Europea 12

Dry fly imitating caddis, for trout and grayling. Intermediate. André Ragot.

A hare's ear body ribbed with yellow thread, a hen mallard breast feather lying over it as a wing, and a red game hackle in front.

Materials

Steps

  1. Attach thread Attach the thread at 85% of the way along the shank with a few turns and trim the tag end.
  2. Wrap thread Wrap the thread to the start of the bend in touching turns.
  3. Tie in: yellow thread Tie in the yellow thread with a few firm thread turns.
  4. Dub: hare's ear dubbing Twist a thin noodle of hare's ear dubbing onto the thread and wrap it forward to 70% of the way along the shank.
  5. Wind: yellow thread Wind the yellow thread forward to 70% of the way along the shank in 5 turns.
  6. Tie off: yellow thread Tie off the yellow thread with a few thread turns and trim the excess.
  7. Tie in: hen mallard breast feather Pick a feather about the gape wide. Tie in the hen mallard breast feather so the tips reach just past the end of the bend (2.1× the gape from the tie-in point), angled about 5° up from the shank. Tie the feather in by the stem, flat over the body, convex side up.
  8. Tie in: red game cock hackle Tie in the red game cock hackle with a few firm thread turns.
  9. Wrap thread Wrap the thread to 90% of the way along the shank in touching turns.
  10. Wind: red game cock hackle Wind the red game cock hackle forward to 88% of the way along the shank in 5 turns.
  11. Tie off: red game cock hackle Tie off the red game cock hackle with a few thread turns and trim the excess.
  12. Whip finish Form a small head, whip finish with 5 turns and cut the thread.

History

A French fly. Ahrex and GlobalFlyFisher attribute it to André Ragot, following the Danish author Preben Torp Jacobsen, who had published it by 1976; Ahrex guesses it is from the 1960s. The Swedish shop Guideline instead credits the French firm Mouches Ragot, dates it before the Second World War, and explains the name as number 12 in the firm's Europe series. In Sweden, where it is most popular, Lennart Bergqvist's 1989 book spread a version without the tail. Dressings still vary in the details: the body material, whether there is a tail, and whether the wing is one feather or two.

Fishing it

A sedge for trout and grayling, useful to the end of the dry-fly season in autumn. Fish it to rising fish or blind, dead drift or skated. The full hackle keeps it afloat in faster water; for calm water some tyers clip it flat underneath, which helps the fly land the right way up and stops it spinning the tippet.

Sources