Hook: Double salmon, 4 - 10
Thread: Red
Tail: Two small Jungle Cock feathers tied in flat
Ribbing: Oval gold tinsel
Body: Chinese red wool
Hackle: Natural red rooster hackle; large feather tied palmer
Please read the short story below about how the fly came to be and how it got its name.
The Tale of Knut's Joker Grub
The Francis is a very famous salmon fly, and with good reasons, it produces! However, at certain times the salmon seem to only chase it, but never actually take it. I was watching a fellow angler of mine fishing a bridge pool, and every so often a salmon would come up and follow the fly, even bite after it, but never got hooked. I figured the long, stiff tail of the Francis might be the primary factor of my fellow anglers unfortune, and soon my mind started working, and the following evening was aptly spent by the vise making some new variations.
The following day it was my turn at the same pool, and from the bridge I could spot a good handful of salmons. I started off with a Francis, but to no result, not even a tug. I then switched to one of my new variations without the tail, and on the third cast I was hooked. A thrilling fight followed, and soon I landed a nice grilse, about 6 lbs; just shy of 3 kilos. To my great surprise the young cock had completely swallowed my fly, the same way as a young perch would swallow your tiny bait-hook baited with a maggot larvae would. Since I obviously had to kill this poor grilse, my day of fishing was over, as the catch & kill limit of the river is one salmon only. While I was packing up by my car, the angler I had been watching yesterday came, and was keen to hear if I had caught anything. I replied honestly, and quickly he shaved the tail of one of his own Francis', then tied it to his leader, and went on his marry way down to the pool.
A few days later I met up him again, he could report that he had been without action all throughout the day he was fishing, and the story had repeated itself for him the next day after that, when he had been fishing the whole day through different pools, mainly with the tailless Francis. I told him first then about how I had tied mine, he thanked me, then soon left in a hurry.
It was but a few weeks later that I again ran into this fella, this time along the riverbank of the same river. He ran up to me, and without uttering a single word he opened his flybox and showed me a torn up fly with a familiar resemblance. "I had to make one as you did describe to me, it has now landed me six good salmons, the biggest almost seven kilos!" he proudly stated. I was kinda shocked, but at the same time very happy for him. He told me everything about the current conditions and so forth of every one of the six catches. And of course I listen. To summarize his experiences, he had found the fly to work best during the morning hours, and early into the day, only one had he caught in the evening. The fly was best fished with a slow "cut across the stream" as he described it. He didn't tell me much about the weather, but it had mostly been sunny the whole month through. Due to all his great experiences with the fly, I let him name it, and so it was named "Knut's Joker Grub".
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All photos are taken by me and shall not be used without permission.