Fishing: Lords of the flies

The dedicated fly-tyer locks himself into his den for days on end with his threads, silks, feathers and furs, moose manes and black African goat hairs. Eventually, when the wife's run off screamin' and tearin' her hair, peace descends on his mysterious world and he resumes his life-long quest to create the ultimate fly.

To find the ultimate flies in New Zealand we must seek out expert, dedicated anglers and fly-tyers: the guides, competition fishers and champions who have wide experience and bring their knowledge to the fly-tyer's vice - only usually accessible as a paying guide's client.

In a new book, New Zealand's Best Trout Flies, champion angler Peter Scott collates 30 of the country's fly-tyers, who each present six of their favourite fish-catchers and explain why they chose them. All 180 flies are pictured, with materials used and tying instructions.

The book reflects the revolution in fly-tying over the past 15 years caused by the arrival of synthetic materials replacing the traditional, the growing popularity of general patterns rather than specific, and the development of nymph fishing and its offshoots, Czech nymphing and shortlining.

Gone are the days of matching the hatch. The delicate, intricate mayflies of old have given way to rubber legs, stick-on eyes, long feelers, fluorescent fibres and high-floating foam.

Wee wets have lost ground to the increasingly popular emerger patterns, and the explosion in nymph fishing has resulted in development of carefully shaped and weighted nymphs that reach lies in the deepest and swiftest rivers.

Gone, too, are the Taupo Tigers, Parsons Glories, Red Setters and Mrs Simpsons. Here to stay are Woolly Buggers, Green Marabous, Damsel Nymphs, Bead-heads, Hare-and-coppers, Trembling-legged hoppers, Foam bugs and the Pheasant-tail Nymph in all its variations.

The best aspects of the book are the little secrets revealed.

Just as the angler wades into the river to search out the lies, here you wade through the pages to seek out the truths. For example, Peter Scott was having such a good day at Aniwhenua that anglers were zapping across the lake to find what he was using. "Worms," he told them. Now he reveals it was a John's Lake Special, a simple black-hackled fly with a red tag - and it nailed 14 browns in two to three hours.

Of the 30 contributors, one has the great courage to include the words "never fail" in naming his creation. Rene Vaz's never-fail nymph is a pheasant-tail variation with black bead, red wire and claret possum fur.

Kiyoshi Nakagawa also puts his name on the line, describing his X-factor red-ribbed nymph as "the fly that can catch the uncatchable fish".

When it comes to big lifters, Dean Bell says his rubber-legged, foam-backed river spider "has the ability to lift from depth fish that would not otherwise come to the surface" during acid-test time in midsummer. "I've seen it account for more than 10 large browns in a day."

Les Matheson swears by his elk hair stimulator: after a poor day's fishing, he used it on the walk home and caught 14.

Pat O'Keefe plumps for his Blarney Midge - black rabbit fur and a bit of pearl flashabou - "one of those little gems you come up with and know you have struck gold".

Gerald Telford rediscovers the forgotten colour, blue, in his Spectacular Damsel Dry, which has grizzly hackle wings and blue thorax - a fly he scoffed at before he saw it catch 26 trout.

John Pellew also praises blue, claiming the key to the success of his Blue Backer Nymph is "an irresistible iridescent blue glow made by angel hair on its wingcase".

Blue is also the choice of foam specialist Stuart 'Foamy ' Tripney for his high-floating bionic bug, which an English client laughed at and called a toy at the start of his trip, then ended up begging for some to take home.

After tying a new fly, Foamy drops it in a glass of water and asks himself: 'Would that fool a fish?'

Possum fur has been quietly gathering a dedicated following. Tony Entwistle uses it in four of his six choices. John Bell's possum lumo has "accounted for more limit bags than any other fly I have used, particularly in Lake Taupo".

CDC feathers, from a duck's back just above the tail, have become a firm favourite of the modern fly-tyer. Daniel Agar says "it's the greatest fly-tying material I've found". CDC flies sit low in the surface film like emerging lava or pupa, the feathers moving like little wriggling legs.

Tyers go to great lengths to get insect legs correct - especially on big bold cicadas, hoppers and other terrestrial patterns - right down to the way the legs tremble and dimple the surface without breaking the film.

Purple and claret shades feature in many newer nymph patterns, anglers realising the colour's value as a trigger. Peter Carty refers to purplish shades as having "magical qualities".

Pat Swift also refers to an "ultraviolet purple tinge" which helps to account for the success of his fluro fibre smelt. "The extra weight created with the epoxy head, combined with a loop knot, allows the fly to swing" in the water to attract fish.

So that's part of the world of the dedicated fly-tyer, a world of "potent voodoo behind method and thought", says the book's editor, Peter Chan.

Mind you, the great American tyer Lee Wulf once rose a trout to a dandelion flower. And, somewhere, a bloke in gumboots and black singlet will pick a piece of sheep's wool off a barbed-wire fence, fasten it to a hook and land six trout in the river pool behind the cowshed.

But that's not as much fun as dedicated fly-tying. Last year a South Island guide's client landed a large brown trout which had a chaffinch in the belly. Now there's a challenge ... pass the scissors and the deer hair.