FLUFF
BUCKNUTS
W H E T H E R YO U ’ R E A B E L I E V E R I N T H E D I V I N E , DA B B L E I N T H E P S E U D O - S C I E N C E O F I N T E L L I G E N T D ES I G N , E M B R AC E T H E W O N D E R O F S E R E N D I P I T Y, O R A C C E P T T H AT H U M A N S S O M E T I M ES J U S T G E T L U C K Y, T H E R E I S N O ES CA P I N G T H E FAC T T H AT S O M E T H I N G S P U T O N T H E E A R T H A R E S I M P LY P E R F EC T. F R O M H U M B L E B A S S B U G S , T O T H E L E T H A L S W I S S A R M Y K N I F E U T I L I TA R I A N I S M O F C L O U S E R S , T H E M A G N I F I C E N T M O V E M E N T O F B E A S T S A N D M Y R I A D O T H E R G O -T O F L I ES , FO R A N D R E VA N W Y K A N D H I S F E L L O W O B S ES S I V ES , W H E N I T C O M ES T O F LY T Y I N G , T H E R E CA N B E N O G R E AT E R EX A M P L E O F N AT U R A L P E R F EC T I O N T H A N T H E B AC K E N D O F A W H I T E -TA I L E D D E E R . Photos. Gerhard Uys
T
he natural world has gifted us fly-tiers with many incredible materials to tie onto hooks. From the old days of classic salmon flies and their use of ridiculously rare and endangered bird feathers, to the ass end of a duck (yip, that lovely CDC you dry fly boys love so much is from the dingleberry zone of a water fowl!) to the beautiful herls of a peacock, the short, soft naturally-buggy wonder that is hare’s fur, there are huge numbers of natural materials that have been gifted to us to be reborn as a fly. And, while there has been massive growth in synthetic materials in both fresh and saltwater tying, there are some materials which simply cannot be imitated or beaten by a manmade creation. While for some, the CDC, Peacock Herl or even Marabou may qualify as the greatest natural materials of all time, I’d be willing to bet almost anything that bucktail is the holder of that title. Especially for those who tie larger “predator flies”, either saltwater or fresh, the humble asscover of the white-tailed deer is the G.O.A.T (Greatest Of All Time). My bucktail journey began when I was given Bob Popovic’s second book, “Fleye Design” by my good friend Platon Trakoshis. I’d had Bob’s brilliant first book, Pop Fleyes, for a decade and while there is a fair amount on bucktail in there, the main drive of that book was towards synthetics and epoxy and other aspects of Bob’s unique approach to tying. Fleye Design, came along with perfect timing. I was getting back into fly tying in a big way, after a fairly
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long hiatus, and the book was the perfect birthday gift, opening the door to a new obsession, one that lead me down the proverbial rabbit hole of education, frustration, amazement and enlightenment. Bob’s shift towards more natural materials and, in a big way, his journey with bucktail, reflected my own sub conscious desire for and attraction to natural materials and, in turn, started my love affair with it. Like any good love affair, it started with a bang, morphed into an obsession, and became a desire for nothing else. That single-minded focus in turn blocked out any negatives, or the need to take things slowly. I was impatient. I wanted to be a bucktail wizard like Bob and churn out enormous flies of perfect proportion and scale. The Holy Grail for me became huge Beasts and BULKHead patterns with perfect natural tapers and sweeping bellies that would dazzle any fish. The reality, however, was a little different. I ran before I walked. Hell, I hadn’t even learnt to crawl and yet, in trying to emulate Bob, I was effectively attempting to take on Usain Bolt in the 100 metres. Despair and frustration that my creations weren’t hitting the mark flooded my tying desk. Convinced that it was because I didn’t have the best bucktails, a crusade ensued to source the best. That’s how, a couple of months later a friend, who shall remain anonymous, managed to walk through customs at Cape Town International Airport on a return trip from the USA with a ridiculous number of premium bucktails carefully stashed inside a duffel bag. Armed now with the ultimate versions of the ultimate materials, I was all set to become the bucktail Demi-God I so aspired to be.
W W W. T H E M I S S I O N F LY M A G . C O M
