Hi Pete, Agreed it is a strange one! i use a lot of American style flies and they work really well, i've also sent British flies to a few American customers who rate them highly for the river trout. American foam style flies work really well over here with the only change being reducing the size, i've had some big brown trout on foam hoppers at night.
I agree Pete! But sometimes I think we invent very similar patterns independently. Our elk haired caddis, and their deer hair sedges come to mind. Our chironomids (zebra midge) and their buzzers. There are probably others that I'm not thinking of. Great note though!
Hi Matt, I think it's a slightly modified (added hackle) Dave Collyer style Pheasant Tail nymph. Here is the original Cruncher dressing for you. It is very popular here in Scotland in all colours but its not as good as a Diawl Bach. Hook: Size 12 Kamasan B175 or similar Tail: Honey Cock Fibres Body: Pheasant Tail Fibres Rib: Fine silver wire Thorax: Peacock Herl Hackle: Light Ginger Furnace Only real history i've found is that the same pattern was tied many years before the "cruncher" got its name by the head bailiff at Ardleigh res. near Colchester after it first opened in the early 70's.
Great comment Graham; thank you! I'm definitely going to research the Dave Collyer PT nymph. And thank you for helping a lot of the other commenters on here! I sincerely appreciate that. My tying videos get posted at 7am here on the east coast of the US, while I'm already at work and I usually don't get a chance to respond until right before bedtime. Like now, 14 hours later. So thank you for all the help!
Yes, The fly tiers I watch from Great Britain I watch have tied a lot of “Crunchers”. They seem to like to fish them in a string of flies with a floating fly on the end of the line. It is almost like cheating to use a 4 fly rig with 3 crunchers and a boogie to hold them near the surface. Really nice Video Matt, well tied, beautiful fly, Thank You.
Hi, yes we call it the washing line and its a tactic used on stocked waters for rainbow trout mostly, a buoyant fly on the point with 2 or 3 nymph type flies suspended between that and the fly line, a very productive method if you're into that kind of fishing, its not my kind of fishing though.
Great comment Lee! I did read something about fishing them in multiples when researching this. I'm not sure that would even be legal in a lot of our states.
Very interesting Graham! I love getting your comments and learning a bit about how you do things over there. I don't think fishing "a washing line" is something I'd want to do either. It just seems a little bit like cheating. :-)
I know I always say the same thing, but allow me to repeat myself… Don’t be afraid to tie these flies in larger sizes six, four, even two. Large brown trout, bass, catfish they will work on any number of fishes.
Great comment David! I grew up always thinking that smaller is usually better. Especially on the small tailwaters I fish around here. But then when I started noticing the flies on my river stuck in the trees (I usually only noticed them when I got stuck in the same tree)... but they were always much bigger than what I was fishing. So that got me thinking I may have been fishing smaller than I needed to all these years. Now I mix it up a lot more often and you're right, sometimes the bigger flies work better. Even if they're obviously bigger than the actual bugs in the water. Oh well. Who knows what trout think. :-)
@@SavageFlies of course I fish warm water, so while the forage TYPES may be the same….. nymph, baitfish, even mayflies…. They are often bigger. It remains key, though, this idea that they all eat the same TYPE things. It was an epiphany for me, one that hit me after learning who eats, what, in the fishes world
@@SavageFlies caught about 30 +- all on the same little black stone #16. Only a few with any size but fun on the 3wt. I may go again this morning and break out the 2wt. 🤣🤣🤣
Love this fly, I have never tried to tie one Seeing Davey McPhail tying tha olive quill cruncher is what got me interested in tying Thanks for the video Matt
You bet Glen! That's what it's all about my friend! Just having fun and trying new things. :-) And oh yeah, I've got way more flies than I'm ever going to have time to fish. But that's okay. I'm having fun!
Thanks for sharing. Matt. I know Davie McPhail tied an Olive Cruncher a little while back. With that hot spot thorax, this version has a lot of potential.
Thanks Jim. I do really like the hotspot. I'm sure an olive or brown body would be great, but then it's a fairly standard (and a little boring) nymph/wet. Of course, I tie a lot of those too. :-)
No way! Did you order from the same place I did? I got mine too. But was a little disappointed. It was the full length, but was only a slip of it. I was hoping for the whole tail! Anyway, it's enough to make plenty of flies, and the hair does look great. I was just wanting more. :-)
I have the Garthcoe book too! There are some nice looking fly patterns in his book that are fairly easy to tie.Your cruncher fly pattern research and commentary are spot on Matt. Defintly a UK (England, Scottland, Ireland)pattern. I believe it's fished in rivers but primarily a still water pattern fished on lochs and resivours. Fantastic looking fly! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks Troy! Just try to wrap them with your fingers first, and only use the hackle pliers when you have to. And if it's a small enough fly you shouldn't have to. But also... experiment with tying in from the thin end of the fibers. That can sometimes help with a little bit of a taper.
Good morning Matt. Enjoying a cup of java and a cool named fly before work. You always make the day start off better. I like pattern and will tie a few when out of work. I think you need to have a logo fly box for me to put flies in. Well have a great day and stay safe my friend.
Yes Karl! I would love to get some logo fly boxes printed up. Those would make amazing giveaways! That might be a little ways off but I'm definitely going to look into it. Thanks for the idea!
Thanks Mike! I need to get better at fishing wets. I mean, I know how you're supposed to, but it's a lot harder to get the perfect swing in real life than it is to read about it. :-)
I follow a few UK tyers & was frequently baffled by their terminology, especially the Cruncher. The first ones I saw were all black except for the hotspot, so I assumed that it might be a stonefly imitation But then again no, they stated being shown in other colors. Confused, I contacted Davie McPhail & another tyer. The replied with descriptions that were similar to yours.This one looks pretty effective, as do many other crunchers. Now I know what a cruncher is, but I haven’t found a source that tells why it’s called a cruncher. Nymphs are crunchy?? Anyone know why?
Ha! It could be Bob. I haven't eaten any nymphs lately but I'm sure some of them are crunchy. That does remind me of a time I bought a bag of fried crickets from a street vendor in Thailand. They were definitely crunchy. And pretty nasty. Thanks for the comment. I was a bit worried that I was off the mark with this one and there was more to this "cruncher style" than I realized.
Good morning Matt. I just got a copy of Gathercole’s book a couple of days ago. Haven’t got to the Cruncher yet though. Today was the first I’ve heard of it. Enjoyed the video with my morning ☕️ and now it’s time for one more. Take care Matt.
Appreciate it John! I think you're going to like the book. I've probably tied a dozen of the flies out of it so I probably could stand to work through a few more of them. :-)
Thanks Ed! I think you're 100% right... a different color thorax and a couple different sizes and you could fish this in any water, any time of year. Maybe that's why it's so popular over there!
Good morning Sir Matt, Sweet looking fly i'll be tying up some of these here real soon. I love the colors you used. I think i'm going to use purple PT and dubbing with a silver small rib and a dunn tail and hackle. purple seems to work well in the waters I fish. thanks again have a great weekend.
Thanks Edward! And go for it with the purple!! That can be a killer color. I ended up making about 10 of these last night for my own fly boxes and I did make a couple with a purple thorax. I love it too. :-)
Nice easy fly Matt. I can see a lot of variations on this one from the tail to the thorax. Keep the good stuff coming buddy. BTW just s few weeks to the trout opener here in Michigan.
Thanks! That's still almost foreign to me... having a trout season. Our rivers are open year round, and it's just us crazy fools who actually fish them in January and February. But the first mid-60s Saturday in March and it'll look like an opening day!
Hey, Matt! Once again an amazing fly! I was wondering if you could do a quick segment with different types of flies and where they are applicable with conditions. For instance a nymph, wet-fly, Dry Fly, saltwater fly, etc. This would be really helpful, for us newbies. Have a great night!
I think these are the Dr. Slick arrow scissors. I usually keep two beside my vise... these, and some Dr. Slick all-purpose or hair scissors. They make some great scissors... I've tried lots of others and always come back to these. :-)
Ha! Good wrestler name. I like Gorgeous George as a name, great wrestler, ticked off the crowd, if a fly it would entice a fish to bite. There's the Hulk pattern, not a wrestler, but named for Lou Ferrigno's character's gamma green color and big size, Lou was humongous! Hey that's another big pattern. That's all I got, but the Cruncher is a good nymph pattern. I like that style, like a spider or soft hackle, on to the bigger intruders. Hackle propped up against a ball of dubbing. I use game birds or India necks for the hackle, or softer cock like you said. Hackle type/stiffness relative to where and how it's fished. I like Graham's comment, the Diawl Bach is another pattern that imitates midges to pin fry. I bought Fly Fishing & Fly Tying magazine, a UK publication, for a few years. I needed a source for all the different names of their "dressings", you need a program to identify the players when you go to a ball game! Very good mag, learned a lot about their flys and fishing methods. First picked it up at Gander Mountain, then they stopped selling magazines. Found it at B&N, then they had problems ordering it. They did have a You Tube channel, haven't got a notification in quite a while. Thanks for the excellent video Matt, looking dapper again! 😎👍
Great comment Joe. I do recall the UK magazine you're talkng about, we we still have one very similarly named here. It's published by Frank Amato and called the Flyfishing and Tying Journal. But wasn't the UK one a bit high-end and kind of bourgeoisie? But I could be remembering wrong. Anyway... Gorgeous George! Damn that's a great name for a a fly! So I just looked it up and there is one already. Davie McPhail even has a video of it. Some other series that would be fun to name flies after: wrestlers (of course), but what about 1940s Chicago gangsters? Or pirates? Clint Eastwood westerns? Oh man, the possibilities are endless! Anyway, I digress. It's late and I've got 67 more comments to read. Later man. :-)
@@SavageFlies I wouldn't call it "bourgeoisie" or give it a social classification, I just read it to learn a different take on tying and fishing. Besides, depending on who's defining "bourgeoisie", it's supposed to mean the middle class. Maybe the writing style and wording could give a high-end impression, but I just thought of it as a great publication with a broad view on all the things that concern us here in the states. I'd compare it to Fly Tyer and Flyfishing & Tying Journal, which I also read, rolled into one. It's like Playboy, I read that for the articles, not the photos... 🤓👍
Hi Matt. My biggest challenge with tying at this stage is hackle and hackle pliers. I have the stonfo ones that look a bit like you use and then bought some plier type ones which I found even harder. The hackle always feels greasy and slips from both types so I use my fingers but then there isn’t enough length. Any ideas where I’m going wrong? Thanks Warren
Hi Matt. My biggest challenge with tying at this stage is hackle and hackle pliers. I have the stonfo ones that look a bit like you use and then bought some plier type ones which I found even harder. The hackle always feels greasy and slips from both types so I use my fingers but then there isn’t enough length. Any ideas where I’m going wrong? Thanks Warren
I'm not sure Warrren. I can tell you I also use these pliers from Umpqua and nothing will slip out of these. They have a really strong grip so you do have to be careful not to break your feather stems, but I've never had anything slip in them. www.jsflyfishing.com/item/of-902390-0000/umpqua-dreamstream-hackle-plier/1.html
