New for 2008 - Snappers.

[Gander]

I was going to wait until I'd done a few trials, but have decided to share untried.

Firstly, let me state that the concept of the Snapper is not due to any originality of my own, it is purely the combining of two other styles of fly. In fact the most original thing is the name I have bestowed upon these patterns.

I am sure that someone is going to tell me that they have been fishing with my new patterns or very similar for years. I will have no reason to doubt them, but as an avid fly fishing reader and fly website surfer, I can hand on heart say that I have not seen the like.

I apologise that I am not yet able to post fly photos, but am presently working out what is needed for a suitable studio. Hopefully, I will be able to add a few pictures in the near future.

As my example pattern of this type of fly, I give you Gander's Snapper.

Hook - Kamasan B110 or similar.

Thread - Black 8/0

Underbody - Fine red holo tinsel. (Take it right round the bend, buzzer style.

Body - A strand of black and a strand of dark claret/burgandy flexifloss type material wound together in touching turns.

Body coating - Superglue followed by a couple of coats of varnish (Sally Hanson or Hard as Hull).

Body hackle - A dark furnace hackle dyed claret (I got mine from Artifly - It is the same hackle he ( Gerry - Storr) uses for his  impressive Claret Kate, I believe). Strip one side of the hackle to give a sparse look, as recommended by Stan Headley recently in an article on Snatchers. Three turns is good.

Rib - Very fine red wire.

Legs - Six knotted pheasant tail fibres. Three either side of the body. Make them slightly longer than the body and angled out away from the body, but not past the hook point. I always try and get the last segment beyond the knot to point in a different direction to the two fibres it it is tied in with. This gives it a more straggly, drowned/hatching look.

Head hackle - A couple of turns of black hen.

Cheeks - Clipped goose biots dyed chartreuse or sunburst edge (Can't make my mind up on this yet).


As you will have worked out by now. The fly is simply a combination of the Snatcher and Hopper. Or to put it more simply, a Snatcher with hopper legs.

If you have not worked out where the Snapper name comes from, it is made up of the "Sna" from snatcher and the "pper" from hopper.

Now, will they work? I absolutely 100% guarantee it. As I have emphasised, there is nothing new in their make up, they are just a new combination.

My hope is that they will add a little something to the Snatcher on days when it might occasionally make a difference. I am not trying to better the Snatcher or Hopper, I am just trying to give myself (and now yourselves) another option. Call it a Snatcher with an extra trigger point.

How did I come to putting this combination together? For years I have been very successfully (for me) using Half Hogs. This season gone, I tried out the Half Hog Hoppers. What I found was that the fish (exclusively wild brown in my case) would on any given day show a distinct preference as to whether they wanted legs on their hopper or not. Quite often I would fish a Half Hog Hopper and a Half Hog of the same pattern on the same leader. I would say that 80 to 90% of the time it was the standard HH that they went for mostly, but there was that 20% of the time where the hopper version seemed to be more attractive.


The patterns that can be tied Snapper style are myriad. I am sure a lot of you have favourite Snatchers. Why not tie a up a few Snapper versions. Who knows, it may be what that big one is waiting for.

[sfinn]

go on a few pics!! :lol:

[Gander]

First of all, many thanks to Scratch on the Fly Forums who took the great picture of the fly for me.



To be a little self critical, the body does need slimmed down a touch and the legs could possibly do with extended a bit more to make them a greater trigger point. However, I am very happy with the way that the red tinsel glows through the Flexifloss. I can hardly wait to try them out next season.

[nant_fisher]

Looks like it could be a very effective fly. Nice one

[Allan Crawford]

Excellent looking fly, body works really well, will have to try and tie one!

Allan