Scotty Mitchell
Well-known member
I just can’t get my head around the bluntness of the PT. it’s just wrong
Shuttlecock - Yellow Owl Variant
- Thread starter Rob Edmunds
- Start date
Cap'n Fishy
Well-known member
The day I fished with him, he was very amenable and open with me - even though we were in a competition. Maybe he reckoned he had nothing to fear from a Jock in a flat calm on Rutland?
I didn't ask to see his dry flies right enough, as I only had fiery brown Bob's bits and it was only ever going to be them I used.
Col
Cap'n Fishy
Well-known member
A fly I have never tried. Is that supposed to imitate a corixa pausing for air? I have found a fiery brown hopper good for that.
Col
Rob Edmunds
Well-known member
I've no idea what the Midas supposed to represent......anything and everything terrestrial I assume, as the most common size used is a size 10.....it's a lump of a dry almost like a pellet 
It’s pretty good for bringing them up otb to be honest.The ten second rule merchants like it .
Just found a post on another site where Mrs Hodge when speaking
of her husband says. Quote Jock Hodge (inventor of the big scary lure) The Humungus.
I then went looking and in amongst all the sites about the fly there was a site
about The Humungus a character in the Mad Max movie, the character wore a big
silver helmet. Maybe Jock was a Mad Max fan.
As for the Midas, the ones i have were bought and the bodies were very tight so sank.
One day the fish were moving but couldnt hookup. On with long leader Midas trailing 3ft
behind size 12 booby on the floater 3 fish to the Midas.Saved the day,hopefully get to try
them properly this summer.
of her husband says. Quote Jock Hodge (inventor of the big scary lure) The Humungus.
I then went looking and in amongst all the sites about the fly there was a site
about The Humungus a character in the Mad Max movie, the character wore a big
silver helmet. Maybe Jock was a Mad Max fan.
As for the Midas, the ones i have were bought and the bodies were very tight so sank.
One day the fish were moving but couldnt hookup. On with long leader Midas trailing 3ft
behind size 12 booby on the floater 3 fish to the Midas.Saved the day,hopefully get to try
them properly this summer.
Cap'n Fishy
Well-known member
I've no idea what the Midas supposed to represent......anything and everything terrestrial I assume, as the most common size used is a size 10.....it's a lump of a dry almost like a pellet
I'm sure the first one I saw a guy using, he said it was a corixa imitation - hence the 'paddles' at the sides. The gold Litebrite was to simulate the gas bubble being collected at the surface.
Col
Cap'n Fishy
Well-known member
Cheers - I'll see if I can find time in my busy schedule to tie up a couple.
An alternative footprint to a Grunter as a 'dry lure', sort of, kind of thing?
Ten seconds, eh? If they've no had it by the time I count to 5, it's gettin' lifted aff...
campsiefisher
Well-known member
Nice tying Rob, Definitely originated on Loch Leven for the evening hatches of these large buzzers June to August. The local name incidentally was The (Curly Bums). The original dressing was Silk: black, Tail: brown partridge hackle fibres, Body: yellow floss silk, ribbed with black silk, Hackle: brown partridge hackle, Wing: paired slips from hen pheasant secondary quills.
Agree it was Buzzer bob who made the variation of a cut CDC (as opposed to leaving the cdc feathers untrimmed) to make it look just like a dot above the surface, his variant made its way throughout the rest of Scotland including Menteith, pretty sure he showed it to Ronnie Glass in a competition and it sort of took off from there.
Best regards
Jim
Agree it was Buzzer bob who made the variation of a cut CDC (as opposed to leaving the cdc feathers untrimmed) to make it look just like a dot above the surface, his variant made its way throughout the rest of Scotland including Menteith, pretty sure he showed it to Ronnie Glass in a competition and it sort of took off from there.
Best regards
Jim
Rob Edmunds
Well-known member
The "Snatcher" is a pattern I always associate with Leven, and another underrated fly, it works everywhere especially the hares ear version...
I got most of the info back then from John Buchanan, Ian Earl or Lindsay Barrie....all top men.
Lindsay once drove from Kinross to Rutland to fish with me ( despite me saying it was sh!t and pointless) and back to Kinross on the same day.....is he still about as he was a cracking bloke
Oh Col I've managed for the last 15 years without a Midas and I either use proper dries in 12's 14's and 16's or boobies.....and have never been close to getting beaten on dries so until I do they stay in the box unused
The only reason I've got a few in my box is to keep my pairs competition partner happy - who to be fair is top draw and I respect his opinion a great deal in such matters.......he says I need them or in his words " ya'll ge caught with your f***king pants down if ya ne got them"....think geordie
I got most of the info back then from John Buchanan, Ian Earl or Lindsay Barrie....all top men.
Lindsay once drove from Kinross to Rutland to fish with me ( despite me saying it was sh!t and pointless) and back to Kinross on the same day.....is he still about as he was a cracking bloke
Oh Col I've managed for the last 15 years without a Midas and I either use proper dries in 12's 14's and 16's or boobies.....and have never been close to getting beaten on dries so until I do they stay in the box unused
The only reason I've got a few in my box is to keep my pairs competition partner happy - who to be fair is top draw and I respect his opinion a great deal in such matters.......he says I need them or in his words " ya'll ge caught with your f***king pants down if ya ne got them"....think geordie
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campsiefisher
Well-known member
A few of the guys in our club bought some of the midas flies from the creator (Paul Davison possibly ?) on one of our annual trips to the English ressies, and he told them to scruff them up with velcro (almost like a blob) before you fish them. Kinda put me off them as i couldn't be b*ggered trying not to break the pheasant tail legs.
Best regards
Jim
Best regards
Jim
Hi Col,It's an interesting story, which was why I asked. According to Tom Stewart's books, the original was a wet fly pattern, called the yellow owl. This is the original..
It was tied to represent an adult insect - as many wet flies were. The adult was a sedge (or possibly an aquatic moth) that hatched on Loch Leven. The original dressing used barn owl secondaries for the wings, and an old name for the barn owl was the yellow owl... hence the name of the fly. (I tied that one with tawny owl, as I do not have a pair of barn owl wings.)
Now, somewhere down through history it seems that the name transferred from the sedge/moth to a large buzzer that hatched in big numbers on Loch Leven. The buzzer became known as the yellow owl. I don't know who first tied a shuttlecock to imitate the hatching buzzer and gave it the black and yellow-striped body of the wet fly pattern, but it certainly took-off big time, such that the original wet fly is now consigned to the history books.
Col
What is the full dressing description for this wet fly?
I really like the look of it and happen to have Tawny Owl wings tucked away somewhere....
Cheers,
Sebastian
Cap'n Fishy
Well-known member
Aye, the snatcher was a Leven idea of Francie Jarrett's. It was like a 'pulling man's buzzer'. Neither nymph nor wet fly... and a lot of folk don't use it because it is neither one thing nor the other. It was designed to be slimly hackled, and if I tie it (and I keep a few), I strip off the fibres down one side of the hackle before winding it on...
I find they have their uses as alternatives to things like Diawls and crunchers when nymphing or washing-lining. But the snatcher has become more corrupted than just about any fly idea ever, when you look at all the ridiculous dressings you see described as 'snatchers'... 10 turns of bristling cock hackle, like a blummin' flue brush. And all sorts of gaudy tinsel-bodied flies with fluorescents in them... just basically taking any wet fly and taking the dressing on round the bend and then calling it a snatcher! Lost the plot a bit, methinks!
Col
Probably a pattern that would be better getting roughed up at the vice
before putting legs on. To me its a short version of a Legged Raider,
well i see similarities. John
Cap'n Fishy
Well-known member
Here you go, Sebastian - from 1960s Tom Stewart...
He has used hen pheasant, probably because he is thinking most folk won't have owl? Dunno. But you can see in my dressing how the hairiness of the sound-dampening on owl feathers is very like moth or sedge wings. I'm almost certain the original used barn owl, and that is why it is called the yellow owl.
That is my theory, what is mine!
Col
Rob Edmunds
Well-known member
Yes as far as I know Paul Davidson is responsible for the Midas....
Fished with Francie Jarratt in an international on Leven in 2001 when he was captain and beat him 14 -2.
I was very young he pulled Snatchers, I pulled Hoppers but couldn't cast anywhere near as far so I got on the fish first every drift.........not a nice bloke to share a boat with at all in my experience and took me off the fish 3 times .....even his own team and the Scottish Boatman didn't like him.
He never spike to me once the whole day, even after the match....but I'll never forget my boatman words " Aye Francieeeee...what's it like to be stuffed by a bairn on ya own water ?"
Fished with Francie Jarratt in an international on Leven in 2001 when he was captain and beat him 14 -2.
I was very young he pulled Snatchers, I pulled Hoppers but couldn't cast anywhere near as far so I got on the fish first every drift.........not a nice bloke to share a boat with at all in my experience and took me off the fish 3 times .....even his own team and the Scottish Boatman didn't like him.
He never spike to me once the whole day, even after the match....but I'll never forget my boatman words " Aye Francieeeee...what's it like to be stuffed by a bairn on ya own water ?"
Thanks Col. Will definitely tie this one. Used to fish this fly in a Shuttlecock version during my still water years. I know this is a loch fly but I want to try it on a river. It looks very fishy.Here you go, Sebastian - from 1960s Tom Stewart...
He has used hen pheasant, probably because he is thinking most folk won't have owl? Dunno. But you can see in my dressing how the hairiness of the sound-dampening on owl feathers is very like moth or sedge wings. I'm almost certain the original used barn owl, and that is why it is called the yellow owl.
That is my theory, what is mine!
Col
Cheers,
Sebastian
Scotty Mitchell
Well-known member
He’s world famous for being a Cnut.
I have also had the misfortune of sharing a boat once, but many encounters in car parks and huts.
You won’t find many Francie fans
bear
Well-known member
Just about to tie a few up and the only thing missing is yellow quill !
Rob, where do you source yours? The Polish Quills I have seem thinner and not so pronounced as yours.
Rob, where do you source yours? The Polish Quills I have seem thinner and not so pronounced as yours.
