Special Pupa

A perfect fly for grayling and mountain fishing in the Ammarnäs area.

Some ten years ago I began having difficulties seeing the Super Pupa at low light. An excellent pattern no longer did the job for me during practical fishing.

The solution was a new fly, which creates the same imprints. At the same time several improvements have been made to this pattern. It actually started when someone gave me a fly. Unfortunately I can’t remember who it was, but I suspect it was someone in a group of people that met to trade flies in which I quite frequently participated during these years.

To improve the fly’s performance together with the sought visual effects, the body’s Fly-Rite was exchanged for peacock herl. Compared to Fly-Rite peacock herl has only advantages – a certain lustre attracts the attention of the fish, the hackle’s moving fibres supply a living body instead of the Fly-Rite’s altogether rigid apparition. As a second and very important measure, the fly was equipped with a Krystal Flash tail that really insists on the fish’s attention.

The hackle got grizzly coloured since the black and white depiction easily is spotted at both a distance and at low light. The front part of the hackle should be cut in an angle backwards to make free space for the hook eye.
The tying technique is somewhat different for this fly since the head is tied back by the tail. The reasons for choosing this method is that the fly’s body gets solid and it does not plunge as easily when striped on the water.
The method is as simple as more traditional tying when the head is tied by the hook eye.

The result is today’s version of Special Pupa, a fly that is easy to tie and fishes extremely well. It is visual to both fish and fisherman. If I visit a stream or a mountain lake this fly must be in my fly box to make it a successful day.

Tying instructions

1. Start by covering the hook shank with the tying thread and then tie in the tail to a V-shape.

2. Move forward with the tying thread to a point just behind the hook eye. Tie in two strands of peacock herl. Trim off excess as in the picture above.

3. Wrap the strands towards the rear end. Leave a small bare space by the tail’s tie-in point and then move back wrapping the strands towards the front end to the hook eye. Secure the strands and trim off excess.

4. Clear the hackle and tie in the stem by the hook eye. This will be a bit backward to what you are used to, but it works very well. Wrap the tying thread towards the rear end through the peacock herl strands, which will make the body stronger. It doesn’t matter that the herl is pushed together a little during this phase – the fly will fish just as well anyhow.

5. Start by wrapping the hackle three close turns behind the hook eye for extra buoyancy and then continue with wider turns all the way back to the tying thread.

6. Secure the hackle with three turns of the tying thread. Trim off the top of the hackle and make two whip finish knots.

7. Cut the tying thread. Cut the tail to the same length as the fly’s body. The fly should now look like in the picture above. In the beginning some hackle fibres may point upwards when you have completed the fly. With some practice you soon learn to tie the fly’s head at the rear end. In the mean time you easily pluck out fibres in the wrong place using a pair of tweezers.

8. Now reverse the fly upside down and cut off all fibres under the fly so it will have the possibility to lie deeply in the water’s surface film.

9. Here you see the fly before the hackle is cut by the front.

10. As a final stage we now cut some of the hackle fibres of the fly’s upper side. The purpose of this is to free the hook eye so that we may attach the fly easier. The front part of the fly will also not catch any wind. By letting the rear end of the fly – that lies deeply in the surface film – catch the wind, the fly will move more stably in the water, which will provoke more strikes.

The complete fly seen from the side. Here you see how all the front fibres pointing out to the sides remain. They provide extra buoyancy and mimic the insect’s legs.

The complete fly seen at an angle from below. The peacock herl sucks the fly to the surface film when you cut off the hackle fibres under the fly.

The complete fly seen at angle from above. The grizzly hackle left by most parts on top of the fly leaves us who are getting older with a fair chance to see when the fish bites.

The complete fly seen from below. Here you clearly see that “the legs” are closer together by the hook eye. On a conventionally tied fly there would instead be fewer fibres by the front part of the fly. The latter results in a fly that cuts through the surface film and “plunges” much more easily. These last years I have begun tying more of my patterns with the fly’s head by the rear end, which results in only advantages by the fishing water.