THE
FIERY BROWN
BEETLE

THE FIERY Brown Beetle may look like a beetle to us, but trout take it when they are tailing or midging, or snailing, or just generally grubbing around for amphipods or stick caddis. It is a wonderful general pattern, a good small fly for prospecting holes and corners on lakes or rivers, but it really comes into its own when fishing from the boat for midge-feeders. Without a few of these beetles in my fly pouch I feel very insecure. When in doubt, tie on the Fiery Brown Beetle!

When fishing to midgers with the Fiery Brown Beetle the method is straightforward. Don't grease either line or leader, cast well ahead of the fish and retrieve it in pulls when you believe the trout to be near the fly. Presentation is quite critical though, and getting it just right needs both thought and practice.

For tailers looking for amphipods, such as the Untouchables at Little Pine, grease both line and trace and once a fish reacts to the beetle, don't move it, but wait for the take. If a fish refuses, ignore it and try another.

On summer mornings when fish show occasionally I like to grease the line and all the trace except the last 150 mm to 200 mm. After casting out I recover the line very, very slowly.

When the trace or line begins to tighten I lift the rod. It may be that the beetle is snagging submerged grass or reed. Usually it's a trout. I remember once having a gentle little exercise with what I thought was a tough weed stem until the rod tip was suddenly dragged down and the 'weed' turned out to be a good brown trout!

Like all beetle patterns, this is simple to tie. The body is of dubbed fiery brown seal's fur and the back is black feather fibre.

Tied on a No. 10 round bend hook and fished wet it has accounted for a lot of trout for us over the years. We discarded the old black beetle pattern in favour of this tie many years ago, finding that it had a definite edge (psychological?) on the plain black and other patterns of beetle.

Strangely enough, this fly seems to be an example of shade of colour making a difference. Tied with a claret seal's fur body it doesn't appear to be as effective as the fiery brown. This is unfortunate, since it seems only too easy to buy claret-dyed seal's fur, but hard to get a true fiery brown. To overcome this problem I buy the white-cream seal's fur and dye it myself, using Veniards fiery brown dye. Some other brands I've tried have turned out to be claret!

DRESSING
Hook: No.10 or 12.
Body: Dubbed fiery brown seal's fur.
Back: Bunch of cormorant feather-fibres from flight feathers or tail.
Silk: Black.

The tie is perfectly conventional. First wind the tying silk down to a point just short of the hook-bend, tie in a bunch of black feather fibres, spin the seal's fur onto the thread and dub on a plump body. Then bring the feather fibres forward to make the back, tying them down behind the eye of the hook. Clip off the ends, give the back and head a touch of varnish and the beetle is finished.

Though crow feather may be used for the back we prefer to use cormorant. The fibre is stouter and lasts a little longer, though the teeth of trout soon tear the back feather fibres. Oh, woe! When this happens we rejuvenate the fly by clipping off the torn fibres and tying in another bunch, first at the tail, then at the head. If the body dubbing is relatively unspoiled it's quicker to replace the back than to tie another complete fly.

SUMMARY
* Whip hook-shank from eye to just short of bend with silk, tie in bunch of cormorant feather fibres to project backwards.
* Dub silk with fiery brown seal's fur and wind-on plump body.
* Fold feather fibres forward and tie in behind the eye. Clip off surplus fibres; finish and varnish head.
* Put a touch of varnish on the back of the beetle.
Note: The beetle may be dressed with an underbody of fine copper or lead wire to add weight for deeper fishing in lakes, or for river fishing, especially in fast streams.

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