Tuesday 20 April 2010

Bass fly fishing Ireland - Part 23 - The BTDG.


This is a fly tied for me by Andy Elliott – the BTDG or the bucktail deceiver gurgler.

The original gurgler as invented and tied by Jack Gartside must rank as one of the greatest surface fly ties of all time. Falling between a popper and a slider its easy to cast and when on the water it can perform all sorts of tricks - slides/squirts/splash. A slow retrieve will of course generate a wake when in calm water, whilst a short pull will create a spit and a splash much like frightened baitfish. At the end of your retrieve the gurgler will lift easily off the water, often easier than poppers do, that sometimes grip and ‘burst’ free if not managed properly, and during the cast you will find the gurgler easy to put out there, where the fish are.

Now take Bob Popovics buck tail deceiver. Seen put into action HERE and HERE and it rapidly becomes a favourite fly of many people. Tied skinny to get down deeper and with more material to ride higher in the tide. The BTD is tied by using shorter and successively more compacted layers of buck tail it achieves a wonderful profile – it has almost endless possibilities and when tied on spec with a tier like Andy the results are often incredible.

Combining the gurgler with the BTD results in a very, very effective fly indeed. The fish eye view is a solid and wide baitfish profile. The bucktail fibres breathe in and out on retrieving and stopping and the gurgler ‘prow’ allows you to create a lot of splash and wake and searching interesting noise. Highly recommended these flies are available HERE

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Forwarded to - The Irish Bass Policy Group (David McInerny, John Quinlan, Shane O Reilly, Mike Hennessy, Dr William Roche, Dr Nial O'Ma...