February FOTM - The Black 'n' Barred

[Stephen Bradbury]

February’s fly of the month is the Black ‘n’ Barred. This fly is basically a black version of the Pink Thing fly and a derivative of the Whistler pattern. Along with the Pink Thing it has become another of Australia’s most popular flies for Barramundi, but it’s also a great fly for lots of other species and fly fishing situations. Depending on the weight of the finished fly (beadchain eyes, brass or lead eyes, added lead wire etc) this fly is very effective from shallow flats and drain mouths and snag bashing through to deep water reefs in clear, but especially dirty water. It can be used to catch a variety of species including Barramundi, Threadfin salmon, Bluenosed salmon, Mangrove jack, Fingermark bream, Cod, all Trevally species, Queenfish, Cobia, Coral Trout, etc etc. It is essentially another baitfish pattern with a saddle hackle tail for plenty of movement, barred grizzly hackles for fright stripes, some flash, bucktail around the tail to prevent fouling, some wide sparkle chenille (estaz) for a body with a collar/head of palmered schlappen hackle to give more of a profile. In recent years many versions of this fly have been successfully tied using synthetic materials like Game change fibre or SF fibre replacing the bucktail and brushes used for the collar/head etc and these all seem to work well. I also use Rabbit or Artic fox zonker strips for the collar/head regularly especially on lightly weighted versions (bead chain) as it has wonderful movement qualities in a fly that benefits from being worked (stripped) very slowly through the strike zone in most fishing situations.
Recipe: in order of tying.
Hook – size 2/0# - 4/0# Gamakatsu SL12S.
Thread – Black flat waxed 210 denier.
Eyes – Beadchain (medium or large) for shallow water (3m or less), Brass or lead dumbbells (large or extra large) for deeper water.
Tail – A small clump of black bucktail tied in first (or tapered game change fibre) with 4-6 black saddle hackles (2-3 tied each side of the hook shank) approx 2.5 x the hook length over the bucktail, plus 1 x pair of grizzly hackles over that for fright stripes/contrast.
Flash – 2 to 4 strands each side of the tail of pearl, silver or gold flashabou or sparkle flash.
You can add some lead wire around the hook shank for weight if desired at this stage.
Over wing – 2 x small bunches of black bucktail (or tapered game change fibre, SF fibre etc) tied in over the feather tail, one on top, the other underneath and spread around the hook shank.
Under collar/body – A few wraps of estaz or large sparkle chenille (to help bulk out the collar/head) or even a few wraps (3 – 4) of a 1” brush.
Collar/head – 2 x black schlappen hackles wound (palmered) around the hook shank (original) or some modern versions use marabou tied in or rabbit/artic fox zonker strip or EP brush wound around the shank too the eyes.
Tie in a 60lb fluorocarbon weed guard to fish if required.
Protect/seal the tie in point of the eyes and all exposed thread finish with UV resin (flow), head set or vinyl finish for fly longevity.
Tie fly onto 30-40lb fluorocarbon bite tippet with a lefty’s loop knot to allow for maximum movement. Retrieve using method suited to situation or target species e.g. slow, small intermittent strips with pauses for Barra, Threadies, Jacks etc or large, long single strips for Trevally, Cobia etc.

[Stephen Bradbury]

Some more pics