Heritage Flies - Part 7 The Red-Eyed Damsel Nymph Peter Brigg In chapter four of Tom Sutcliffe’s book Hunting Trout, titled “The Lakes at Inhluzane”, he describes this small area of the Dargle in the foothills of the Natal Drakensberg as containing a number of extremely fertile dams. They formed the crucible in which many, if not most, of our contemporary dam fishing flies and tactics were formed during the 1970/80 period.
While tying flies one evening for the next day’s fishing trip, Hugh ran out of black chenille and used red instead. The next day Tom Sutcliffe had a blank day and Hugh caught twelve good trout - good in Natal terms being from three to seven pounds. This led to the development of what became known as “Hugh Huntley’s Red-eyed Damsel” which is now tied and sold commercially in South Africa. Although the first fly had a dubbed fur body, the fur was later replaced with olive marabou. It is normally tied on a 2x long shank hook in sizes 8 to 14.
It was In 1986 that by serendipitous good fortune, Hugh Huntley’s Red Eye Damsel was created. Some three decades later it remains a default pattern in the fly boxes of anglers who fish dams for trout
HB Huntley was born in Pietermaritzburg KZN in the mid-1930s, his nickname was Hooks and Bullets, which says a lot about the direction his life took. It was during the 1970's that Tom Sutcliffe first got to know him.
For many years anglers in the then Natal had used tiny loops of black Tuff chenille to represent the eyes of one of the staple foods of trout in Natal dams - the damselfly nymph. www.saflyfishingmag.co.za
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