Danish Pastry Fly

The artist formerly known as The Copper Camel

This fly pattern has recently had a name change. The reason for this will be obvious later in this story. It was originally nameless - as many other newly developed patterns are.

Danish Pastry Fly	Copper head

The camel and the copper
I tied it in a small breeze of inspiration primarily started by a box of camel's wool I was given as a birthday present by my Father-in-law. He had picked it up in a Danish animal park and thought of me and my fly tying. Very considerate.
I paired the wool with copper wire and a cree hackle, and wound up with a fly, which to me appeared quite fishy. It was simple and certainly seen before, but seemed very appealing to my eyes - even in the vice.

	Danish pastry fish - and Danish pastry fisher

The only thing it had that I hadn't seen that often before was a head covered with copper wire - an idea that had come to me while tying the fly. I just continued winding the all-too-long rib over the eyes and the head of the fly before trimming the tag. Apart from that it was like many other inshore flies seen in Denmark.

The first fish
It did catch fish. Its first victory was actually the reason for the coming name change. At first I dubbed the fly the Copper Camel in lack of better ideas, and the name stuck for a couple of years.

Back to the first fish: Good friend Henning and I were on our way to a place we love and fish a lot. Upon arrival we remebered that we had forgotten to buy our traditional Danish pastry - a very important part of every fishing trip, eaten outdoors with a good cup of coffee. Henning was driving, and we decided that he would shuttle quickly to the nearest bakery while I sampled the water
I unloaded my gear and he drove off.

01 - Thread and rib   02 - Dubbing   03 - Body   04 - Eyes   05 - Cut   06 - Hackle   07 - Web

Boom!
I pulled on my waders, put my rod together and tied a Copper Camel to the tippet. Just in front of me was a small reef, which had produced a fish or two before. I started upwind from the reef, barely wading with water just over my boots. In the second or third cast I felt a small tug. It could have been sea weed, but it could also have been a fish. I placed a second cast exactly the same place: parallel with the reef over very shallow water. Boom! A sea trout took the fly as it hit the water and ran off towards deeper water.
It wasn't big, but a very nice fish in the 2-3 lbls. range. I beached it and decided to keep it - if for no other reason, the at least to show to Henning.

3 minutes later
Three minutes later Henning was back, parking the car and approaching me with the bag from the baker in one hand and his rod in the other.
Needless to say that he wasn't happy with my catch! This is probably the last time I ever get him to do the shopping alone while I fish...
Since that incident we have talked about the fly and the situation many times, and recently someone called the fly Wienerbrodsfluen - The Danish Pastry Fly - and that name stuck.

1. Attach the thread in the rear of the hook shank
2. Tie in the copper ribbing
3. Dub the body to a cylindrical, slender shape
4. Prepare a hackle by removing the most webby part
5. Tie in a pair of eyes under the hook shank in front of the body. leave space to tie in the hackle
6. Tie in the hackle in front of the body behind the eyes, pointing away from yourself, shiny side towards the front of the fly
7. Take a couple of hackle turns behind the eyes
8. Turn the hackle down the body in 5-6 even turns
9. Catch the hackle tip with the copper wire and turn this back up the body to secure the feather
10. Continue turning the copper around the eyes in a figure eight movement
11. Tie the copper down and trim the excess
12. Cut off the hackle tip in the rear of the fly

1. Attach the thread in the rear of the hook shank
2. Tie in the copper ribbing
3. Dub the body to a cylindrical, slender shape
4. Prepare a hackle by removing the most webby part
5. Tie in a pair of eyes under the hook shank in front of the body. leave space to tie in the hackle
6. Tie in the hackle in front of the body behind the eyes, pointing away from yourself, shiny side towards the front of the fly
7. Take a couple of hackle turns behind the eyes
8. Turn the hackle down the body in 5-6 even turns
9. Catch the hackle tip with the copper wire and turn this back up the body to secure the feather
10. Continue turning the copper around the eyes in a figure eight movement
11. Tie the copper down and trim the excess
12. Cut off the hackle tip in the rear of the fly

08 - Tie in   09 - Ready   10 - first turns   11 - Wound   12 - Rib   13 Don't crush   14 - wind copper   15 - Tie down   16 - trim

Did you find the above interesting?
People who looked at the above also looked at these pages: Fill-the-box "I have severely neglected my day-to-day flybox for more than a ... Flies Some assorted flies by GFF partner Martin Joergensen for you to ... South Swedish Sea Trout Every year fishermen from all over the world visit the swedish s... GFF podcasts Section: The sound of The Global FlyFisher Branchu Branchu is the Québecois word for wood duck, and a very suitable...	This other story related to "fly tying" might also interest you: Prince Nymphs Variations on a theme: Mike Hogue drops by and offers us some variations of one of the all time popular trout flies - the Prince Nymph. By adding "a little flash and glamour", we have a few new things to try the next time we're getting skunked and want to try something different. See them all. Click to see other stories with the keyword "fly tying"
A few random articles for your entertainment Rising Star The Austin blanks from All Star Rods are quickly gaining a reputation among custom rod builders as being among the best performing blanks on the market, regardless of price. Bob Petti had a chance to build and fish a 4wt recently. June 11th 2004 Carinthian Gold Does one of the best spots for fishing for graylings with a colour “like gold”, good water conditions most of the spring, summer and autumn, still undiscovered by cormorants and yet unknown to the cosmopolitan fly fishing scene sound interesting? June 22nd 2007 The Triangle Fly This is a strange kind of saltwater fly for sea trout - nothing like other flies - sparse and skinny, tied on a treble, only two materials. But it works says GFF partner Martin Joergensen, who is almost embarassed to tell how to tie this über-simple fly. February 12th 2005 Summer in Europe A Polish Fishing DVD is not something we see every day. Not that it's in Polish. It's actually in no particular language. Brothers Andrej and Peter Polcic take us on a universally understandable trip to some beautiful European rivers and catches some fish and some video. June 20th 2007