Agapetus Swimming Pupae (ASP)
Hook – Partridge SLD size 20 (or similar)
Thread – Rust Brown 8/0 Unithread
Head – 1.5mm black tungsten bead
Body – Tying thread
Legs/outriggers – micro flash
Thorax – Mole
Tying sequence for this pupae is:
1. Place the bead on the hook and then place the hook in the vice
2. Start thread just behind the bead and work down to just short of the bend. Build
up a neat cigar shaped abdomen with the thread (should be about ½ hook shank
length).
3. Lift in and secure the outrigger legs in the thorax area
4. Dub the mole onto the thread and wind a neat thorax area (stating, if necessary,
with one turn behind the outrigger legs to help kick them out).
5. Tie off the thread behind the eye and cut outriggers to length (more or less level
with the end of the abdomen.
Attributes of fly plus notes
- A small, simple and effective pattern.
- Developed from direct observation of fish feeding on the swimming Agapetus caddis pupae. These are very common in most fast flowing rivers and streams and emerge from late May onwards to September (peaking in mid-June with a lull from mid-July to mid-August).
- Best fished upstream towards feeding fish.
- It can be fished “dead-drift” but also a short twitch either as it lands or during the drift can prompt a savage take (especially as darkness descends in the late evening).
