I think the final phase in any fly tier’s development is that implied by the Matrix, where the mind is finally freed of tradition and dependence on standard patterns, and fly tying becomes a series of test flies and experimentals, all of which catch fish.

It takes many years and a lot of fishing to get to that place, as it’s counter to everything you’ve learned to date, all the conventional wisdom gleaned from dusty tomes, chance meetings of kindred souls, and brightly colored periodicals, each hawking costly gear, expensive fishing, and light on real knowledge.

Your initial foray into fly fishing typically introduces you to the Adam’s killing power, and once seen ensures you always have a couple dozen in different sizes in your fly box. Later it simply becomes a fly with mixed Grizzly and Brown hackle, which morphs into a #16 with Grizzly and any body color, and then it hits you … there’s nothing special about an Adam’s, you simply need a similar color to the natural, and the right size, and the fish will eat …

Fly fishing shows you the door, but you have to walk through it …

It’s actually has nothing to do with flies and fly fishing, it’s the realization that your quarry is really stupid, has a brain the size of a pea, and you’re not outwitting another sentient creature, rather you’re taking advantage of a reflex. Slap a Big Mac in front of a Vegan, and watch instinct overcome concious behavior. If he fails to take it, touch up the lettuce and tomato with an airbrush, and slap it on his plate again …

Art and proximity to talent were my undoing. I had a family of trained artists at home and talented tiers at the Golden Gate club that didn’t mind a kid peering over their collective shoulders. Several hundreds of years of fishing experience were at work, and it wasn’t a steady stream of Adam’s and Horner Deer Hairs that were hatching, it was a flurry of unknown buggy things of unspecified color and distinct silouette.

Cal Bird was among the tiers and as an artist and calligrapher used elements of both to bring color and sparkle to his flies. He was instrumental in getting me off of specific patterns and into the look and feel of insects.

The Artist’s Color Wheel was my initiation into the realm of fly tying impressionism, as Cal frequently used “spectral blends” of dubbing to tie his flies.

The Artist’s Color Wheel is depicted at left, and a Spectral Blend is composed of all of the primary colors and all of the secondary colors of the color wheel blended together. The primaries are Scarlet, Cyan, and Yellow, and opposite them are the Secondaries; Green, Purple and Orange. Secondary colors are an equal mix of the primaries. Red + Yellow = Orange, Blue + Yellow = Green, etc,. As every color in the spectrum is composed of the three primary colors, technically all colors are contained in the Spectral blend.

Cal used to say, “…the Fish see what they want.”

Impressionism in fly tying is similar to that of the art world. Exacting imitation gives way to approximating their color, size, silouette, and using movement in your materials to complete the seduction and breathe life into your fly. Only the accuracy of the cast and the quality of your knots determine the balance of the outcome.

By introducing me to the Spectral Dubbing blend, Cal was making it easy for me to walk through the door into outright impressionism. By only altering the dubbing mixture, I could continue to tie the Gold Ribbed Hare’s Ear and understand that adding shards of Red, Yellow, Cyan, Green, Blue, and Purple, to the fly did not make it less of a killer, often it made it doubly effective – and fishing the fly became a crime committed against hungry trout.

Seduction of the Innocent

• Neo: What are you trying to tell me? That I can dodge bullets?
• Morpheus: No, Neo. I’m trying to tell you that when you’re ready, you won’t have to.

Armed with the knowledge that I was fighting reflex instead of a frontal lobe, and my making minor or liberal changes to established patterns wouldn’t result in excommunication by the fly fishing clergy, I was able to fiddle, tinker, and modify my favorite patterns into untested experimentals. Suddenly flies started to populate my fly boxes based on whim, a theory, or a new material, and their use wasn’t accompanied by an unwelcome lightning bolt from the heavens ..

(The clouds thickened above me several times, and I was quite conscious that carbon fiber was a semiconductor, however …)

As regards construction of a Spectral Blend, Cal used baby Seal fur for its sparkle, but today we can use Antron fibers in the same fashion. The yarn industry uses Antron fibers for weaving, synthetic batting, and other textiles, and Antron fibers are available under the trade name of “Firestar.” Firestar is a white trilobal fiber that is used in spinning, yarn making, and the millinery industry, and is sold in its native sparkly white form, that us fly fishermen have dubbed, “Antron.”

Firestar is a member of the nylon family, so it can be dyed using standard RIT or Acid dyes. Firestar is also sold at Michael’s Craft stores in the batting section. Batting is used to stuff and plump quilts, so look for it in the sewing section. Typically it can be found at fiber stores, selling for about $3-$7 per ounce, and is available in many small ETSY stores which sell the fiber pre-dyed. Wildthyme has nearly one hundred colors of dyed Antron available, the most I have seen.

Purchase the Primaries, red, yellow, and (cyan) light blue, and the secondaries, orange, green, and purple, trim them to about 3/4″, mix them together in equal parts. The Chameleon Fiber Company has a pre-dyed multi-colored Firestar that is already dyed in all the primary and secondary colors, and is available for $5 per ounce, which is cheap. All you need do is chop it into 3/4″ pieces and mix it into your fur.

Making a bag of the blended colors beforehand allows you to mix a pinch or two in with your normal dubbing to make a Spectral variant of the original fly. Simply add some to traditional Hare’s Mask to make a Spectral Hare’s Mask dubbing, then tie it identical to the classic fly.

Cal’s Spectral Bird’s Nest is tied in the same fashion. The traditional Bird’s Nest blend is 10% natural baby seal, 45% Hare’s Mask, and 45% Australian Opossum. You can substitue white Firestar Antron for the Baby Seal, and then add a pinch of the Spectral blend to make the Spectral Bird’s Nest.

Ignore the cries of the Unbelievers when you hand them a few Bird’s Nests and they exclaim, ” … this ain’t the Original, Whassup?” The mix of colors in the Spectral flavor will likely add to the original versus detract, and carrying a couple dozen will be an asset.

Here is a closeup of the finished Spectral Bird’s Nest after the Spectral blend has been mixed itnto the original fly’s dubbing. The classic Gray/Brown coloration of the Bird’s Nest is intact, and the motes of color that radiate out of the fly allow different impressions of color depending on the angle of vision. If the fish wants to see a certain color, it’s in there .. yet the traditional fly is preserved. The silouette, form, and function are identical, only the diversity of visible colors have changed.

Feel free to tinker with color enhancements as you’ll have plenty of Firestar to add color elements to your flies. I typically keep the Spectral blend at about 10% of the dubbing layer, but feel free to increase and decrease this to check the effects of additional colors. Remember there is nothing sacred about a traditional pattern, so get adventurous and let the trout tell you what is and isn’t clever.