The plain ol' Birds Nest

[Mike Boyer 0]

Ah, the Birds Nest. Back in the 80's I fished the Birds Nest with great effectiveness. I haven't tied Trout flies for awhile,

but wanted to stock up the boxes a bit for the summer. and started with this great pattern originated by Cal Bird.

 

 

I found this fine article about the Birds Nest and a bit about Cal Bird:

 

Bird’s Nest History, and How One Man’s Soup is Another Man’s Fly

 

By KBarton10 on Aug 25, 2007 in Fly Tying, fly history

 

Spectral Bird’s NestI mentioned the “Bird’s Nest” fly in last nights post, I had the privilege of knowing Calvert Bird years ago when it was created. Cal was one of the most singular and gentle fellows I’ve ever known, he had a weakness for coffee and wreath cake, which I exploited unmercifully.

 

All of Cal’s well known flies are generalist patterns, you won’t find individual legs, or precise structure that limits the fly to a single genus and species; Cal was a trained artist, a calligrapher by trade, and his artistic skills imbued all of his work.

 

Cal had retired and lived across the street from Frank Matarelli, the “father” of all of the fly tying tools we use today. Watching that pair in action was always a treat, as gentle and soft spoken as Cal was, Frank was strident and bellicose. They often collaborated, Cal would fiddle with Frank’s tools, and Frank would berate Cal for using them wrong, or some other imagined offense.

 

The Bird’s Nest pattern was invented around 1984. Cal tested the fly on trips to Hat Creek, and handed them with a knowing wink to his friends, “Try these,” was all he would say.

 

The original pattern was a precise blend of fur not seen in today’s commercial versions. 50% gray Australian Opossum, 40% Hare’s Mask (with guard hairs intact) and 10% Natural baby Seal fur. Cal preferred the heavily barred Teal flank feathers for the hackle, these were dyed with RIT Maple Sugar cloth dye.

 

The rear of the fly was left naturally unruly, the combination of the guard hairs, coarse seal fur, and Australian Opossum was untamable. The head of the fly was combed with the male side of Velcro, to increase the visible spike of the hair, and merge it with the teal flank.

 

The hackle was also applied differently, Cal would cut the center out of a flank feather and strip back the balance, leaving a small “chevron” of flank feather on each side. The amount depended on the size of the finished fly, perhaps a 1/4? for small flies, 1/2? for larger #8’s and above. He would press one side onto the fly with his thumb, and would use the thread to distribute the fibers. As the thread circled the far side of the fly, he would press the remaining teal close to the shank with his forefinger, then allow the thread to distribute the fibers along the far side and belly of the fly.

 

The fly originally debuted in two flavors, Natural (the fly we use today) and Spectral.

 

The Color WheelThe Spectral Bird’s Nest was pure artist. Formal art training introduces the Artist’s Color Wheel, all colors are mixed from only three; Red, Yellow, and Blue. Secondary colors are mid-way between primaries, mix yellow and blue to get green, red and yellow to get orange, red and blue yields purple.

 

To get the Spectral Bird’s Nest, Cal used the Australian Opossum / Hare’s Ear base, and replaced the 10% natural seal, with 10% comprised of red, yellow, blue, orange, green, and purple, seal. All of the primary and secondary colors on the color wheel.

 

He would press a couple into your hand, with, “Fish see whatever they want with these.”

 

It is one of the best all-round searching flies I’ve used, and I can find no reference to it anywhere. Today’s tiers can substitute any coarse synthetic for the seal, it must be unruly enough to stick out from the Opossum/Hare’s Mask blend – as seal does. The completed fly should have “guard hairs” of colored fiber sticking out of the grey base, not buried in the gray where it will not be seen.

 

[Old Hat 0]

Mike, those are spectacular ties. The Bird's Nest was one the first flies I tied and I still always have many in my box and fish them probably more than any other nymph pattern both on stillwater or moving. One of the best generalist patterns ever created in my opinion. Thanks for sharing the article and those great examples.

[smallieFanatic 0]

Great article, and very nice flies. I will certainly be tying a few of those in the near future.

[Mickalo 0]

I just happen to find out about this fly a few weeks ago myself. A friend of ours, from WI, called me about tying up some flies for him. He asked if I ever heard of this fly, the Birds Nest ... and I said "no not really". Did a google and found this pattern:

 

http://stevenojai.tripod.com/birdnest.htm

 

it sounds pretty close to the original going by the article you posted Mike. So I thought I'd post it incase someone wanted to check it out. I did tie up a few and sent it my friend. I haven't heard yet how well he or fly did yet

 

MIke

[oldtrout58 0]

The Bird's Nest is a great fly, my favorite fly in fact.

By the way, Keith (KBarton10) is the brains behind the Sixth Finger scissors.

[letumgo 0]

Beautiful flies Mike, in a nice scruffy/buggy way. I enjoyed reading the article about these flies, especially the part about the "Spectral" version. I had never heard of this version before. I read the description of the dubbing with great interest. I am going to give these a try. Thanks for sharing.

[fly_fischa 0]

Love your post Mike, thanks for sharing.

I will be adding some of those to the box and seeing how they fare in Australia/New Zealand. I especially like the 'Spectral' idea, a lot of food for thought.

What an awesome pattern

[Jaydub 0]

Thanks for the history of a great fly Mike.

[dilettante 0]

Mike, I've got a question of historical interest. I was wondering if your examples of the Bird's Nest are tied similarly to the original "look". The examples I've come across are usually more heavily dubbed with more flank feather hackle. Just curious as to where the pattern started out from. thanks.

[mlwebb 0]

Lovely ties!

I got into tying and researching the bird's nest pattern this winter (I was wondering if the locally popular Possie Bugger was derived from it), and missed the piece by Kbarton10 - thanks for posting it.

Michael

[Johny Utah 0]

Nice flies, Good tying, i love the birds nest.

 

Hijack sorry gang. 6th finger scissors are nothing new. The world of sewing knows these as thread nippers with a finger loop. Wiss makes a damn fine pair.