"And now, pinch hitting for the Bronze Brad's Brat Steelhead Fly..."

The heat of summer is dwindling, it's nearly time to start thinking about pennant races in the American and National Leagues, and anglers everywhere know its about time to get after those rowdy Pacific Northwest steelhead as they sniff their way back home from a few years in the salt. With the majesty of a trip to the Umpqua looming, perfecting the classic PacNW hairwing steelhead fly has become the ultimate pursuit of late.

One of the late-summer/early-fall classics is Brad's Brat, a hairwing or "bucktail" steelhead fly designed in by Enos Bradner, a name synonomus with steelhead. This fly boasts the oranges and reds of an indian summer and is traditionally tied with a high-profile wing of long bucktail fibers secured in a neat bundle just behind the hook eye of a traditional Sproat or Limerick hook.

In Ian McNemar's quick version of the Bronze Brad's Brat (above), a David McNeese creation that took its design cues from Bradner's original hairwing, a lesson in substitution shines through.

McNeese's fly is a feather wing design rather than a bucktail and calls for exotic materials such as jungle cock, blue eared pheasant, and gadwall flank. It's an elegant Spey-style that smacks of the traditional restraint incorporated in many Spey and Dee flies.



In this version, Ian looks to his fly tying bench for some clever pinch hiting from more standard tying materials like ringneck pheasant and long orange-dyed saddle hackle fibers in place of the gadwall flank and blue eared pheasant. Ian dropped the jungle cock out of the line up entirely; the wing is constructed of two long orange-dyed hackle tips and artfully married bronze mallard feathers.

Substitution is an integral part of the deep and artistic language of fly tying and fly design. Just because a fly recipe calls for a certain material doesn't mean you can't construct a successful fly if you don't happen to have said material at hand.


Evan LeBon is a regular contributor to beyondthebug.com

photos and fly provided by Ian McNemar, a regular contributor to beyondthebug.com