Mrs Simpson

[willempie]

Hunting trout van goeie Dr Tom nou net klaar gelees. Is daar nog plek vir Mrs Simpson? Kan mens haar net so laat gaan of is daar nog mense wat haar gebruik? Na my mening die beste nabootsing van 'n Kaapse Kurper vir die stilwaters wat ek hengel.

[Chucky07]

That will always be one of my favourite flies.

[core fly]

Just had a very successful Berg trip and Mrs Simpson was king.I never use this fly but have got new respect for it and will definately stock up on it for future trips.I will be intersting to know if it wil work well for yellows too.I think especially in the clearer waters of sterkies and lilydale.

[JanK]

Chaps fishing the Mrs here in the Midlands lately have reported a new found "energy" with the fly : if you ruffle/trim/modify, even remove the first 2 feathers down from the hook eye on either side of the hook, so that you can see *MUCH* more of the red underbody. (NB: leave the last 2 "tail" feathers)

Maybe it's a winter spawning thing - the red is showing egg-like, like a Red Setter (which is also working well here at the moment), and/or simply a spawning aggression thing.

BTW - I also mod any commercial Walker's and Hamill's Killers that I buy, by adding red and green flash respectively. Seems to up their effectiveness for me.

Oh, and can I also add 2 words for winter in the Midlands: "minnow patterns" !

'Nuf said.

[Jasper]

one of the GREATEST flies ever made!! ... even overseas - my brother slaughtered dumb Aussie trout with them in the Snowy Mountains - and my Colorado guide took my entire stock off me when I left!

[poppernel]

one of the GREATEST flies ever made!! ... even overseas - my brother slaughtered dumb Aussie trout with them in the Snowy Mountains - and my Colorado guide took my entire stock off me when I left!

I agree Jasper, a famouse New Zealand fly pattern presumably named sfter MRS. Simpson , who became the Dutchess of Windsor. The fly is used in S.A. and the United Kingdom.

DAVE

[Booger Rose]

If it works for you, use it! That is how I feel about my Olive Wooly Bugger! I always feel a fly works better when the angler is fishing it with confidence.

[Andre]

The real Mrs. Simpson, apparently requires about 14 feathers, carefully selected for various criteria, like size, degree of bend, etc. There must be several variations of this fly that are easier to tie. I have not seen a proper Mrs. Simpson in years, and the commercial one's that you can by, are not the genuine thing. They may work just as well, but the real thing is almost impossible for an average mortal to tie.
I have never attempted to tie one, and the only ones I have ever used, are the commercial one's, walkers killers, etc. It does seem to be a good stillwater fly, as well as a good fly for the traditional stream technique of letting the fly drift down stream, and stripping it back up.

[KevinE]

I use Mrs Simpsons on the lakes here in NZ to good effect. I quite like a size 10 retrieved in short jerks in the weedy lakes. I also tie a Mrs Simpson variant with a marabou tail that works nicely too. A truly great fly that still has a big following here.

The other killer-style fly that works very well is the Hamills killer. It is tied with dyed-olive mallard breast feather. Another "killer" in the weedy lakes.

[KevinE]

I agree Jasper, a famouse New Zealand fly pattern presumably named sfter MRS. Simpson , who became the Dutchess of Windsor. The fly is used in S.A. and the United Kingdom.

DAVE

Yes Dave, I surmise that the thinking behind the name of the fly is that a trout would go to great extremes to get the fly, perhaps even give up its kingdom as did Edward VIII.