Zulu

Wet fly, an attractor, for trout, sea trout and char. Beginner.

A short red wool tail, a black seal's fur body ribbed with fine oval silver, and a black cock hackle palmered from tail to head.

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: red wool Tie in the red wool, leaving 0.9× the gape sticking out behind. A short tuft, on top.
  4. Tie in: fine oval silver tinsel Tie in the fine oval silver tinsel with a few firm thread turns.
  5. Tie in: black cock hackle Tie in the black cock hackle with a few firm thread turns. Shiny side forward.
  6. Dub: black seal's fur Twist a thin noodle of black seal's fur onto the thread and wrap it forward to 86% of the way along the shank. Slightly tapered; pick it out a little.
  7. Wind: black cock hackle Wind the black cock hackle forward to 86% of the way along the shank in 6 turns. Open turns, tail to head.
  8. Tie off: black cock hackle Tie off the black cock hackle with a few thread turns and trim the excess.
  9. Wind: fine oval silver tinsel Wind the fine oval silver tinsel forward to 86% of the way along the shank in 5 turns. Counter-wound through the hackle, crossing the stem.
  10. Tie off: fine oval silver tinsel Tie off the fine oval silver tinsel with a few thread turns and trim the excess.
  11. Whip finish Form a small head, whip finish with 5 turns and cut the thread.

History

Nobody knows who tied the first. By 1882 "Black Palmer" could already list "black spiders with red tips, commonly called Zulus" among the flies for a fortnight on remote Scottish lochs, and in 1892 Niven's lexicon described it as "made like a palmer, black hackle, black body, ribbed silver tinsel, with red wool tag for tail". Walbran's 1889 catalogue, as Viking Lars reports it, gives it a silver tag and hen hackles. Two modern sources say it was once banned, from competitions or in some waters, for catching too well; neither gives details.

Fishing it

A loch fly, at its best on the bob: the top dropper of a team of three or four, worked through the wave tops from a drifting boat. Dark, windy days suit it. It takes brown trout and sea trout all over Britain and Ireland, and brown trout and Arctic char in Iceland. A letter to the Fishing Gazette in 1893 recommended it for Donegal sea trout "dressed small, but with long hackle and with plenty of tinsel".

Sources