Furnace or Coch y Bondhu
Posted: Sat Jan 15, 2022 6:26 pm
I recently watched a Zoom presentation by the Central Oregon Fly Tyers Guild and was surprised to see the presenter tie and discuss the Coch y Bondhu. He also mentioned his preference for swinging soft hackles. Most of these folks are experienced tyers and this fellow shared a couple very good tips for tying in the oval tinsel for the tag and the ostrich plume which he wrapped over the peacock body. I'd not seen either of these techniques used in any of the videos I could find afterwards tying this fly.
I also recently came in possession of some old tying materials. Included in that stash was some quite old hackle feathers strung with string. Some of those are beautiful furnace feathers which have all the qualities and colors of the coch y bondhu feathers pictured in Robert Smith's book. Everything I'd read said these feathers were pretty much impossible to come by these days. But, I'm wondering if any of you feather experts out there can tell me how long ago they disappeared from normal sources.
With that preamble, I had to tie a few with these furnace feathers. They have the beautiful black centers with the deep reddish orange outer sections and vaguely appear to have the slightest dark tips. My lousy camera does not pick up the colors well but here are a couple of my versions.
One is tied on a wide gape barbless competition hook, and the other a size 14 TMC 5262 size 14.
I can't find any reference to what hooks they should be tied on, but since they are supposed to be beatle flies, I think the shorter hook may be more traditional. I think in the south, we'd call the coch y bondhu beatle the june bug....
I also recently came in possession of some old tying materials. Included in that stash was some quite old hackle feathers strung with string. Some of those are beautiful furnace feathers which have all the qualities and colors of the coch y bondhu feathers pictured in Robert Smith's book. Everything I'd read said these feathers were pretty much impossible to come by these days. But, I'm wondering if any of you feather experts out there can tell me how long ago they disappeared from normal sources.
With that preamble, I had to tie a few with these furnace feathers. They have the beautiful black centers with the deep reddish orange outer sections and vaguely appear to have the slightest dark tips. My lousy camera does not pick up the colors well but here are a couple of my versions.
One is tied on a wide gape barbless competition hook, and the other a size 14 TMC 5262 size 14.
I can't find any reference to what hooks they should be tied on, but since they are supposed to be beatle flies, I think the shorter hook may be more traditional. I think in the south, we'd call the coch y bondhu beatle the june bug....
