Red Tag
This pattern came to fruition in the middle of the nineteenth centaury at the vice of a Mr. Martyn Flynn, a resident of Worcestershire, England. The fly was named the 'Worcestershire Gem' and proved to be a reasonably effective fly, primarily as a dry or wet Grayling fly.
I have tied thousands of Red tags over the years as it is probably the most used fly in Australia. Indeed, you would not find a fly box without 1 or 2 Red tag patterns. In Tasmania it is the stalwart pattern for presenting to cruising brown trout in the lakes and tarns, especially those fish that are located by using Polaroid sun glasses.
It is probably taken for a beetle as terrestrials dominate Australian insect life.
I remember Australia’s first full time fly fishing guide – Noel Jetson – telling me to ‘give em something different’ when during a mayfly hatch we could not get a fish to take the fly. A Red Tag always produced.
Sadly, its use here in the UK has waned and it is probably rare to see a red tag in a fly box. I carry this pattern with me all the time. I have lost count of the number of fish I have caught with a size 16 Red Tag – trout and grayling – when other patterns have failed to produce. ‘Give em something different’ always echoes in my ears on those occasions.
My tying is thanks to Noel Jetson.