The Crumpler

Flies are an integral part of our pastime: we carry too many yet fish with only a few. The confidence we have in our favourite flies is based on past experience and is a major force that drives our choice of pattern on the water. To be included in this faithful clique a new fly needs to bring its own special character, something to inspire confidence, ensuring that it is not forgotten when we make our waterside decisions.

One pattern that is gaining the confidence of an ever growing number of anglers is the Curmudgeon Crumpler, developed by Erin Block during the last northern hemisphere summer. Erin may be a relative newcomer to fly fishing but her experiences on the backcountry lakes and streams of Colorado have combined to help her produce some great fly patterns. One of the best is the ‘Crumpler’: part cranefly, part caddis and part hopper, it contains all the best triggers to produce a truly versatile fly. As Erin explains, the pattern was born out of necessity, and named as a consequence of some streamside humour:

‘The Curmudgeon Crumpler evolv-ed out of a crane fly imitation I tied up specifically for the high lakes I was fishing last summer. One day they wanted nothing but crane flies and I had none in my box. When I got back home I sat down at my vise, determined to develop a crane pattern to take back to that lake…

‘I played around with it for quite a few months. And then late-summer, Jay and I were set to meet a friend, Greg Keenan, to fish the Saint Vrain (the creek made famous by John Gierach’s stories) in Rocky Mountain National Park. Greg asked what was working and Jay quickly replied, “size 14 curmudgeon crumplers.” He hesitated… because of course, there was no such thing. “I might have to bum a couple of crumplers from you guys,” Greg said. And so I thought it would be a hoot to actually have some curmudgeon crumplers for us all to use. It all started out as completely a joke, but I really did tie some up, and we all three had a great day with it.

CRUMPLER

HOOK: Hanak Allround H500BL size 12

THREAD: White Uni-Thread 8/0 Camel Uni-Thread 8/0

LEGS: Mottled white tipped turkey tail

WING: Elk or natural deer hair

OVERWING: Tiewell Superwing, mottled brown

HACKLE: Brown saddle

DUBBING: Black Super Possum

TYING NOTES

1. Build up rear of body with white thread.

2. Continue body with brown thread.

3. Tie in stacked elk or deer hair.

4. Add a knotted leg either side.

5. Attach a pair of trimmed wings.

6. Tie in a brown hackle and dub a neat head.

7. Wind hackle forward and whip finish.

‘I based the crumpler on the crane fly pattern I was working on then. Big gangly legs, wings, scruffy. Nothing really pretty about it. But it looks “buggy” and trout love it.’

Erin has a preference for natural materials in her tying. As she so eloquently puts it, ‘Perhaps it’s old fashioned or mystical, but it seems to me that there’s still life left in materials that once held breath. They have a movement and realism that synthetics (although there certainly is a time and place) can’t beat.’

Start by building up a nice plump rear to the body with white thread, half hitch and trim off the white, then continue the rest of the body with light brown. Stack a good pinch of elk hair to even up the tips and tie in just longer than the rear of the hook. Place the first loop of thread around the hair only, before tying down tightly. This helps prevent the hair from spinning around the shank during the tying process; a small drop of tying cement on the butts helps to secure it if you’re having trouble.

Prepare some legs by trimming three fibres from a turkey tail feather and tying a knot level with the colour change. Trim a fibre off below the knot to give a nice tapered profile to the leg and tie one in each side, keeping the knot level with the tips of the elk hair. Next add a couple of wings, using your preferred winging material, trimmed to a long, thin oval shape.

Neaten up any rough ends at the front of the fly before tying in a brown hackle and dubbing a neat head. Wind the hackle forward over the dubbing with touching turns. A whip finish and a final drop of head cement completes the fly. Trim the hackle flat underneath if you want the fly to sit lower in the surface film.

Find a spot in your fly box for a couple of Crumplers and see if they pass the confidence test next time you hit the water. Grasshoppers, crane flies, beetles and jassids all come to mind if you experiment with colours to match the autumn hatches.