Dark Watchett

[flyfishwithme]

Swarbrick (1817 Manuscript) says " No 10 THis is a very small Flie a dark iron collar a blo wich cocks up her wings the feather is Taken from Betwixet a Jackdaws Shoulders made very Small with Oringe and purple Silk twisted Together water rat Down in the Bodey This Flie is cald Watchet" (the spelling and grammar is as it was written)

Turton says (1836 - The Angler's Manual or Fly-Fisher's Oracle) "It is the best fly that can be used for trout and greyling in dark waters"

Pritt says (1885 - Yorkshire Country Flies) "one of the daintiest morsels with which you can tempt a trout and one of the most difficult to imitate successfully"

Lister says (1898 - List of artificial flies) 21. Dark Watchet (iron Blue Dun) "Feather from back of merlin hawk. Head, orange silk. Body, orange a purple twisted together with a little mole's fur. A very small fly but a favourite on cold blustery days. Hook 16"

I say (don't you just like it when you have the power of the pen) - "Fished early in the season when the the days are cold and blustery and the small olives are hatching, it can produce some very special surprises"

This is one the very early flies and it still stands the test of time. Great on the coloured waters that we have in the north of England. I tie mine slightly different:

Hook: Tiemco 103BL
Thread: Uni Thread 6/0 Orange
Rib: Uni Thread 6/0 Purple
Dubbing: Natural mole
Hackle: Jacdaw
(I tie in the orange thread as you would a normal silk body - down and back - catching the purple silk in 2 turns from the end and bringing it back to the eye in turns that will let me place the purple thread between each turn. I then lightly dub the purple silk and take it up towards the eye BETWEEN each turn of the orange.



Enjoy

[Hans Weilenmann]

Nice one Philip

Cheers,
Hans W

[letumgo]

Beautiful classic! It has been on my "To Tye" list for a while, but I (currently) lack a Jackdaw skin. Thanks for also sharing the historical references. Wonderful to read the background. Thanks for sharing.

[Old Hat]

Ooooh!....a grand pattern for sure. Beautiful rendition. Thanks.

[tie2fish]

Very, very nice.

[Otter]

Nicel tied Philp, your method certainly makes the job a bit easier.

[chase creek]

Very nice tie!
And thanks for the background - contributions like that make
this site really stand out.

[Ruard]

Hi Philip,

thanks for the history and nice tie by the way.

Greeting

[Ruard]

Jim Wynn and Tom Cross said:

(43).DARK WATCHET or IRON BLUE DUN (JW).
Hook: 16
Hackle: Feather from young cock jackdaw or from outside a young rook wing.
Body: Mulberry artificial silk ribbed with orange tying silk.
Head: Blob of orange transparent varnish on the orange tying silk.
The standard dressing of orange and purple silk dubbed with a little mole fur is a good killer but I prefer the mulberry art silk ribbed with orange tying silk. After all, on examination of the natural fly, there is a fair amount of both orange end mulberry about the body and I think the mulberry shade cannot be bettered, especially when the art silk becomes rough, like dubbing, and the orange ribbing shows through. The dry pattern must have a dark blue Andalusian cock hackle of wood quality.

(44). LIGHT WATCHET (JW).
Hook. 16 Hackle. The light bloa feather from the fieldfare back.
Body: Straw coloured silk.
Head: Straw silk.
Use: Dressed very fine and neatly, the fly man won't have any trouble in catching a few trout when this fly appears. It very quickly changes into the spinner and it is in this guise that the angler will be troubled in dressing an imitation.

Greeting

[Soft-hackle]

IMG_1247B.jpg

Philip,
This is such a great looking fly with some great background you've posted. I've sharpened it up a bit. Hope you don't mind. Nice work and thanks for posting it.

Mark