Troutbeck Beatle Fly

About the Troutbeck Beatle Trout Fly

I created this fly after bringing a beetle home and trying to tie an imitation. It took me quite a few attempts before I was satisfied with the density of the fly - density that was enough to represent the solid body. The following evening, as the beetles were again emerging, and the fish starting to rise, I put my "Beatle" on and cast out. Within seconds a fish rose to it. I struck and missed! Eventually I discovered that by waiting about 5 seconds before striking, I connected every time. What a sport! Those fish caught on the Troutbeck Beatle were all big fish.

Expert Tip:

A couple of hotel guests- Jack and June Dobson from Lusaka- had called at my cottage and asked for a couple of flies. My wife picked up a few of my "reject" Troutbeck Beatles and gave them to the couple. Now these people had never fished before, but had had casting lessons from me the previous evening. I had gone to fish the Gaerezi River, and when I returned to the hotel that evening the bar was buzzing with he news that the Dobsons had caught six large trout in the space of a couple of hours. They recorded the fly as "Harry's Reject".
So there we had a superb dry fly, the Troutbeck Beatle, and a reject which was very effective when fished wet. This fly continued to take the six fish limit every evening. All large fish.

Creator of this trout fly: Harry Stewart

Tier of this trout fly: Harry Stewart

Country of origin for this trout fly: South Africa

This trout fly is designed to be fished on Dams & Reservoirs, Still Water

Pattern Dressings

• Hook : Size 6 to 16.
• Thread : Black.
• Tail : Forked slips of crow wing.
• Body : Black and natural red cock hackles.

Use 8-10 hackles on a No.6 hook. Start with black and red, wind the two hackles simultaneously keeping them as dense as possible, tie in more hackles winding on until you reach the eye. Whip finish & varnish. The rejects were size six and had additional green fluorescent chenille on the body to give bulk. The hackle was sparse. The reason I rejected them was that the green was peeping through and that wasn't what I wanted.