Fly Tying tip for a killer buzzer pattern for stillwaters.
I thought long and hard how to start this article. The first two words I put on “paper” (MS Word) were: Dan’s Sausage. I quickly started to hit the backspace button, since I was a bit afraid of what you’d think of me and what this introduction might indicate about Dan… but my ambition remains the same – introduce to you a pattern from the repertoire of Dan Svrcek used to fish for rainbows in still waters.
Dan introduced his Sausage during a visit to one Czech local fly fishing club in February of this year, so it’s certainly not a well-protected secret of his, but I still think that many may not be familiar with this fly since it doesn’t appear in any largely publicized fly catalog, though that may change after this article!
To give the Sausage some concrete form: it is a midge variant originally designed for large English lakes. Dan was inspired during competition training with the Czech fly fishing team in England, and this fly was first “discovered” by the then team coach Jirka Klima. The Sausage acquired its present form mainly through volume – it is really a well-fed midge tied on a heavy 6 to 8 sized hook. You might wonder why such a large midge is necessary, but those with experience with large English lake trout will back me up when I say that in such large lakes the definition of a large fly is somewhat altered.
I’m not going to describe how to fish with the Sausage, since it is the same as fishing with other midge variants. I do have a couple of tying tips, though, since Dan has discovered a way to greatly simplify this fly. The original pattern was tied using epoxy, which doesn’t lighten things up any and which we don’t always have along with us.
The foundation of the Sausage is a hard and heavy hook. Dan recommends Fulling Mill Heavy Weight, mainly because it is extremely hard. Fulling Mill basically sells Hayabush hooks under their name, so if you have Hayabush hooks available, no problem.
In light of the fact that we tie from the rear, two wires must be used (0.09 mm in diameter, or 0.12 for larger flies). Dan prefers a combination of silver and red, or possibly a gold-silver combo instead of silver. Let your fantasy run free.
The body is tied using a well-trusted material here in the Czech Republic – Body Stretch. This is Dan’s trick – Body Stretch is used for the body as a substitute for thread and epoxy. Dan says that the fly has to be dark (black or dark olive Body Stretch), though Jirka’s original patterns included light olive. One great advantage of Body Stretch is that it is glossy on one side and matte on the other. If you want a “lacquered –look” midge then turn the glossy side out, and visa versa for a matte look.
The next step is the ribbing - again nothing earth-shattering, just don’t forget to tie in the opposite direction than the Body Stretch.
The thorax is tied simply using 2 peacock feathers. Dan prefers the claret (wine) shades, but you can also use natural non-colored feathers. Tie in the tip of the feather toward the hook (not the opposite), build the thorax and then wind the tying thread to make this part of the fly more durable. The final step is creating the head with tying thread, and the Sausage is done.
