In the summer
2006 issue of Fly Tyer magazine Bill Logan contributed an excellent
article and shared his Big Secret grasshopper and cricket imitations.
What really caught my eye about the article, in addition to the fine flies,
was Logan's introduction. What do you call a collection of
grasshoppers, anyway? As Logan points out, other groups have specific
names. There is a murder of crows, a herd of cattle, a
pack of wolves, a shrewdness of apes, a battery of
barracudas, and a murmation of starlings. Logan wasn't happy
with the more-or-less standard cloud of grasshoppers. Instead
he proposed we refer to the leggy little insects as a circus of
grasshoppers. I loved the idea - and the phrase. It is fitting
and wonderfully suggestive!
I've not found any specific literary allusions
which provide an appropriate moniker for a collection of blondes; neither
the beauties we see on TV nor the flies we are about to discuss.
That's too bad, because the name was right there all the time. We
should have been calling them a party of Blondes!
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“If I
had only one pattern for all big fish in both fresh and salt water, I’d
choose the Blonde.” That’s from the man many call the world’s best fly
fisherman.
Those are the words that appear
in bold type in the opening of a 1963 article in Outdoor Life magazine by
Joe Brooks. Brooks goes on to share the story of this amazing fly pattern by
telling the tale of its introduction to the Patagonian trout fishery; the
trip that propelled this fly into legendary status.
Argentina
Brooks wrote: “What do you have there, a
shaving brush?” Jorge Donovan asked me. We were standing at the Boca of the
Chimehuin River, on the east slope of the Andes in Argentina and I was tying
a 1/0 Platinum Blonde fly on my 3X tippet. The long, tandem-winged bucktail
did look a little like a shaving brush. But the only lather I had in mind
was the foam a big brown trout would whip up when he hit that fly.
“This was my first trip to Argentina, back in 1955. Packing my tackle at
home I kept thinking about the 10, 12, 14 and even 20-pound brown trout that
Jorge Donovan had told me were in the Argentine rivers. Remembering that old
theory that a big trout likes a big mouthful, I had reached into my
salt-water tackle box and picked out a handful of “blonde” flies - big,
white bucktails that I used for striped bass." From such humble
beginnings our sport received one of its finest flies, the foundation
for a family of patterns.
Jorge
Trucco, writing in the April 2004 edition of Power Fibers, had this to say;
“The
Patagonia region of Argentina is, fishing-wise, so similar to the
American west that all American flies apply to Patagonian fly-fishing. Here
again, Joe Brooks pioneered this trend of American flies in Patagonia. And
what’s more, he brought some patterns that were actually uncommon in the
West, he introduced the “blonde” in five versions: honey, black, strawberry,
platinum and Argentine. The “blonde” was originally a saltwater fly and it
was tied with bucktail on a 3407 Mustad hook, and was not designed to
attract trout, however, these “blonde” flies were extremely effective on big
browns, especially in the Chimehuin…” The fly shown in the image above
was tied by Dan Bailey circa 1955 and is pictured in Brooks' book Fly
Fishing.
The first brown trout Brooks caught on that “shaving brush” weighed
nine-and-a-half pounds. Fishing with Jorge Donovan and Bebe Anchorena,
Brooks managed three more fish over nine pounds in the course of that first
amazing day. After giving a handful of Blondes to both Donovan and Anchorena,
those experienced anglers discovered for themselves the validity of the big
fish – big fly axiom. Bebe Anchorena went on to catch a brown trout of more
than 24 pounds on a Blonde, making him, at the time, the unofficial
world-record holder for brown trout on a fly (fly records weren’t kept
separately then). In one felled swoop Patagonia had become one of the most
fabled destination fisheries on the planet, and the Brooks Blonde fly had
become a classic.
In the forty-four years since their popular introduction, the Blondes have
been replaced in most fly boxes by a series of variations on the theme.
Contemporary salt water fly fishers add an epoxy coating and holographic
eyes to the head and call it a Surf Candy. It doesn’t take a critical eye to
see that Lefty’s Deceiver bears an obvious family resemblance. Add lead
dumbbell eyes so the hook rides inverted and you’ll get to the Clouser Deep
Minnow. In a little more than a half century since its creation the
Blonde-style fly has penetrated the sport of fly fishing to its very core.
It’s changed our aesthetic perception of what constitutes proper fly design
while at the same time opening new opportunities to target ever more
challenging quarry.
That’s not to say that the Blonde isn’t still an active part of the arsenal.
There are many coastal anglers up and down the Atlantic seaboard who still
carry Honey Blonde and Platinum Blonde flies for stripers, redfish and more.
A scaled down marabou variation, the Mara-Blonde, has found a permanent home
in the boxes of trout anglers and panfishers alike. Enormous Blondes, tied
both with natural materials like Arctic Sheep and synthetic products like
Polar Fiber, are staples in the boxes of those who obsess over pike and
muskie. A few fly fishers even carry Blondes in their traditional dress and
sizes.
The Blonde History
One
might think that, as famous and influential a pattern as the Blonde is in
the fly fishing lexicon, we would have an equally well-documented genesis
and history. After all, we can trace the Adams dry fly all the way to Len
Halladay and the very pool on the Boardman River in Michigan where it was
first cast! There is no question about the true originator of the Quill
Gordon. But the Blonde has some mystery, perhaps as every real blonde must.
In the 1966 edition of Joseph Bates’ book Streamer Fly Tying and Fishing,
Bates writes “Joe Brooks’ “Blondes” in suitable sizes are excellent flies
for tarpon, as well as other game fish. The Homer Rhode, Jr. Tarpon Bucktail
illustrated in Figure VIII-3 probably was the father of this type, because
Homer gave me some of them prior to 1950, and they were illustrated in
Streamer Fly Fishing, which was first published at that time.”
On the key to the color plate that depicts the Argentine Blonde as
representative of the “Brooks Blonde” Bates credits the fly as being
“Originated by Mr. Homer Rhode and [emphasis added] Mr. Joe Brooks.”
In contrast, in the 1958 book Fly Fishing Brooks states “Many flies designed
for fresh water have proven equally efficient in the salt, and conversely a
number of streamers and bucktails designed for fishing the ocean flats have
turned out to be highly effective in fresh water, especially for big trout
and salmon. One big white bucktail, the platinum blonde, and an equally big
fly made of yellow bucktail, called the honey blonde, have proven just about
the best flies I have ever used for really big trout.”
“They were originally tied for striped bass and in an effort to make the fly
large and extra long-winged, one piece of bucktail was tied on top of the
1/0 hook and immediately behind the eye, and another length of bucktail was
tied just in front of the bend of the hook. It proved a very good number for
stripers and that first fall after it was tied I also tried it in Montana
for big browns and rainbows. It worked like a charm and I came up with some
nice fish, from 3 to 7 pounds.”
It sounds like Bates’ comment, added to the 1966 edition of Streamer Fly
Tying and Fishing, was intended to set the record straight. Brooks’ 1958
statement above is almost a third person perspective as regards origin, but
he stops well short of even mentioning the Homer Rhode Jr. Tarpon Fly. By
the time of the publication of the article "Those Deadly Blondes" in the
December 1963 edition of Outdoor Life magazine, Brooks was explicitly
claiming credit.
“Back in 1939, when I used to fly-fish for stripers in the Susquehanna River
near Port Deposit, Maryland, and in the shallows of the Chesapeake Bay, I
used a white bucktail on a 1/0 hook. I took plenty of small stripers, but
for three years nothing over six pounds came to my flies. That’s when I
started thinking about a bigger fly, something that would look like the size
to seven-inch long alewives, herring or anchovies, such as stripers feed on.
I tied a three-inch-long white bucktail wind right in back of the eye of a
1/0 hook, another three-inch wing at the bend of the hook, then wrapped the
body with silver tinsel. That was the Platinum Blonde, the first of the
series. It raised the average weight of the stripers I took.”
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To add a bit more to the confusion, Bates suggests that both the Homer Rhode
Jr. Tarpon Fly (illustrated but not pictured in a color plate in the Bates
book) and the Brooks Blonde were influenced by flies designed for Pacific
Northwest steelhead. “Attempts to impart maximum action into streamer and
bucktail patterns have resulted in the splayed-wing style discussed in
Chapter VIII and illustrated there in Figures VIII-1 and VIII-3 and also in
the patterns based on Joe Brooks’ series of “Blondes” which seem to be a
development of the Homer Rhode Jr. Tarpon Bucktail illustrated in Figure
VIII-3. The point should be stressed that these are by no means confined to
salt water uses. Splayed wing types make very successful steelhead patterns
and are becoming increasingly prominent in other areas of fresh water
angling.”
Adding credence to this hypothesis is the fact that Brooks discusses the
high-tie wing, which he calls “breather flies,” in detail. In the article
"Flies Worth Their Salt" published in the June 1965 issue of Outdoor Life,
Brooks writes: “In the salt, the technique of handling a fly is as important
as the fly itself. The breather flies, for instance, must be played so that
the big, feathery wings flow flat against the hook as you retrieve but fan
out when you stop. The blondes, while tied differently, call for the same
type of retrieve. With these flies, one bucktail wing is tied on top of the
shank immediately behind the eye of the hook; the other wing is well back
where the bend of the hook starts. The strip-and-stop retrieve causes the
upper wing to work up and down, as tantalizing an action as the in-and-out
workings of the breather flies.”
Bates concurs but continues to assign credit for the creation of the Blonde
style of fly to other, earlier tiers. “In Chapter VIII we noted that flies
of the “Blonde” type had been used most successfully (especially in salt
water fly fishing) for several decades prior to the publicity which was
given them in the early 1960’s. The high wing, also discussed in connection
with the Schwab patterns and others, and illustrated by the “Orange
Steelheader” and the “Bellamy, “ for example, in Plate VIII gives pronounced
action in fast or turbulent water or when fished very actively, plus
affording complete freedom from fouling the hook. A type of fly such as
this, so popular with and so productive for so many eminent anglers, should
suggest to the rest of us that a lot more can be done with it to help us to
hook more fish.”
öööööööö
The Modern Blonde
Regardless of its true
originator, a lot can be done with a Blonde to help us hook more fish today.
The Blondes are as easy to tie as they are to use. Like its cousins the Deceiver
and Clouser, the Blonde can be tailored for maximum efficiency in particular
waters or under specific conditions. Lead wire can be wound on the hook
shank for a faster sinking presentation. When fishing with a fast retrieve
the weighting especially helps to exaggerate the opening and closing of that
hypnotic bucktail wing.
While bucktail is the traditional material for wings and tails on this fly,
a myriad of other materials both natural and man-made make possible Blondes
more than six-inches long or less than an inch from tail to head. Material
stiffness can be tuned for fly size, water velocity and anticipated retrieve
rate. Even the angle of the forewing can be tuned from the traditional
30-degrees to a steeper or shallower angle to maximize inherent action. This
is a fly pattern that is easily customizable. Some of my favorite
variations include fox tail, squirrel tail and raccoon tail. Bleached
raccoon tail with pearl Flashabou makes for an excellent stoneroller minnow
or creek chub imitation!
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Brooks’
original tie is simplicity in itself. Two materials, thread and a hook
combine to create an illusion of life in the water and a minimalist elegance
of form in the hand. The first Brooks Blondes were tied on a ring-eyed,
tinned hook with an O'Shaughnessy bend. I like to use a classic up-eye
salmon fly hook for my Blondes. The “first wing” or tail of the fly is
bucktail tied about twice the hook shank length off a point opposite the
hook’s point. The bucktail is trimmed near the hook eye so as to make a
smooth underbody.
Brooks stated that he used silver tinsel for the body on all the Blonde
variations except the Honey Blonde and Strawberry Blonde. No mention is made
of a rib, but I’ve always liked the look of an oval tinsel rib over a flat
tinsel body and that is the way many of the flies in the accompanying photos
are tied. Additionally, it’s important to remember that all tinsels at the
time of this fly’s creation were metal. If you use a Mylar or synthetic
tinsel you should lightly weight the shank of the hook under the bucktail
butts. That little bit of weight goes a long way towards improving the
action of a blonde by ensuring the wings “breathe” as intended on pauses in
the retrieve.
Finally a front wing of bucktail is tied in front of the body and canting up
at a thirty-degree angle. Brooks suggests taking a few wraps of thread
behind the bucktail wing to fix this upward slant in place. I’ve found that
if you trim the butts of the bucktail rear wing blunt, the acute angle of
the body will force the wing into place allowing for a cleaner tie-in. The
fly is finished with a neat thread head.
Click Here for a Look at Blonde Siblings
The Flies That Inspired and Defined
the Brooks Blondes
Working A Blonde
A Blonde is an easy fly to fish. There are just two rules you need to
remember to ensure success with a Blonde. First, never tie on too tightly.
Second, remember to pause regularly and don’t rush the strip. Using an open
knot like the non-slip mono loop knot or Homer Rhodes loop knot will fulfill
the first condition. Using a snapping, staccato retrieve with a pause twice
as long as the strip will fulfill the second.
"A few years ago we stopped using a traditional down-and-across streamer
technique and began developing more active presentations. We shed our
passive, "search-and-hope" streamer techniques and attitudes and applies new
methods with a calculated approach. This has made a world of
difference." Kelly Galloup and Bob Linsenman rattled the traditional
trout fishing world when they wrote those words in the May 2000 issue of Fly
Fisherman magazine. "A streamer must appear as a substantial meal,
threaten a fish's environs, and create the right "crippled" action.
If it does all of this, it has a good chance of instigating an attack.
It should also be easy to cast, otherwise you won't use it for long."
This wasn't about trout, certainly! Instigating attack? This had
to be talk about saltwater fishing. Most sweetwater specialists, even
those of us chasing smallmouth and largemouth bass, stuck to our tiny size
6, 8 and 10 flies. The Michigan trout team showed us the way back to
our "shaving brush" roots.
The results Galloup and Linesman were getting,
and the resultant success of their book Modern Streamers for Trophy
Trout: New Techniques, Tactics and Patterns marked a moment when the
active presentation that provoked a rapacious response became as acceptable,
even in the most conservative of fisheries, as the swung or drifted cast.
The sport had come full circle and the techniques, learned in the salt forty
years before, had come back to influence their very source. The
jerk-strip retrieve was, and is, the same method espoused by Brooks and
his contemporaries. It's the correct action for a "breather" high-wing
style fly ─ it's the correct action for the Blonde.
"It [The Jerk-Strip Retrieve] works so well
because it forces the fish to react to two basic instincts ─ territoriality
and vulnerability. First, the fish sees the prey that has accidentally
trespassed into its territory and now must escape. Second, the prey
seems to be slightly injured and has trouble swimming, but not to the extent
that it can't escape." Galloup and Linesman created several patterns
expressly designed for this bold, frenetic fishing style. Their choice
for a baitfish pattern is the Stacked Blonde.
Using a Keel hook in a most ingenious way, the team created a high-tie wing
pattern with the broad outline and essential shape of small sunfish,
crappie, shad or shiner. Using this fly and technique, Galloup and
Linesman proved conclusively that large trout will react in much the same
way as striped bass, smallmouth bass, redfish and other top predators.
It was certainly a reprise of the lessons of Rhode, Brooks, Apt and others.
Galloup and Linesman put into
clear, precise words a technique that had been passed down from fisherman to
fisherman in the convoluted family tree of fly fishing history. They
systemized a method of fishing with roots to the early saltwater days.
Years ago I used a similar technique with particularly good success on the
harbor pollack along Cape Cod’s Scussett Beach jetty in May and early June.
I fished the Portuguese Blonde, a fly that enjoyed some regional popularity
at the time. Its color combination is a reflection of the colors in the
Portuguese flag, (Cape Cod and southeastern New England enjoy a thriving
Portuguese community.) Back then I fished a ten-weight Lamiglass fiberglass
rod and used a home-made shooting head of lead core trolling line. Those
fish averaged five pounds and would rip line off my Medalist 1498 with
alarming ease. When a pod came crashing through and busting bait I almost
always managed a hit and sometimes two on each cast. I landed about
one-in-three fish I hooked and lost a LOT of flies in the process. The
combination of red and a bit of green seemed to make the fish particularly
vicious, and the easy-to-tie nature of the Blonde made the pain of a dozen
or more lost flies per trip tolerable. The most memorable aspect of
those outings was the aggressive, fast retrieve that made the fishing so
exciting and productive, though.
The Portuguese Blonde has since proved itself to be productive on shad
as well as largemouth, pike and perch. I still fish this pattern in
late spring and early summer when I’m bank shooting for husky largemouth in
off-color water. I have found, however, that most flows in the heartland are
better served by the more subdued patterns. The Platinum Blonde and the
Martini Blonde are always invaluable for smallmouth bass, hybrid stripers
and trout anywhere you go. During the first warm days of summer, when the
striped shiners are in their full spawning colors, the Pink Blonde is the
“must have” pattern. In northern climes where perch are common I find I
seldom go wrong with the yellow Honey Blonde.
I like to use the Blonde as a searching pattern and fish it aggressively.
I’ll fish this fly in size 1/0 on a seven or eight-weight rod. In case
you have some trepidation, an eight-inch smallmouth bass will absolutely
crush a three-inch long size 1/0 streamer. Don't mistakenly think this
is too large a fly ─
it's not! I almost always use a sinking
tip line, and for smallmouth fishing in Ohio and the Midwest I particularly
like the mini-tip lines. I fish the fly one to four-feet deep (typically
while wading) by casting across-stream to a point upstream of likely
cover and mending the line so the fly approaches the spot with a broadside
view. At the critical moment I then mend the line again, this time to induce
drag. This will turn the fly so the head is pointing downstream and
the fly is moving just faster than the current. It's escaping! I'll then add
an abrupt, disrhythmic series of six-inch ‘snaps’ on the line, interspersed
with half-second pauses where the fly is allowed to sink three or four
inches. It's crippled! I use a short four to six foot leader of
fluorocarbon, typically two feet of 20lb. test for the butt and three feet
of 12lb. test for the tippet. Almost nothing could be simpler or more
effective.
Click
Here for a Tour of Blonde Fashions!
Pictures of all the named Blonde Flies
with variations...
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