Brassie  

Hook:    Tiemco TMC 100 # 14-24 

Thread:   Red 8/0 

Rib: Copper Wire

Head: Red Thread

Throat: 2-4 Pheasant Tail Fibres

1/ Lay a thread base onto which the rest of the fly will be tied. Starting from just behind the hook eye wrap back towards the hook bend as shown. When you reach a point directly above the hook barb tie in the copper wire and wind the thread back forward to your start point. Trim any excess wire and move on to the next step in this simple patterns tying process.
2/ Take the copper wire between the thumb and forefingers of your right hand (opposite for left hand tier). Wind it forward to the thread with each successive turn snug up against the previous one. Many turns will be needed to cover the hook shank with wire. This adds the necessary weight as well as a terrifically segmented body like the natural we seek to imitate. Tie off and trim excess wire.
3/ Use your thread to build up a nice head on the fly. You can use the red thread or peacock herl or any other dubbing that takes your fancy. Now simply cut 2-4 pheasant tail fibre tips from the tail. These will be used to tie the throat. Tie the tips in so that they point back towards the rear of the hook and are slightly angled downward.
4/ Some like to tie them pointing directly at the point of the hook. Keep them about equal in length to the body of the fly or slightly shorter. Trim the excess, add a couple of half hitches and there you have it. Gary Borger's Brassie. Some may prefer to whip finish for added strength but to be honest this is largely a waste of time as the two half hitches are as just as strong.

The Pattern

The Brassie is one of the most simple midge larvae patterns you could hope to find. As well as this it is extremely effective and durable making it a very good pattern to have with you at all times. Midge hatches in Australia are not well documented and until recent years even the most eminent of our fly fishing writers did not say much about them. Whether this was an oversight or a deliberate calculation to keep others out of the action who can say but relatively little literature was available on the subject. Elsewhere in the world these hatches are revered and much work has been done in fishing the midge.

This particular pattern comes from the USA which is home to much of the forward movement in our sport. Their fixation on such hatches can be directly attributed to the earlier work done in the UK which really is the home of midge fishing. In the UK much of this fishing is done in stillwaters with teams of flies and often from a drifting boat. However it is the rivers of the western USA that give us most inspiration when looking for chironomid patterns that will be most suited to our home water, the Goulburn. 

The Goulburn is a tailwater as most of you would be aware. Clear and cold regulated flows are the norm on this river and this combined with often a weed or silt bottom offer ideal conditions for midges. While midge are prolific they are certainly more so in certain sections of the river, may these often having a silt bottom. These hatches are especially good in the cooler months, mainly Springtime and Autumn when the river flows at minimum or near minimum. Hatches can occur at anytime of the day and at these times of the year there are often midge on the water in varying numbers all day long.

This pattern is attributed to Gary Borger although it is an adaptation of a pattern originally tied for the South Platte in 1971 by Ed Marsh. Gary admits that this particular version came about by him not remembering the correct dressing as related to him earlier. Anyway he was fishing the Armstrong Spring Creek the next summer when he saw the little flies in his box and tied one on in desperation and the rest is well, history. He says it has taken trout feeding on midges in rivers and streams the world over as well as even fooling steelhead!

"It works because the wire body provides a strongly segmented appearance and because the bright copper produces an attention-getting flash. The copper colour also suggests a rusty brown larva and may hint at the red colour of a bloodworm. I've dressed this pattern in every imaginable shape and form; with a thorax, with a tail , with legs, with a sparkle yarn husk, with a wing, with a soft hackle, with a stiff hackle, and so on.

They all catch fish, but not anymore effective than the simple body and throat. So I've stayed with my original, mistaken design." (Gary Borger, Designing Trout Flies, 1991, page 93).

There are many other variations as you can see but this simple version is as good as any of them. One variation that I do like to tie incorporates a small peacock herl head. Still use the red thread and if possible have some of it showing but also build up a couple of wraps of peacock herl head. Used in the Goulburn either in tandem and fished in the first few feet of the water column or suspended below a small Goulburn Griffith's it can be deadly effective. Some like to fish two upstream with no indicator imparting some movement by a raising of the rod as it approaches a likely fish lie. One place we would like to test it is on the Acheron as we have always enjoyed success here fishing midge hatches. This is just one aspect of the hatch we haven't had time to fully explore in this rather midge heavy fishery. 

This pattern is recommended in sizes #14-20 although we probably fish it in #18-24 more than any other. Tie a few up and give them a go this coming Autumn or Spring and we are sure you will be pleasantly surprised.

Regards

Antony, David and Geoff