Dabbler

Dabbler.

A lake fly accidentally created by a certain Donald McClarn from County Down, Ireland. Some sources say it was by accident while tying a wet imitation mayfly called the Gosling. Whatever the genesis of the Dabbler, McClarn created a veritable killer that helped him and his club win top spots on the national and international stage. In the late 1980s, the Dromore Angling Club was for a long time in the top positions in the Benson&Hedges international fly tying competitions still held at that time.

The name of the fly itself is the school nickname of its creator. Although originally curled in golden olive color it quickly lived to see many variations in color, material as well as design. Today, curled with a muddler head, legs made of slipped PT(Hobbler), with a trunk made of lamet and flash and cheeks made of JC, it deviates significantly from the original recipe. And we can rather talk about dabbler style.

Dabbler by big D is a PT tail, a seal trunk, a palmer on the trunk caught with oval lamé and bronze mallard wings, which give the muse a unique and distinctive look. The fly as a whole, although random, is brilliant. It imitates many of the organisms eaten by lake trout, from sticklebacks starting, to grunts, mayflies and gudgeons. In addition, the Dabbler's design allows it to grab air bubbles, which act like a magnet on fish.

 A very popular pattern, a must in the poodles of anglers hunting for brookies, sea trout entering Irish lakes as well as those fishing for rainbows in commercial fisheries.

 Fishing technique like any wet fly on the lake. Sinking line AND long strokes that set the fly in motion. Guiding rather in the upper layers of water, at a different pace depending on what the fish can eat at the time. In high winds (the best conditions for fishing lake streams), the Dabbler is guided so that it cuts the waves, jumping from one to another passing the air. Bites, as a rule, are firm, the fish, as a rule, does not have time to nibble on a morsel that escapes its sight.

A deviation from the above is to lubricate the dabbler with a hydrophobic agent to achieve a minimum buoyancy. In calm water, the fly is then guided to half submerged, causing a “commotion” on its surface. After a while the fly sinks and we return to the traditional wet method.

  There are three ways I know of to lay the wings in the Dabbler.

1.The rolled strand of mallard is applied to the shank and tighten a fairly loose loop while combing some of the strands to the side planes of the hook. The method is quite simple, giving not bad wings AND a fairly small head.

2.Apply the rolled strand of mallard to the hook shank, so that its ends stick out beyond the eye (in reverse). Use two strong coils to catch the rays, and then bend the whole backwards( to the tail), at the same time modeling part of the strands on the side surfaces of the hook. With a few coils catch the already placed strands and form the head. This is a way to build race wings, unfortunately the disadvantage is that the head is usually quite large.

3.The mallard strand is folded 2/3 of its width in two, the remaining 1/3 is a single strand. The strand must be folded so that the strand in the single part falls on the farther side of the hook when you put it on the shank. In other words, having the mallard strand in front of us with the stained side down and the ends to the left, we fold into two 2/3 of the edge away from us, i.e. towards each other.

Thus folded strand is applied to the hook shank with the double part, while the single part of the strand remains in the further plane(behind the shank).

With a loose loop we embrace the strand and tighten in such a way that the double strand remains on the shank forming something like an irregular wing, while the single strand has to embrace the hook shank in such a way as to encompass the side and bottom plane of the fly forming something like a blackberry.

A much simpler way is also used. One attaches mallard bunches to the shank from above and below. However, such a great simplification does not allow to talk about the Dubler in its original form, although flies equally catchy come out of it.

I have no knowledge of the effectiveness of doublers in rivers. It would seem that, made in the size range of #14-#8, they should be eaten by our trout as readily as by their lake brethren. Who knows, maybe suitably “tweaked” they would turn out to be effective for entering sea trout, rainbow trout and maybe even mountain steelhead? I think it is worth a try.

 Finally, some practical advice on tying an effective and durable Dabbler.

1.PT for Dabbler's tail is an extremely delicate material. Note that natural rays will always be more durable than dyed rays.

2.Chicken blackberries are softer than cockle blackberries, and thus breathe more movement and life into the fly when combined with seal hair.

3.In order for the Dabbler to work properly, the wings should spread over about 4/5 of the torso. This helps to accumulate the aforementioned air bubbles through which the reflected AND scattered rays of light create a kind of halo very attractive to fish.