Tom's Red Arsed Bastards
The R.A.B. is one of South Africa’s
great dry fly patterns. Wide hackled and wispy in the wind, it’s a unique
pattern which has stood the test of time, still evident by its frequent
appearances in South African fishing blogs and publications.
The R.A.B. is primarily a dry fly
for stream and river fishing. Its wide hackle lends it buoyancy and its long
legs give it a hint of life. I do also recall, many years ago now, taking trout
on a R.A.B. left to drift on the stillwaters of Swaziland and South Africa. It’s a fly that has
that fish catching ‘x factor’.
Tom Sutcliffe features a great
step-by-step tutorial for tying the R.A.B. on his website: Tying a perfect high-water RAB. Tom’s authentic version looks very different to commercially tied R.A.B.s sold in stores. When
Tom came over to the UK last year, he kindly agreed to post a few of his RABs
up to me in the Midlands. When they arrived, they looked too pretty to fish with
and never quite made it into my fly box.
Instead, I sent them to Michael Scheele in
New Zealand whose exquisite watercolour paintings of flies I mentioned in a post in November last year. The result: “Tom’s Red Arsed Bastards” which I’m going to have
framed and put up on my wall as soon as possible.
These are gorgeous flies...
ReplyDeleteHi e.m.b., thanks for commenting. Trout would agree with you - they love 'em!
ReplyDeleteFabulous painting Justin.
ReplyDeleteHave you tried this pattern here?
Chris - according to Tom's website, his son bagged a few trout with RABs on the River Test last year. With the flies now immortalised in print, I'm going to pop them in my box and try them out on the streams of Wales next season!
ReplyDeletethose are cool as hell!
ReplyDeleteHi Justin. You cannot go wrong with a RAB wherever you are. Beautiful paintings as well.I have an empty frame if you are looking to store them somewhere.:-)
ReplyDelete