Join Nick Thomas as he takes a trip down a mystic river
This fly is named for that fabled Welsh river the Afon Aznagro. Issuing from a dark mysterious cave in the misty maudlin mountains of Llamedos, the Aznagro flows down through a deep gorge and over the high waterfall of Nwodssip and the twin cataracts of Ffogob before winding its way down to the sea at the small town of Llareggub.
Some say the mystic river doesn’t exist, others that it can only be found by the true of heart carrying a split cane rod to be used for divining the river’s course through the dense dark oak forest of Ffodos. Others, perhaps after too much ale in the Sailors Arms, maintain that in summer when the river is full and the nights are starless and bible-black the huge runs of sewin pushing and ploughing upstream make the river run backwards.
The trout and grayling in the Aznagro grow to prodigious sizes, but are notoriously fickle and difficult to find. Legend has it that the river used to be the exclusive preserve of a syndicate of druids who fished with magic hazel wands and lines made from the hair of maidens. It is not recorded whether these practices died out due to overcutting of magic hazel, or local shortage of other material. The powers of the ancient syndicate are said to still protect the waters today and those intrepid fly fishers who do manage to find the river tell vivid tales of sturdy oaks moving several feet along the banks to grab their flies out of the air mid-cast.
The reason that the trout and grayling are so difficult to catch is that they rarely rise to a hatch and spend very little time feeding on nymphs in open water. They hide away in the cover of the skeletons of sheep washed down in frequent spates from the steep hillsides. Getting a fly to the fish was therefore a somewhat technical process, not to mention requiring a strong stomach. The druids were reputed to use a heavy bead of the purest Welsh gold from the mines of Clogau on the end of their maidenhair line to anchor the point of their cast. A small spider pattern was tied on a dropper and the heavy bead used to steer the fly on a short tight line through the skeletal remains and tempt the fish to move from their unsavoury lairs within the ribs and vertebrae.
The Aznagro spider is tied in the Japanese Sakasa Kebari (literally ‘backwards fly’) style which is very apt for its river of origin. This fly works well on other rivers, and not just in Wales, so should you wish to have a few in your box, here’s how to tie one.
Hook Fulling Mill 35065 Czech Nymph Barbless Black size 12 - 16
Thread Veevus 10/0 olive
Head Black embroidery bead (optional)
Hackle Organza ribbon
Abdomen Organza ribbon
Thorax SLF squirrel dubbing (or any other dubbing, optional)
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Slide a bead onto the hook, run on the thread behind it and build up a few turns to lock the bead against the hook eye. If you are not using a bead run the thread on behind the eye and build up a ball of thread to substitute for the bead.
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Cut a 5cm length of organza ribbon and make two dark stripes down the length of the ribbon with a black Sharpie pen. Cut off one woven edge from the ribbon, strip out all the long fibres and then cut away the short fibres from 1cm at one end to create a tying-in tag.
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Tie in the prepared organza behind the bead or thread ball with the length of ribbon hanging in front of the hook eye and the short fibres pointing down. Bind down the tag end back along the shank and then bring the thread back up to just behind the tying in point.
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Wrap the organza in overlapping turns to build up the forward projecting hackle. Secure the waste end with a couple of tight thread wraps, pull the organza back along the top of the shank and secure with further thread wraps. Trim off the waste organza and continue wrapping thread down the shank in touching turns to a point about halfway round the bend.
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Cut a 10cm length of organza and trim off a 2-3mm strip from one edge. Strip out the long fibres and tie in hanging behind the bend. Bind down along the shank and trim away any tag end. Wind the organza in touching turns up the shank, tie in behind the hackle and cut off the excess.
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Apply a couple of turns of dubbing if you want to tidy things up, put a dab of varnish or superglue on the thread and whip finish behind the hackle.
The fly works just as well without a bead at the head, provided you build up a decent ball of thread to push out the organza hackle at the right angle. It’s worth tying a few flies with different number of turns of organza so as to produce flies which will have a varying degree of resistance to water flow for use in different conditions and with different weights of nymphs on the point.
When the Aznagro is fished on a dropper above a heavy tungsten nymph the drogue action of the forward facing organza fibres in the current help to keep the rig taught. The drag of the spider and the weight of the nymph act in tandem as the flies fish through a run on a short line. When the flies are lobbed upstream the spider grabs the current as soon as it goes under keeping the line to the rod taught aiding bite detection as the nymph heads to the bottom. Once the nymph is trundling along bottom the pull of the spider helps to keeps any slack out of the line as you raise and lower the rod tip as necessary to keep the nymph on the riverbed or to induce takes. Finally as the flies finish their run the drag of the Aznagro lifts itself and the nymph up through the water, often inducing a take as the cast fishes out.
To compensate for the added drag on your leader use a tungsten bead one size larger than you would normally use for your point fly. Try it. Magic hazel and maidenhair are optional, depending on availability in your area.
Nick Thomas lives in South Wales. He started fly fishing on Scottish hill lochs many years ago and continues to design, tie and fish flies for trout, carp, bass and anything else that’s going.