Black Billy

On this pattern I took in august of 2015 a 6lbs searun browntrout on a 3wt rod while fishing the upper part of Skøelva. I got the whole thing to film, which I'll link below. Both before and after, this fly has granted me several nice moments, along my home-river, as well as on different waters. This fly is slightly inspired by the Black & Peacock spider, and the great Norwegian flyfishing guru Pål Krogvold's svømmepuppa, which he developed on Kola peninsula to imitate the swimming caddis pupae. I make mine with a slightly thicker body of peacock herl, and a black hen hackle (rooster also works), tied in before the foam is folded over the body, then tied off. I like to leave a stump of the foam in the front to represent the head of the beetle.