Although this is not a Tenkara fly pattern, it would be one of the most highly effective fly patterns any tenkara angler could fish, in both the unweighted and weighted variations. The following article provides its historical context, a number of effective variations, and what is, probably, the best tying tutorial available on how to tie it…Enjoy.
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In the link listed above, different color variations of the Bird nest are provided. However, Cal only tied 2 color variations of his Bird’s Nest Pattern: The Natural, and the Spectral patterns. The Natural consisted of : 50% Gray Australian possum, 40% coyote (use Hare’s mask as a sub), and 10% Seal’s fur which will also need to substituted with another legal material.
On the Spectral Pattern, the same 50 and 40 % fur blends were used but the final 10 % was made up of Seal died in the Primary colors (Red, Yellow and Blue), and the Secondary colors - Orange, Purple and Green. Fish do not look for what’s wrong in a fly pattern. If they did, the Hook alone would turn them off completely. If they are looking for a certain color, let’s say green in this case, as long as green elements are found in the fly, the fish will simply ignore all the wrong colors that are there. So the Spectral Pattern covers all the colors any fish could want in only a single fly pattern. Commercial Bird’s Nest Patterns are available and sold, but the Spectral Pattern is not offered by anyone I know of as it’s in the seller’s best interests to sell more flies instead of less.
Additionally, the Primary and Secondary Colors could be made up using Glo-Brite Floss, which are Fl-Colors, allowing UV Light to be utilized in the catching of fish in low light conditions and certain water color conditions at long range. And since FLs make up only 10% of the dubbing blend, there is no danger of over whelming the fish’s color cone cells with too much long range FL-Color. The floss can be measured to insure consistent and accurate color component input in the dubbing blend, all whipped up in a coffee blender with your other dubbing ingredients. The Spectral Bird’s Nest is more time consuming and trouble to tie, for sure, and it requires more material investment but, I believe, would be worth the trouble for you and the fish…Karl.
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thanks for the link. if you click on the flybox link there are tons of patterns