Greenwell's Glory

Wet fly imitating mayflies, for trout and grayling. Intermediate. James Wright for Canon William Greenwell, 1854.

A body of waxed yellow silk ribbed with fine gold wire, a coch-y-bonddu hen hackle and a dark blackbird or starling quill wing.

Materials

Steps

  1. Attach thread Attach the thread at 88% 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: gold wire Tie in the gold wire with a few firm thread turns.
  4. Wrap thread Wrap the thread to 86% of the way along the shank in touching turns. Close, even turns of the waxed silk make the body.
  5. Wind: gold wire Wind the gold wire forward to 86% of the way along the shank in 4 turns. Four open turns (Edmonds & Lee).
  6. Tie off: gold wire Tie off the gold wire with a few thread turns and trim the excess.
  7. Tie in: coch-y-bonddu or furnace hen hackle Tie in the coch-y-bonddu or furnace hen hackle with a few firm thread turns. Hen hackle, shiny side forward.
  8. Wrap thread Wrap the thread to 90% of the way along the shank in touching turns.
  9. Wind: coch-y-bonddu or furnace hen hackle Wind the coch-y-bonddu or furnace hen hackle forward to 90% of the way along the shank in 3 turns. Sparse; stroke the fibres down and back.
  10. Tie off: coch-y-bonddu or furnace hen hackle Tie off the coch-y-bonddu or furnace hen hackle with a few thread turns and trim the excess.
  11. Tie in: blackbird or starling quill slips Pick a feather about half the gape wide. Tie in the blackbird or starling quill slips so the tips reach to the start of the bend (twice the gape from the tie-in point), angled about 18° up from the shank. Matching left and right slips, concave sides together, sloping back over the body.
  12. Whip finish Form a small head, whip finish with 5 turns and cut the thread. A small head of the same silk.

History

In May 1854 Canon William Greenwell of Durham had a blank day on the Tweed while the trout fed on a dun. He took one of the naturals to James Wright, the fly dresser at Sprouston near Kelso, who tied imitations; the Canon did so well with them the next day that the fly was named over a celebration at Wright's. The tellings differ in detail, and the 1854 date rests on later accounts. Late in life the Canon gave R. B. Marston of the Fishing Gazette his own dressing: "the wings, inside of a blackbird wing; body, red and black hackle; tied with yellow silk". Courtney Williams quotes another letter allowing gold thread "if wished", and by 1903 E. M. Tod ribbed the body with fine gold wire.

Fishing it

A wet fly for the olives. Edmonds and Lee give it March to early May and again September, and keep it going through the summer months between with a lighter wing, body and hackle. On Scottish lochs it is one of the traditional flies for a cast of three or four fished from a drifting boat, and Alastair Gowans lists it among the wet flies for autumn grayling.

Sources