CDC

CDC.

     CDC (an abbreviation of the French duck tail – duck tail), is a material that caused quite a stir about 20 years ago among fly-tying enthusiasts, whether they were amateurs or professionals. This material, which was already being used to construct flies as early as the 1920s, is now widely used; in fact, it’s hard to find a fly fisherman today whose box doesn’t contain a sizable selection of flies made with CDC. Initially, the material was used to tie dry flies. Later, however, certain properties were discovered that made it suitable for tying wet flies, nymphs, and even streamers, as well as sea trout and salmon flies.

    But first things first—what exactly is the CDC?

Every bird preens its feathers, among other things, by constantly oiling them to make them waterproof; this is especially true of waterfowl. For this purpose, birds have a uropygial gland located on their back, just above the tail. This gland secretes a substance that the bird spreads over its feathers using its beak. And it is precisely in the area around this gland, beneath the layer of dorsal cover feathers, that there are several dozen feathers with a unique structure and composition. This is what is known as CDC. These feathers are very light and delicate, yet—considering their delicate structure—extremely durable. A fly made from such feathers can easily withstand thousands of wipes intended to dry it off while dry-fly fishing.

At the same time, CDC feathers are soft enough that they yield easily to the airflow during flight and do not cause the leader to twist, which often happens when we fish with a fly equipped with a pair of upright wings made of stiffer materials. The shape of the feather itself causes the fly to land gently on the water, as if on a parachute. Furthermore, the CDC feather is semi-transparent, and wings made from it look very natural.

    Using whole CDC feathers or tufts of their barbs, you can tie neat caddis-style flies with flat-lying wings; they can be tied at various angles to the body, all the way up to vertically positioned wings in mayfly-style flies. These double wings can be arranged in a V-shape or spread out completely flat when tying a spent fly. In dry flies made from CDC feathers, you can create a „blackberry” by winding the feather itself, or by looping its barbs around the leader and twisting them together. This type of hackle is used in wingless flies or in parachute-style flies. The body of a dry fly can also be constructed from this material, as is the case with the legendary—and perhaps the most famous—CDC fly: the famous Fratnik’s Fly, or F Fly. (Marjan Fratnik, a Slovenian, developed his pattern and described it in the Slovenian fishing magazine „Ribic” in 1983. I came across a description of this fly, as well as an article about CDC, in the American bimonthly “Fly Rod & Reel” sometime around the mid-1980s). This fly is a rare example of a brilliant combination of maximum simplicity and extraordinary versatility, which translates into its incredible effectiveness—something I’ve experienced time and again. The body is made of a CDC feather twisted and wrapped around the hook shank, and the wings—also made of CDC, of course—are set at an angle of about 30–40 degrees—and that’s the whole fly. With a few sizes in various shades in your box, you can fish effectively with this fly practically all season long. The material’s good buoyancy allows you to build very interesting surface nymphs from CDC. Various emergers equipped with a CDC bundle and a CDC sail float well along the water’s surface, perfectly imitating an insect in the final stage of its transformation into its adult form.

   The CDC feather (commonly referred to by Polish fly fishers as „duck d…„) also has certain characteristics that work well in various ”wet” fly patterns. A soft, long CDC tuft—which we use to create the imitation of a caddis pupa’s abdomen—brings the fly to life through its pulsating action in the water. Its ability to trap small air bubbles within its structure makes wet flies shimmer alluringly. Hence the use of CDC feathers dyed in bright colors for tying sea trout, salmon, and streamer flies.

    So it would seem that we have the perfect material on hand, from which we can make all types of flies, and we won’t need anything else... Of course, that’s not the case. Fortunately, there are materials that have been proven over the years and tested in the field—materials that nothing can replace—or so I hope, at least. So it’s worth taking advantage of all the new innovations that pop up from time to time in fly-tying workshops and—while using them sensibly and in moderation—not forgetting the classics and tradition.