Lingren’s Indispensable
Notes:
Intended Use: Wet fly for winter-run steelhead
Since its inception in January 1984, I have altered the original fly's dressing considerably. As the Black GP evolved over the years some of the first things to go were the golden pheasant red breast feather in the tail and the tippet eyes. I sometimes add a few strands of black, red, pearl, silver, or chartreuse Krystal Flash in the tail to add colour and, at times, I do like to dress the Black GP on red Gamakatsu hooks. The Krystal Flash and red hooks add sparkle and colour to the fly. However, just plain black without the colour works just as well. I realized early on that the golden pheasant red breast in the tail and tippet eyes were superficial components and that the critical components that attracted a response from the fish were the Black GP’s long supple squirrel tail, the flowing body hackle and its attractive dark silhouette. As the fly evolved, Bob Taylor would look at the most current version and comment on the lack of golden pheasant in the fly. He is one of the few people who knew how important a role golden pheasant played in Drury’s GP and that fly’s name. With the golden pheasant breast feather and golden pheasant tippet feather eyes gone from my fly and with my use or wood duck or hen hackle feathers for the wing, Bob questioned my GP name and hinted that I should either re-institute golden pheasant into the fly or consider a different name. In more recent years after one supplier started dying golden pheasant capes black I used the golden pheasant black dyed breast feathers for the wing but do not layer them in as did Colonel Drury. I dress my black version now with two black dyed golden pheasant breast feathers tied in at the hook eye. Even then when Bob commented on my wayward GP I would respond with “but there is golden pheasant in the wing” and it is still a GP.
During a recent spring of 2004 coastal cutthroat fishing trip with Taylor, the subject of a Black GP name change rose to the surface again. We were hoping to hit the main salmon fry emergence and planned on fishing silver-bodied fly patterns. We did have some days when the cutts and Dolly Varden were slashing the surface after fry but, when the surface was quiet, surface fished fry patterns provoked few responses. I can’t say how many trips I have been on where I was told that you need to have a certain fly to be successful but by trip’s end the anglers in the party I was with have discarded their recommended pattern for the Black GP. The spring cutthroat trip turned out the same. Some of the guys left their supply of Black GPs at home or had too large a fly to fish on our trout rods. Their facial expressions revealed their despair as they witnessed the cutts and Dolly Varden attacking my Black GP. I being a generous spirit took pity on the poor souls and dished out an allocation of Black GPs--regular and marabou versions--dressed on six 6 and 8 hooks to Bob Taylor and Charlie Brumwell. And catch fish they did. It was after this 2004 spring cutthroat trip that the name change came up again and because the Black GP has become indispensable to me, I asked Bob if he thought the name The Indispensable was appropriate. He replied that this fly is such a part of you that you should call it Lingren’s Indispensable.
Regular, marabou, and low-water versions of my Indespendible as well a bar-bell eyed version dressed on hooks ranging from 2/0 to 10 line the foam ridges in my fly box and like the advertisement for the American Express card, I never leave home on a fishing trip without a supply of Lingren’s Indispensable. That fly that has become an indispensable part of many a fishing trip.