Bumbles -
A Bumble is a palmered fly that is chiefly used for grayling.
The body is made plump 0f one or two colours of floss silk, with a rib of peacock herl
and at times gold or silver wire or tinsel.
To tie, prepare a hackle as for a Palmer fly,
by stroking the fibres down from the point.
See Fig. 23.
Tie in hackle and body material at the tail end and here
may I tell youwhen forming a body of several different colours
and materials, as often one must in Bumbles, you should tie in first
the material that you will use last, thus, for a Bumble with with a red
and yellow silk body ribbed with peacock herl and silver wire, you will
tie in first at the tail end of the fly, the hackle, and then the silver wire
and peacock herl, and then the two colours of silk.
You will see the reason for tying in the materials in this rotation when
you come to forming the body of the fly. You will used the silk first, and
if this had been tied in first it would be underneath
all the other materials and you could not have formed a neat body at all.
It is a good rule in all flies to tie in first the material you will wind on last.
Having tied in the materials for the body 0f the Bumble, form the body and rib with peacock herl and silver wire. Fig 65.
Now take the hackle up the body along side the peacock herl rib,
taking two or three turns close together at the shoulder.
Tie in stem of hackle and finish of head. Fig 66.
For an extra bushy Bumble tie in two hackles, one at the tail
to go up the body and the other at the shoulder; run the one up
the body and wind at the shoulder close up to it.
The old way of tying Bumbles is not quite the same as the as the one
just described, but it makes a very good fly that I like. The hackle is tied
in by the stem at the shoulder and the body material is also tied in at the shoulder, then the tying silk is wound down to the tail end of the fly, followed by the body material and ribbing, all being fastened off at the tail end by the tying silk. Then the hackle is wound down to the tail end and fastened off there, too, the finish is varnished over and the fly is complete.
Fig 67. shows the difference in the two methods of tying.
