The method demonstrated I have found to be the simplest to tie to get the legs to sit well on the hook. The use of colours on the legs and bodies is only limited by your imagination. I do find a ‘hotspot’ at the tail helps.
          

• Hook  Long shank lt. wt 10                                                          
• Thread  Brown/black                                                                       
• Hotspot  Fluorescent orange/red/green floss                                    
• Body  2 Strands of 4 ply nylon wool brown/black/olive           
• Hackle  Long fibre cock hackle   brown/black/olive                          
• Legs  Sili Legs/Micro Rubber colour to match body

Give this one a try and let me know how you get on !

Dave C and The Team

• Hook -- Wetfly  8-12.
• Thread -- Black.
• Tail -- 2 Goose biot ( black or brown).
• Body -- 2 strands Peacock herl.
• Rib -- Fine flat gold tinsel.
• Hackle -- Brown or Black Hen (2 or 3 turns).
• Horns -- Two slips white Swan or Goose biot tied in at head after the hackle is secured.

Clipped Wing Coachman

• Hook -- Wetfly  10-14.
• Thread -- Black.
• Tail -- None.
• Body -- 2 strands Peacock herl.
• Rib -- Fine gold/copper wire.
• Hackle -- Brown Hen( 2or 3 turns).
• Wing -- Tuft of white feather fibre. ( ½ length of body.)

Dave C. and the Team

The Dressing

• Hook -- Kamasan 175 or similar , sizes 8 / 10.
• Tail -- White marabou with a few strands of pearlescent micro flash.
• Body -- Rainbow flashabou or similar.
• Rib -- Fine gold oval.
• Hackle -- Long yellow cock palmered.
• Head -- Gold bead to suit hook size.

Dave C. and the Team

The deer hair patterns are more complicated to tie and create a mess when you trim them up and I feel are less effective.

The Dressing

• Hook                Lt. wt. L/S 8,10,12,14. (kamasan 830.)
• Thread              Brown.
• Hackle              Blue Dun/ Red Game. Trim off the all the hackle fibres projecting downwards.
• Body                Cream dubbing ( possum under fur) tied meaty.
• Thorax            Cream Antron(optional).
• Wing                 Cream antron ( I use Partons dapping floss.) 
• Flotant             Mucilin or similar

Dave C. and the Team

Their long legs make them very distinctive and all the imitative patterns are based on this feature. They can be tied with a detached body on short shank hooks or wool body tied on a long shank hook, there are even gold bead versions.

The most common and certainly an effective pattern is tied with hackle point wings and knotted cock pheasant tail fibres for the legs on a long shank size 10 hook. The most trying part of this fly is tying the knots in the pheasant tail fibres. Try to acquire the centre tail feathers from a mature cock bird. These fibres will be longer and stronger. I also tie two together at the same time, it saves time and the trout do not seem to notice.

A variant of the daddy long legs is the hopper. For this pattern don’t give it wings and tie a seals fur dubbed body with lurex ribbing.

• Hook -- Long shank size 10
• Tying thread -- Brown
• Body -- Brown wool or floss
• Rib ( optional ) -- Fine copper wire
• Wing -- 2 brown grizzle hackles over back
• Legs -- 2 pairs of knotted cock pheasant tail fibres each side of the body
• Hackle -- Brown cock hackle

For the Hopper

• Body -- Seals fur ( any colour )
• Rib -- Lurex silver or gold
• Hackle -- Colour to match

Happy Fishing from Dave C and the Team

There are several ways of tying this fly, all based on using a yarn post to achieve a horizontal hackle which looks like a parachute. The hook used is a lightweight buzzer hook. I use Kamasan KB100s sizes 10 and 12.I hope you will find the lesson easy to follow. You can use exactly the same technique to tie parachute dry flies, on which you use a straight hook with tail fibres to keep the tail end up in the water.

Hopefully this satisfies the purists.  I use Kamasan KB400s.  For both of these patterns you will find that the better the quality of the hackle the better it floats. If you prefer to dub the body keep it as sparse as possible, it stops the fly getting waterlogged. Give it a try and let me know how you get on.

Materials
 

• Hook Kamasan B100 ( or similar ) sizes 10, 12 or 14 if you are brave.
• Thread Sparton Micro black (or similar).
• Rib optional fine silver wire.
• Dubbing Hare or Possum body fur.
• Hackle best quality cock hackles you can afford.
• Wing Post Egg yarn or white calf tail.

Dave C. and The Team

The fly had proved so successful on the stillwaters, particularly for rainbows, that some enterprising angler came up with booby tube which could be supplied in various lengths and was not damaged by varnish.

That is the material we have used on the demo.

The variations on colour of head, chenille, cactus chenille or the marabou tail is limited only by the imagination of the tyer. Green and white and orange and white are favourites.

The ‘fly’ is usually fished with a sinking line. Once the line has settled on the lake bed the booby will be floating above it at the height of the leader.  You can be lazy and sit there and wait for a rainbow to cruise by and take the fly, or you can retrieve your line in long pulls, allowing time between for the fly to lift back up to its original height.  As you pull the line the booby is drawn to the lake bed.

In recent years the competition fishers use boobies to fish the ‘washing line’ method.  Usually, I believe, with an intermediate line.  The booby is fished on the point and 2 droppers with nymphs or buzzers on the cast.  This method is used to explore different depths where the fish are feeding.

I do not believe our American friends have discovered this ‘fly’ yet despite their Dolly Parton probably being responsible for its name.

If you like sitting on the bank and taking it easy this fly might be worth a try.  It has accounted for some big fish.

Materials

• Hook long shank 10 / 8
• Body orange chenille fritz
• Tail orange marabou
• Head plastazote tube orange or white
• Tying silk orange
• Tail flash optional
• Please note color variations are optional ( white /green -- black / green ) 

Regards

Dave Cammiss and The Team

The one thing they all had in common was the deer hair head. This was achieved by using spun deer hair and clipped to form a bulky bouyant head. Hook sizes from long shank 6 to 10. It can be quite an exciting fly to fish when you strip it through a big ripple when the trout are high in the water. You wont get as many as you miss but it can liven up a days fishing.

Once you have mastered the tying in of the deer hair and trimming it to shape there is no end to the patterns you can tie.This lesson has already inspired a line of thought with muddlers which I have not yet seen tied and I think they are looking promising.

Materials

• Hook long shank 10 / 8
• Body orange wool or chenille
• Rib silver lurex
• Wing dyed yellow hair -- goat or calf tail
• Head spun deer hair
• Tying silk orange

Happy Fishing

Dave Cammiss and The Team