Bubble, bubble toil and trouble.
William Shakespeare
Macbeth
A dark Cave. In the middle, a Caldron boiling. Thunder.
Enter the three Witches.
1 WITCH. Thrice the brinded cat hath mew’d.
2 WITCH. Thrice and once, the hedge-pig whin’d.
3 WITCH. Harpier cries:—’tis time! ’tis time!
1 WITCH. Round about the caldron go;
In the poison’d entrails throw.—
Toad, that under cold stone,
Days and nights has thirty-one;
Swelter’d venom sleeping got,
Boil thou first i’ the charmed pot!
ALL. Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble.
2 WITCH. Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the caldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,
Adder’s fork, and blind-worm’s sting,
Lizard’s leg, and owlet’s wing,—
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.
ALL. Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble.
3 WITCH. Scale of dragon; tooth of wolf;
Witches’ mummy; maw and gulf
Of the ravin’d salt-sea shark;
Root of hemlock digg’d i the dark;
Liver of blaspheming Jew;
Gall of goat, and slips of yew
Sliver’d in the moon’s eclipse;
Nose of Turk, and Tartar’s lips;
Finger of birth-strangled babe
Ditch-deliver’d by a drab,—
Make the gruel thick and slab:
Add thereto a tiger’s chaudron,
For the ingrediants of our caldron.
ALL. Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble.
2 WITCH. Cool it with a baboon’s blood,
Then the charm is firm and good.
for the love of water
chironomid pupae detached
by Davie McPhail
there’s about fifteen gazillion midge/buzzer/chironomid patterns out there and just about all of them severely lack what’s probably in my opinion the most important trigger that might attract fish to an emerging midge: movement of the fly’s body itself.
as we easily see in this video midges continuously wiggle-squiggle in the same manner that squirmy spermies squiggle when they’re homing in !
even if most buzzer patterns are tied on a curve hook shank that shank is rigid. basically, they look like dead and stiff bugs. that in itself isn’t so bad because fish love to eat stillborn or spent bugs but it seems pretty obvious that anything moving is going to attract more attention than something being still.
so, as you’ve guessed, the micro-chenille extended body is what’s going to make this pattern more lively than others as this material gets all limp and wimpy when wet just as the marabou breathers will. Limp is good !!!
this limp goodness should be specially good when the fly is fished either static or with a very slow retrieve but then, the originals squirm no mater what kind of water they’re in.
i’m not sure how the coloured tag of Davie’s pattern fits in with the natural (it doesn’t) so, even though it may add yet another exciter-trigger its probably a good idea to skip this step on some flies and have a mix of both versions in the box ready to go.
note that as explained in the video, the junglecock gills can be replaced by biots, a strip of flash or whatever else that looks like a bump. enjoy !
pocket rainbows
more great underwater footage from River Snorkel, this time some feisty and and oh-so cute rainbows busily feeding on subsurface bugs while doing their river dance. enjoy !
half french, half italian
with a nice twist: narrated by a woman, which is, as far as i know, a first.
Luca Montanari demonstrates here how to tie a still very big classic dry in Europe’s Latin countries: Aimé Devaux’s Olive
although only slightly accentuated in Luca’s vid, Devaux’s dries typically have a distinctive pushed-forward, sorta ‘funnelled’ palmered hackle. his idea in this design was the fly would twist less whilst being cast (in this aspect, ‘traditionally’ palmered hackles have a corkscrew/helix profile in line with the leader), would give a more pronounced parachute effect thus alighting gentler on the water and maybe mostly because the lower half of the hackle facing forward visible to the fish is more realistic because real mayfly legs point forward.
smart guy and quite a looker as well ! 
explained in italian, its ok if you don’t capisce, the visuals are solid. enjoy !
gotta love that face…
Fly Fishing Literature- G E M Skues The Man of the Nymph
‘The Man of the Nymph”. if the title alone isn’t just the sexiest thing ever than i don’t know what is !
piscatorial lasciviousness aside, check out the video. Hayter’s enthusiasm gives me the idea that this book’s a winner.
“The long awaited definitive biography of a fly fishing icon. Written with a rare authority by Tony Hayter one of our foremost angling historians, and published by Robert Hale Ltd. We had the honour to film the book launch at the Grosvenor Hotel, Stockbridge, Hampshire, and conduct an interview with the author.
This video contains clips from the launch and excerpts from the interview” enjoy !
