February Fly Of The Month: Brassie

My first encounter with the “copper fly” was on a trip to the Pennsylvania spring creeks in the Carlie area. In the absence of a hatch, Mike Bullock handed me a “copper fly” to tie on as a dropper to my small thorax dun. It was a simple fly consisting of a copper wire, wrapped as an abdomen with a peacock herl thorax. Mike’s Copper Fly or what is better known as a Brassie imitates midge larva and pupa, caddis larva and pupa, and many other small nymphs. The Brassie is a fine example of how little it takes to entice some trout – even highly selective trout in a spring creek or tailrace.

The original “copper fly” was tied using wire extracted from an electronic power transformer for the abdomen and a piece of heat shrink-wrap tape for the thorax. The Brassie fly pattern is named based on this original fine copper alloy transformer wire which was a brass color. In the 1960s, Ken Chandler and Tug Davenport invented this early creation for use on the South Platt River near Denver, Colorado.  My guess is that they were either electronics professionals or hobbyists with the give-away being the shrink-wrap tape. The shrink-wrap tape certainly made a highly imitative, durable fly pattern and they possibly intended the fly pattern to be an English like “buzzer” without the varnished coating.  At some point though, peacock herl became the replacement material for the thorax as an even more attractive material for trout. The peacock herl thorax is irresistible to trout.

Using wire gives the appearance of segmentation. With the ability to create many different diameters or gauges as well as many colors of copper alloy wire using plating technology, the logical derivative fly patterns include many different sizes and colors of wire for bodies. Try out different colors of wire in this fly pattern, such as red, purple, green and black. There is now a wide variety of wires available on the market, and so there are no limits in your choice of colors. 

Rick Murphy developed the 2-Wire Brassie or Two-Tone Brassie using contrasting colors of wire. 
More variations of the fly pattern are Bead-Headed with a plastic bead, glass bead, brass bead, colored metal bead or tungsten bead. Synthetic ice Chenille and fluorescent Chenille have been used as substitutes for peacock herl. However, the original simple herl design is still hard to beat.

The brassie is a simple fly to tie, but as almost any fisherman will tell you, peacock catches trout.
The most typical Brassie sizes tied are size 14 to size 20. Actual caddis larva and pupa range in length from size 10 to size 16. Larger gauges of wire from 12-gauge to 20-gauge are needed to match these hook sizes. Actual midges range in length from size 18 to size 28. Small gauges of wire from 20-gauge to 32-gauge are needed to match these hook sizes. 

A simple and highly effective fly pattern such as the Brassie allows the fly tyer to quickly and easily refill the fly box for the next fly fishing trip. The Brassie is useful for catching trout in any piece of water where trout are present, east or west, stream or lake. The hook and wire alone provide weight for the Brassie fly pattern to sink toward the bottom. The least bit of current provides for a water column presentation much like a real larva rising to the surface as it transforms into a midge or caddis pupa. It may be used on a variety of streams especially during the fringe months in the spring and fall. It can imitate a Chironomid or midge pupae that lives underwater and levitating the mid-water column. It catches fish under an indicator or retrieved behind sinking or floating line. It is deadly fished behind a floating line and a 9-foot to 12-foot fluorocarbon leader in a series of six short one-inch strips followed by a long pause allowing it to fall again then repeated. Imitating the natural rise of an emerging midge. The Brassie is a great addition behind any streamer when searching or trolling slowly. In the larger sizes it is a great caddis larva imitation in the western rivers. 

Do not underestimate this fly, the Brassie is one of the best small fly patterns ever created. The Brassie is likely the most under-utilized "Big Trout" patterns there is. It fishes year-round almost everywhere because of its density. The brassie can also be used for hard water fishing in the winter months.
Fly fishing with a single Brassie generally requires an indicator, indicator fly, leading fly, a tandem presentation and 5X tippet. Although trout have keen eyesight, the visibility of a very small fly pattern may be enhanced with by the co-existence of another fly. An indicator or indicator fly will be highly visible and theoretically draws the attention of the trout. With such attention the tiny Brassie is there for a “bait and switch” presentation.
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A similar, yet amazing technique is to tie on a leading wet fly, soft hackle or streamer with the Brassie as a trailer. First fly gets attention, Brassie gets the strike. The same is true for a tandem presentation using two Brassies. However, with a tandem presentation in the water column, either fly may receive the strike. Keep in mind that on tailraces and spring creeks a 5X tippet is too big, so plan to 6X, 6.5X or 7X tippets with the Brassie.
 
Brassie
Fly of the Month 2.18
Fly of the Month - February 2018