North Country Flies are a style of soft-hackled fly that evolved in the north of England. These flies are tied on small, light wire hooks with very slim bodies and a sparse hackle of game bird or hen feathers. Fished upstream with long rods and short lines, they are very effective on the spate, or freestone, rivers and streams that are common to the region.
Books:
Two of the classic works concerning this style of flies are T. E. Pritt's North Country Flies (1886) and H. H. Edmonds and N. N. Lee's Brook and River Trouting (1916). A comprehensive history of this area of fly fishing was written a few years ago by Leslie Magee and is titled Fly Fishing - The North Country Tradition. Earlier books on this subject include those by John Jackson, Michael Theakston and John Turton. While technically outside the North Country tradition, a fisher of wet flies could learn much from W.C. Stewart's The Practical Angler and G.E.M. Skues Minor Tactics of the Chalk Stream .
Many of the older books are now available for online viewing. See the subpage for more information.
Materials:
Some of the materials that were used to tie these old patterns are no longer available. However one can still get the feathers to tie a Waterhen Bloa or a Snipe and Purple or a Partridge and Orange. Datus Proper's book What the Trout Said has many helpful suggestions concerning hooks (page 106), threads (page 245), dubbings (page 246) and feathers (pages 247-49). If you can find a copy of G.E.M. Skues Silk, Fur and Feather, written under the pseudonym "V.C.", it also has useful information on feathers and other materials.
Methods:
Neither Pritt nor Edmonds and Lee gave any tying instructions in their books. Edmonds and Lee recommended H.G. McClelland's The Trout Fly Dresser's Cabinet of Devices (1899). McClelland tied the hackle in by the stem and made two or three turns around the hook. One turn is probably more common these days. It is interesting that he specifically cautioned against pulling the fibers toward the top and bottom of the hook to make separate "wings" and "legs". On a subpage are methods from some of the earlier books.
Each of the other authors listed above gave their own variation of "correct" tying techniques. However, I like the stripped feather approach used by Dave Hughes in Wet Flies (pages 50-58), but without the addition of a fur thorax. It may not be the most traditional approach, but it creates a beautifully symmetrical fly. Ed Gallop has been kind enough to put a page of these flies on his website. Flies
Rods:
The long, light, soft-action fly rods that have historically been used to fish this style of fly are very hard to find these days. Edmonds and Lee recommended a 10'6" rod made of greenheart, or hickory and greenheart. Good luck in finding one of these. I have attempted to reproduce one by building a fly rod on a 10'6" ultralight "noodle" blank. Time will tell if it's really going to be effective.
Notes:
I would encourage anyone who fishes to read the chapter titled "The Ethics of Angling" in A. A. Luce's Fishing and Thinking. This book was recently reprinted in both Great Britain and the United States. For pleasurable reading, Leslie Magee suggests two works that are set in the North Country: Loved River by H.R. Jukes and Fishing in Eden by William Nelson. To this I would add sections of the following two books: Rod and Line by Arthur Ransome and My Sporting Life by John Waller Hills.
Links:
Preben Torp Jacobson: Preben shows how he ties flies using old style eyeless hooks.
Steve Williams: Steve has been adapting the North Country style to local hatches.
Andrew Herd: Andrew writes about the history of the North Country school, with full lists of Pritt's and Edmonds + Lee's patterns.
Ken Smith Publishing: current publisher of Leslie Magee's book. http://www.kensmithpublishing.com/angling.htm
Flyfisher's Classic Library: high quality reprints of Stewart, Skues, Ransome, Hills, and recently Edmonds + Lee. http://www.ffcl.com/
Coch-y-Bonddu Books: great source of new and classic works. http://www.anglebooks.com
(Graphic compliments of Alan Barnard)
