Dressing a Baby Sun Fly described by Louis Noble.

Hook: sizes 10 – 20.
Tying silk: brown.
Ribbing silk: black.
Whisks: black.
Body: rabbit fur, very dark & almost black. This is found on the face, between eyes & nose –  omit the guard hairs.
Hackle: Coch-a-bon-ddu if you can get it or Furnace, but you need to brush tips with black marker pen.

A fly for all seasons…

…now wouldn’t that be a good thing – to have a pattern that could be used all season through !. This concept probably won’t appeal to the angler who feels naked without several boxes in his vest but the truly practical person almost certainly has a few flies which he looks on as “ fail me nevers” and are excellent utility patterns.
The need to “match the hatch” is sometimes a critical situation if we’re to catch those difficult fish but what if there’s no significant hatch, that’s the time we need a reliable pattern in which we can have total confidence, hopefully borne out by much success.
I have a few of these and I’d like to bring one to your attention but as usual, I must be careful not to teach my granny to suck eggs. I think some club members will be aware of this fly but probably not the one’s new to the Alyn or fly fishing in general and it is they who will potentially face hours of frustration.
The pattern I’m referring to goes by the rather cute name of Baby Sun Fly (BSF) but a baby it’s not, rather a giant among flies. Its origination is credited to Rev.Edward Powell, the famous fly fishing vicar from South Shropshire but you could reasonably argue that he only modified the Sunfly, a pattern of the even more famous Dai Lewis of Tregaron.
The period of 1930 onwards was important in that area and the Welsh Marches generally, with several influential fly dressers in operation and I suppose it was inevitable that there would be some cross fertilisation of patterns – in fact, “Vicar Powell” had several other significant patterns ,the true origins of which can be traced back to Dai Lewis. This is hardly surprising as it was Lewis who taught Powell how to dress flies. But I digress….
BSF was a favourite dry fly of Powell who fished the rivers and streams of the area, many of which were very similar to the Alyn and he used it as a general imitation of the black gnat and flies of that ilk. He dressed it on hooks size 12 – 16 and on the larger sizes used two hackles, and quite long. Overall it was quite a bushy fly.
He used it predominantly in May/June and it is here that my experience varies radically as for me it’s truly a fly for all season, and the first one I reach for in difficult times.
My size range is 10 – 20 with 16 probably the most generally used. The largest are for the first month or so and the smallest for anytime that smuts and genuine black gnats put in an appearance. I have caught countless fish on this pattern even when Olives are hatching – I can’t believe they take it as such but either because black fly is mixed in or the fish are simply in the mood to feed on the top. The smallest are particularly good for winter grayling on the Dee when they get pre-occupied with tiny hatching insects.
As you know, I have recently rejoined the club but only managed to squeeze in two trips so far. It was great to be back and the only pattern used on those trips was the BSF which was greeted enthusiastically by the Alyn residents – they weren’t so keen to stay on however with several good fish lost but I did manage to land a couple. On those days there was no sign of hatching fly although fish were rising in the pools – if I got my cast right with a decent presentation, almost invariably I had a rise, which is just what I would have expected, such is my confidence in the pattern.
I’m sure you’re aware that most “ black flies” are not exactly that, but more brown/black and this is the predominant BSF colouration.Let me give you the dressing:

Hook: sizes 10 – 20
Tying silk: brown
Ribbing silk: black
Whisks: black
Body: rabbit fur, very dark & almost black. This is found on the face, between eyes & nose –  omit the guard hairs.
Hackle: Coch-a-bon-ddu if you can get it or Furnace, but you need to brush tips with black marker pen.

The overall effect is a very pleasing mixture of brown and black .
Regarding the dressing method – if you can dress a Duster then this is no different but make the body quite full and rib with black silk. I like to use up to 6 turns of hackle for high floatability on rougher water.

As we enter September, the last month of the Alyn season, I would urge you to try this simple but extremely effective pattern and I’m convinced that you will be successful !

Should you be interested in the patterns of Vicar Powell can I suggest that you buy a terrific book on him by Christopher Knowles called “ Orange Otter” – you will get a lot from it.

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Louis.