Or you may not...I had to go back and find it myself!
The Gill Bug was a simple, deer hair-and-chenille pattern, intended as a surface fly for bass and panfish. It came from the inventive mind of Paul H Young, and in case you missed that, here's a link to that blog post:
Paul Young's, "Gill Bug" >>>
If you missed The Gill Bug, well,... you probably won't remember Paul Young.
He was based in Detroit, and was known for his exquisitely slender and light bamboo fly rods in the years following World War II.
He literally pioneered what we today call "ultralight fly rods," although he denied having invented the small rod craze. Nevertheless, he engineered new ways to make these rods, and became renowned for them.
To this day, his rods are so well regarded that they have their own database to keep track of them!
There's much more about him on the Gill Bug link above, if you're interested.
More to the point of this article, however, is that Paul was also a top notch fly tyer, with a good many popular patterns to his credit. "The Michigan Stone," "The Strawman Nymph," and the aforementioned, "Gill Bug," were all in his catalogue
Bass Fishing
Even though his primary angling interests were trout and salmon, Paul
Young went for any fish that would take a fly. For example, he developed tackle and techniques for salt water fly fishing, and he
held the world's record for fly-caught bonefish at one time. And there's the aforementioned Gill Bug - his own pattern for panfish and bass.
But - and its a big "BUT" - because he was primarily a builder of lithesome trout rods, his fly tyinp efforts converged to create bass flies that could be cast easily with
the lightest rods possible.
Today this is not uncommon, but he opened the door to this aspect of fly fishing 60 or more years ago.
Of
special interest to us was Mr. Young's fascination
with smallmouth bass.
He believed they could be taken on or near the surface with light fly tackle.
And he was obviously on to something... many of todays' favorite patterns intended for these fish do just that.
But there is one key difference:
They are, for the most part, large, hulking things with as many hairy, feathery, rubbery appendages as can be crammed on to a hook.
That is not the path Mr. Young was taking.
Instead, Paul created several specialist patterns that are essentially large dry flies. One of his most successful patterns was the one seen here, "The Redhead," a split-wing variation of the Trude squirrel-tail flies.
A Bevy of Redheads
The Redhead - Above and Below
Unlike sparsely tied trout flies, the dressing of the Redhead is really full and bushy.
This is by design - you want the fly to be "active" on, or near, the surface and to create a visible disturbance... "to move a lot of water," as we would say, today.
In that way, it is something like more modern bass bugs.
But, because it's mostly made from squirrel hair, hackle and little else, it gives the impression of bulkiness, without possessing real mass.
This is in stark contrast to the familiar but gargantuan, "bass bugs," and it means it won't unlikely to spoil the cast on lighter weight gear.
With it's deliberately jam-packed dressing, The Redhead will push a lot of water and make a commotion - both on the surface and just beneath it.
It can wake and surge, too, if the hackle collar is wrapped especially fat and burly.
It floats pretty well, particularly if both the fly and the leader have floatant applied to them.
Bass
feeding at the surface on insects, or anything else, are seldom as selective as trout, and the Redhead comes into its own in this regard.
It also makes a good pattern just below the surface.
Beneath the surface - I mention this latter notion of fishing subsurface, on purpose. It is often overlooked in our rush to hit that exciting surface bite on poppers, frogs, and other floating beasties.
But after spending time on the water, I have found that there are really few critters actually floundering around on top of the water. In short, we imagine it more than it actually happens.
As it turns out, most of the things bass eat are found somewhere below the surface. They will come up to take lures on top, yes, but the point here is that they are COMING UP to do so....from below.
So, it's more likely that they will take lures and flies, more often or more readily, UNDER the water.
This was driven home a few years ago when I found that another of my favorite flies, The Humpy, was as good a fly BENEATH the surface, as it was on it!
I came to fish it as a one-two pattern: cast it out and let if work as a surface fly. Once it got soggy and sank down in the water, I could fish it as a wet fly and keep catching fish.
With this in mind, the Redhead can cover both realms.
It will remain afloat for a good while, but it can also be allowed to sink and then fish as a suspending wet fly in the near-surface region.
Materials
Hook - long shank, #4-#10 light wire hooks cover most situations.
I use Aberdeens.
Thread - Something around 8/0-6/0, for strength to bind the hair
Body - Red floss. This is the original body dressing, and also forms the tail
Rib - Gold tinsel, medium
Wing - Red/ginger squirrel tail hair
Hackle - 2 ginger/brown hackles, sized large for the hook.
Squirrel tail hair and hackle. Here it's a grey squirrel, and some mixed hackles: dun, badger, black and ginger.
The Redhead, as tied by Mr. Young, was "color coordinated" - it used red/ginger squirrel and hackle.
Tools
From top left clockwise: bobbin with choice of thread, hair stacker, head cement and super glue, scissors, whip finisher, dubbing brush/comb.
NOTE ABOUT ADHESIVES: I include adhesives because a teensy dab at main points during construction helps make for a tough fly.
And squirrel hair is particularly slippery - a dot of glue helps secure it.
Tying the Redhead (see photos 1-3 below)
photo 1
photo 2
photo 3
The tying is pretty basic, with the exception of the wing.
You build the slim tail and body in the usual way.
Then the wing is arranged in the following manner:
1. Cut a pretty hefty hank of hair from the squirrel tail, roughly about the thickness of #2 pencil.
2. Tie on the hair behind the eye, in bucktail fashion - that is to say, tips facing rearward and overhanging the bend of the hook.
Secure the hair firmly with several wraps of thread and a half hitch, then trim off the butts close, and at an an angled taper.
3. Separate the hair into two equal shocks, one to each side of the centerline, and, with figure 8 wraps, separate each shock of hair so it sticks out to the side at about 45 degrees AND angled slightly upwards.
4. With head cement, saturate the base of the hair butts, and when half dry, squeeze flat with tweezers or pointed nose plier.
5. Select TWO medium length hackles, with barbules 1 1/2 - 2 times as long as the hook gap. Tie in the hackles by the stem, just in front of the wings, on edge and with the dull side of the feather facing forward.
6. Wind on each feather separately, getting the bulk of the feather on the fly. Bind each tightly behind the eye.
7. Build a thread head and apply a liberal dollop of cement to the thread.
A unique fly, made from common materials, designed for casting ease with regular gear. What's not to like?
Give The Redhead a try.
Thanks so much for reading,
Tight Lines
David
Palmetto Fly n Fish
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© all rights reserved 2021
Inspired by a Chauncy K. Lively article in the 1975 PA Angler.
All credit due the source.
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