There are quite a few feathers used in this particular style of tying, but the resulting silhouette created when retrieved through the water makes it worth the effort.

The feathers are off a ring neck pheasant and they have a very buggy looking pattern on them. The pattern and colour on the feathers can vary slightly. So you can vary your flies accordingly such as a dark brown, light brown/ tan and a mutant green version.

The Mrs Simpson Fly could represent many things, I think it is an excellent mud-eye (dragonfly nymph) representation foremost, as well as crustacean and of course small baitfish.

The Set UP

Use an intermediate or sinking line on no less than a 6wt rod with a 9ft leader and some 4 to 6 pound Tippett and vary the speed of your retrieve. If you are searching the water or “blind casting” as they say and you want to cast good distances with less false casting and less effort and still have a shoulder left at the end of the day, then I suggest a 9 wt rod.

When I first started Fly Tying this was one of the first half dozen different patterns I tried. I figured if I persisted with this particular pattern and conquered it then I might turn out to be a half decent fly tier.

There are some flies you tie with more vigour and confidence than others because they have caught you trout in the past and will most likely do so in the future, the Mrs Simpson Fly is definitely one of those Flies.

I know this may sound “cliché” but you really should have a few of these in your box especially when fly fishing lakes. All the better if you have tied them yourself.

Watch my “how to tie the Mrs Simpson Fly Video”  below I hope it helps.

Materials needed.

Hook : Size 2 to 8 streamer hook 4x long. Size 6 is my first choice.

Thread : Black uni thread 6/0 or UTC ultra thread 70.

Body : Red Wool.

Side Feathers : Ring Neck Pheasant.

Tail : Black Squirrel Tail.

Throat : Black Squirrel Tail.

Little Tips.

Preparing  Side Feathers.

You will need a total of 18 church window feathers off a ringneck pheasant. Place them in groups of 3. Within each group stack the three feathers on top of each other with the ends perfectly aligned. Strip off lower fibres to roughly get the right size, you can do that when you tie them in later. It is not compulsory to use as many feathers as I did. You can use 6 sets in groups of 2 if you want . For smaller shorter hooks such as size 8 & 10 you can get away with just 4 groups of feathers, it’s your call.

When tying the side feathers into position make 2 or 3 firm but not too tight wraps then let the bobbin hang. The weight of the bobbin will keep the feathers in place. You can now readjust the side feathers into the correct position with your fingers if required and then continue wrapping to secure. Try to achieve a streamline profile not allowing the feathers to kick out. Don’t make the first couple of wraps too tight, gradually increase the tension with each wrap .

If they still kick out try building up the thread just in front of where the red wool body is tied off creating a smooth transition negating the kink out effect then start again. When wrapping the red wool for the body, it can be used to lock in and streamline the side feathers as well. The video will show this clearly. It’s a fairly tricky fly to tie especially mounting the side feathers. Good tying to you all.

I set up my fly rod, an old Redington 4 piece 6 weight that I bought in the U.S.A about 14 years ago but still does the job and put a Black Skin Nymph size 14 on. I worked the bank searching with little slow retrieves with the breeze passing over my right shoulder and plenty of sunshine but no action. At the time there was no one else there so I could fish where I wanted and decided to walk 300 meters around the corner away from the breeze. This area on the water was shaded by some big pine trees and the wind lane would have shipped any food source in the water for Trout such as nymphs, snails,etc into this area. I soon realised this because I could see a group of fish all swimming together sipping the surface in this particular area.  These fish were well within range so I made a cast to a one and I was on straight away .

I decided to keep this nice little Rainbow because it was a good eating size  and the lake is continually stocked. An autopsy revealed that it had been gouging on snails that must have been drifting and congregating into that particular area. The Black Skin Nymph was about the same size, maybe a little bit bigger but even so turned out to be a good snail pattern.

Not long after another Fly Fishermen appeared and proceeded in passing me by until he noticed my catch laying there on the ground. Turns out he lived locally and he was quick to “boast” that he was a very successful “Fly Fishermen”,  and that the fish in this lake were very finicky and as a result the hardest fish to catch out of all the lakes in this region. He doesn’t sound too successful to me !  I didn’t see him catch any so I guess you can’t be successful all the time, he could cast a Fly alright though, I might add.

As I later watched this gentlemen ” unsuccessfully ” Fly Fishing, I thought to myself, I don’t think anyone can class themselves as a “Successful Fly Fishermen” or should I say ” Successful Fly Fisher Person ” to be politically correct. The way I see it, sometime’s you are successful and sometime’s you aren’t,  but if  ” boasting ”  that  you are a ” Successful Fly Fishermen ”  can some how boost’s one’s ego after looking at a Trout that some one else has successfully caught, well good luck to you.

Anyway  I hope you enjoy the footage, it was a good day and the lake refreshed my memory on how important it is study the behaviour of the water such as wind lanes  and wind direction in that it pretty much controls where the trout’s food source will end up and as a consequence so too the trout.

I conducted an autopsy  on the rainbow trout and found a couple of snails, one big black beetle  and it was absolutely  choc full of tiny little black midges. They were just cruising around in a group slurping them up off the surface. So much for my “smelt” or “small baitfish” theory,  this fish obviously wanted something different.

Anyway about the Fly. The Appetiser originated in Britain to imitate the local Fry or Roach. It is regarded as a classic still water fly in Britain and I reckon it is a brilliant little smelt or rainbow trout fingerling imitation over here in Australia. It’s definitely climbed up the ranks in my fly box.

If you want to tie it up yourself then you can follow me in this video. I hope you like my taste in accompanying music if you don’t then just turn it down.

“Catching fish on the Fly, the only way to go”.

It was time to jump out of my cloud of despondency and try something different. “Alright mate”, I said to my dog Bazza “we will go up to the lake and give it a go, then he said “yeah great idea”  ,well not really but there was a fair chance he wasn,t  going to disagree.

I chose the far side of the bank via a 4wd track. Setting up the movie camera on the tripod focussing it on the stretch of bank I intended to fish through to dusk.It was one of those dead still nights where voices seem to carry for miles across the water. I could see fishermen on the other side of the lake pointing at me and could hear their murmurings whilst setting up. I quickly came to the conclusion that they must of thought I was a bit of  ” w****r”, well you know what I mean.

So the seen was set and the water had that look about it where it was about to come alive with the odd “slurp” or “rise”, better still a big “smash up” on the surface of the water and that is exactly what happened. I was using a 9 weight with a sinking line with a Gold Alexandra on the end. Casting out as far as I could retrieving and stripping as fast as I could and on the sixth cast and retrieve “whack” it was on with what turned out to be a nice big brown. He carried on a fair bit and it soon brought the attention of the fishermen on the other side so I had a bit of an audience. When I finally got it in one of the bait fishermen directly opposite me said “must be local knowledge”. I guess he was right having fly fished the area for twenty years or more even though I was not a local.  I thought about replying ” no mate I live six hours away and have never been here before in my life” but I’m not a smart a**e, but I did think about saying it that’s a bit of a worry I guess. Having a smile as big a lunar park was rubbing it in enough.

So with all self doubts suddenly washed away,  my ego back in tact and now being able to sleep at night, my dog “bazza” and I trundled off back to my 4wd with a constant urge to “click my heals” but I refrained because that would have been being a “smart a**e as well.

Oh’ and by the way I would like to introduce you to my loyal dog “bazza” who has an un-relenting passion for food, loves fishing, chasing bunnies, and generally having a good time.

While this was going on there was some serious “Slurping” and “Gulping” going on on the water and at this stage I had thrown everything at them without result. I soon came to the conclusion that what I was offering them was too big so I looked for the smallest fly I could find in my box and it happened to be a Grey Duster size 16. If I had a size 18 or 20 I would of thrown that on but I didn’t so it had to do and the grey colour was nothing like the tan colour of these tiny Mayflies.  Anyway I put it on and waited for the next rise which happened to only be about 8 ft in front of me. I flicked the Fly out straight away just in front of the ring and he just “whacked” it without hesitation quite a pleasing result for what looked liked was going to be a frustrating evening.