(s) buzzer,sedge and so on. It has that nice leggy dimpling effect when viewed from below (I saw a pic of one from below once but can't remember where!) which says 'eat me'.

Tiny sizes?...Yes you can see it. It's rare that I have to go down to anything smaller than a 16,such is its effectiveness,but that's something I forgot to mention on the list of desirable fly criteria - visibility. The Griff rides high and you would be amazed how even a size 18 or 20 stands out. No scouring the river for half an hour to pick it out after your cast... meanwhile a fish is chewing away on yer fly while you're looking upstream 10 yds!

Reading over the postings by Scratch makes you appreciate the understanding that he has of the fly as described by him. I wonder how many flies we tie match up to that description and score as highly as he rates the gnat type?

If all of our flies did then we would know that we had surefire chances everytime we cast

__________________
Roddy

"Sod it! I am going out to sink a klink!"