I have this old, plastic fly box. Pliable plastic, of a sort, it smells of petroleum and the faint scent of mothballs, which protected materials from ever present moths decades ago. This fly box has been stored away in the garage, in a drawer. Every year, I open it and gaze at the contents. I never remove the contents of this box because, frankly, they are terribly tied flies.
These were my original flies, tied early on after a class. I am talking 30+ years ago. And, in this box is a fly, which heretofore, I have never shared with anyone. SwittersB’s Very First Tied Fly.
I remember tying the fly in my beginning fly tying class. Not a Bi-Visible or Spider. It was, I s’pose, an effort to teach one how to palmer hackle or wrap hackle. Tied on a too heavy Mustad hook, the fly doubtless would not have floated, let alone danced upon the surface for long.
The fly has never exited the fly box, until now, let alone been tethered to a tippet. Much like an entrepreneur’s first earned dollar bill framed up on the wall and unspent, my First Fly will not be kissed by a fish. I bet your first fly looks, or would look, better than the mess above.
SwittersB & Exploring 
i’ve fished that fly minus the tail for almost forty years. i stole the pattern from some irish slough angler.
it’s taken fish from catfish to trout , coast to coast.
if you use dry fly hackles, the barbs will flare when you pause the retrieve.
iyou don’t really need to grease it, just pop the water out occasionally it is a remarkable dry but when it’s saturated and the barbs fold back it looks just like an itty-bitty fish. works well in still or fast water.
one year IT was the only fly i used (size 12). that year i fished in a dozen states and was never fishless. the second year i added a grhe and caught even more fish.
even with all the patterns i dork around with, i always have a dozen with me.
nice fly, nice tie.
LikeLike
Well there you go. I guess the guy teaching the class knew what he was offering up. And, I will have to get that fly wet now on general principle!
LikeLike
welllll….now that you’re convinced?
when you tie it, cheap india hackles actually work better than the more uniform genetic hackles.
tie in the butt not the tip and palmer forward (assbackwards i know)…after the fly is really wet it turns into a micro-streamer.
you can doll it up with underwraps of varying color (orange took the biggest carp i’ve ever had on(don’t use a 4wt. in the trees)), bead heads ( when i use them i use glass so that it can still be fished dry)…anyway you get it.
the damn thing is so nondescript that it gets no respect. thank goodness fish are quite as bright as we think.
LikeLike
Thanks, I will give it a try. Poppy Cummings, a very respected NW FFer said the same thing. I swear the original patterns were worthy long ago and only the new materials make us venture far and wide, yet to return to the basics now and then.
LikeLike
Don’t be so hard on yourself. That fly looks better than the first royal coachmen I was started on. Tough to tie for a starter.
LikeLike
That fly above is a great one. Grease it well and swing it down stream. The trout that live near me will knock the Hell of it. I love skatin dries against the current.
LikeLike
Thanks Poppy, I will maybe give a smaller, lighter version a try for sure.
LikeLike