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As you can guess I don't tie flies but it's all I fish with. I noticed in the collection that Antony was tying that there were no Gum Beetles and have supplied these tied by Bruce Gibson of Burnie Tasmania. They work a treat. From about November onwards these little beetles become important to the trout and consequently trout fisherman sometimes providing good sport until late March. This is the perfect imitation. It sits low on the water like the natural and displays the correct size, shape and colour. While some are brown it is simply a matter of colouring it the correct colour with your markers. They work a treat in all of the waters up the top (Central Highlands) and are one of the few gum beetle patterns that will actually fool a selective Dee Lagoon triploid rainbow. Most memorable session was from last season when one fly caught 25 fish in a session. The barb was removed and although this meant the fly was easily retrievable and did not fall to pieces it also means the tally would have been slightly higher had the barb remained. 

Can be fished in tandem or on its own. Some of the best days for fish rising to these are the almost breathless summer variety when the lake is a sheet of glass and literally millions of beetles dot the surface. These migrating beetles hit the water from great heights and become an easy and abundant meal for the fish. In these circumstances try and locate the fish with polaroid glasses rather than tracking the rises. With no wind to concentrate the beetles the fish will move about randomly selecting a target and if you cannot see the trout you probably won't catch them. A moderate wind on a warm day is best. These breezes concentrate the drifting beetles into distinct food lines allowing the fish an easy feed and the angler an easier task of working out a strategy for success. Windlanes far from the bank often find numbers of good fish rising in these scum lines thick with beetles and perhaps offer the ultimate sight fishing with dry flies, sometimes in hundreds of feet of water. 

Antony had a look at one and will approximately describe the tying procedure for me.

1. Tie in your thread at the front of the hook and wind an even base to a point above the hook barb.

2. Cut a piece of foam a centimetre wide by three centimetres long and tie it in protruding from the rear of the fly. Tie it in leaving two centimetres protruding and one centimetre along the hook shank.

3. Using the thumb and forefingers of the left hand hold the 1cm stub of foam along the top of the shank. With the other hand take several tight wraps of thread to reach the hook eye. This mess will become you underbody. Remove any excess foam and add a half hitch.

4. Take the thread back into the body and tie in the legs using two pieces of sliced raffia in and X fashion and return the thread to the front of the hook.

5. Pull the 2cm piece of foam at the rear forward to the thread over the top of the fly. It will cause the foam to bulge and give you that lovely gum beetle shape. Before tying in experiment with different amounts of tension etc until you are happy with the look. Once you are satisfied tie off, add a couple of half hitches and cut the thread away. Cut away the remaining foam at the head at an angle with scissors up snug against the hook eye in an almost vertical direction. This will give you the nice shaped head.

6. Lastly take an appropriately coloured waterproof marker and dab the wingcase to give it that correct shade of yellow green. And there you have it. Maybe not as good as Bruce's but pretty damn nice.