Flick's variants

[GenCon]

On this cold snowy day. What to do? Tie flies. Most that know me know that I like to tie and fish with classic style dry flies. That being said I do tie and use parachutes, comparaduns, cdc drys. But there is something special with some of the older style patterns like Flicks variants. He did not create all of them but he is credited to popularizing them in his clasic book Art Flicks stream side guide. This book was the tying bible for me as a kid. Around 12 or 13 yrs. old. I am almost 55 now. How did that happen? So what we have is the Dun Variant which was to imitate a Isonicia, the Grey Fox which was Flicks version of the Green Drake and the Cream Drake imitates the Potamanthus. The Cream Drake is also a great serching fly to use any time during the Summer.

I hope you like them too,

GenCon

 

[jeremymcon]

Are they all quill bodied? I can't tell if the cream variant is a quill or just dubbing.

 

[FrequentTyer]

Beautiful ties GC! Variants are favorites of mine and I'm always surprised they don't get fished much.
Mike.

 

[J55tyger88]

I can't wait for bugs...

I really like the grey fox!

 

[JackM]

Is the "variation" that the hackle is over-sized?

 

[Brownie101]

Wow. Very nice.

 

[Festus]

Nice! The Cream Variant is the next pattern in line to be tied this week.

 

[afishinado]

JackM wrote:
Is the "variation" that the hackle is over-sized?

In the case of Art Flick's flies, his "variant" patterns have no wings and longer hackle, usually more than 2x the hook gape to represent wings.

 

[GenCon]

Jeremy, yes they all have quill bodies. And yes JackM nailed it. Hackles 2x larger. Or even slightyl larger. The hardest part of tying these is finding hackles long enough. But fun to tie and fish.

GenCon

 

[JackM]

Plus no wings-- but that has never seemed essential to me anyway.

 

[troutbert]

I use variants (wingless dries) quite a bit on the mountain freestone streams. They are easy to tie and catch fish. So they are good options when you are about to head out fishing and just need to crank out a few dries before you go.

I usually do not tie the hackle over-sized, very much, if at all.

Mostly I tie just 2 variants, a brown one and a yellow one.

Brown variant
Hackle and tails: grizzly and ginger (brown)
Body: tan, brown, Hares ear dubbing

Yellow variant
Hackle and tails: grizzly and light ginger
Body: Yellow dubbing.

Use the brownish one from early season to mid-season, when a lot of the bugs are brownish.

Use the yellow one as you get into the lighter colored bug hatches: sulphur, Cahills, Grey Fox, yellow sally hatches.

You can also tie wingless dries to imitate any hatch, such as Isonychias, BWOS, etc.

And don't forget to tie some Rusty Spinner variants. Which is just light blue dun for tails and hackle. And whatever "rusty" dubbing you like for the body. I prefer a cinnamon type color. A very good pattern to use at dusk, when trout are rising, but you can't tell what they are taking. They are probably taking spinners. Use the fully hackled one in pocket water. Trim the underside of the hackle when fishing flat water.

 

[afishinado]

troutbert wrote:
I use variants (wingless dries) quite a bit on the mountain freestone streams. They are easy to tie and catch fish. So they are good options when you are about to head out fishing and just need to crank out a few dries before you go.

I usually do not tie the hackle over-sized, very much, if at all.

Mostly I tie just 2 variants, a brown one and a yellow one.

Brown variant
Hackle and tails: grizzly and ginger (brown)
Body: tan, brown, Hares ear dubbing

Yellow variant
Hackle and tails: grizzly and light ginger
Body: Yellow dubbing.

Use the brownish one from early season to mid-season, when a lot of the bugs are brownish.

Use the yellow one as you get into the lighter colored bug hatches: sulphur, Cahills, Grey Fox, yellow sally hatches.

You can also tie wingless dries to imitate any hatch, such as Isonychias, BWOS, etc.

And don't forget to tie some Rusty Spinner variants. Which is just light blue dun for tails and hackle. And whatever "rusty" dubbing you like for the body. I prefer a cinnamon type color. A very good pattern to use at dusk, when trout are rising, but you can't tell what they are taking. They are probably taking spinners. Use the fully hackled one in pocket water. Trim the underside of the hackle when fishing flat water.

^ Great post. Simple and effective way to both tie for and fish many hatches. The half a handful of patterns mentioned above will get you into fish in the vast majority of mayfly hatches found anywhere.

 

[wbranch]

Very nice flies but rather than calling them variants based on the barbule length of the hackle aren't your flies more correctly called spiders?

 

[lv2nymph]

Gc, great tying. Those are fine looking ties, I'll bet they'll fish as good as they look.

 

[GenCon]

wbranch, I see why you would call them spiders. But originally they where called variants. lv2nymph, thank you for your compliments.
I am itching to tie some of your mink nymphs. They look tasty.
I'll send you a pic after and will appreciate your critique.

GenCon

 

[lv2nymph]

Nice, I'll be watching for them.

 

[wbranch]

What are they called when tied without tails? I remember Harry Darbee used to tie them with so the hackles were opposing. I'm not getting the correct language - two hackles tied in shiny side towards the bend and two hackles shiny side towards the eye.

 

[troutbert]

wbranch wrote:
What are they called when tied without tails? I remember Harry Darbee used to tie them with so the hackles were opposing. I'm not getting the correct language - two hackles tied in shiny side towards the bend and two hackles shiny side towards the eye.

That's a Hewitt Skater or Spider. I'm not sure which term is preferred.

Here's an article by Ed Shenk about them.
http://www.flytyer.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2992

 

[wbranch]

Troutbert.

Thanks for reminding me of the name "Skater". I was going to add initially to my post about pressing the hackles together but decided to omit it thinking it unecessary. I've tied some over the years but don't have any in my boxes now. As much as I use thorax and compara-duns once in awhile on the Delaware as I float down alone in my Hyde I'll tie on a #10 Grey Fox Variant (long after the bug is gone) and throw fifty footers up near the banks and skate them on long leaders just to see the trout chase after them.

 

[FrequentTyer]

Spiders are not variants. The hackle on spiders (or skaters) is much longer, usually greater than 2 inches in diameter. They are typically tied on smaller hooks without a tail. Variants are typically wingless, but all wingless dry flies are not variants. A variant is tied with a hackle over sized 2-3X.
Variants do a good job of mimicking the light pattern of the natural and sit very delicately on the water moving with the breeze and current. They seem to be alive. There is really no point in winging them because the hackle would obscure the wing unless it was made ridiculously out of proportion. But the effectiveness of the variant has nothing to do with the lack of wing. Standard dry flies need wings to land correctly and present a natural profile. Yes, you can catch fish on wingless dry flies, but winged fly will perform better. Why else would folks like Gordon and Cross and Flick have gone to the trouble of tying them on?
Mike.