#1: The Goulburn Yabby

One cold and rainy off-season some years back, I sat at the tying desk and developed a fly pattern to be used in the Goulburn River in Victoria, Australia. 

The Goulburn is a free-flowing river upstream of Lake Eildon, but flow is regulated downstream. River levels vary widely, from dangerously high, to levels so low you can practically walk across it in gumboots. The Goulburn Yabby was developed with specific sections of the down-river section of the stream in mind.

The Background

I’d been searching for a fly that could be swung at any level of the water column on a sinking leader, or even on a mono-leader in shallow sections. Specifically, I wanted a crustacean imitation. Yabby claws are not hard to find on the waters edge (a favourite of the native water rats, or ‘rakali’ as they have been re-branded), indicating there must be plenty of the tasty crustaceans messing about around the place: I’ve also seen plenty in the water over the years. Plus, I wanted the challenge of making such a fly.

Think about the times you have seen a yabby move in a river. There are two main types of movement: sometimes you spot them slowly crawling forwards along the bottom, and other times you see them shooting quickly backwards through the water column when they are trying to get the hell away from something. It’s the latter, more animated movement that this fly attempts to re-create, because it suites the method of swinging flies downstream perfectly.

There is something very satisfying about tying the Goulburn Yabby. It might be because it brings together a lot of tying tricks and skills leaned from years of tying, or because you get to use a wide range of fancy materials. Or it might just be because you get to create something juicy and lifelike on a large bit of iron, instead of the normal size 18+ Goulburn fly patterns. 

Each Goulburbn Yabby takes me around the half hour mark to make, partly because I’m generally unorganised at the tying bench, and partly because I just enjoy doing making them: whilst completing a Yabby is always satisfying, its also mildly disappointing to say goodbye to it and tie it off, and so I prolong it a bit. 

The Design

Though this fly has a few vague links to the GP (General Practitioner) with its materials and structure, there are a some very important differences. Firstly, and most obviously, is that the Goulburn Yabby does not have a wing of any sort- the GP family generally does, often forming a very pronounced, even exaggerated, part of the fly. Secondly, unlike the GP, the Yabby does not have a hackle wound around a single point near the eye: in the Goulburn Yabby, it is wound around the length of the body and held down with counterwound ribbing, suggesting segmentation.

Generally, GP’s are much more heavily dressed than the Goulburn Yabby. I wanted my Yabby to sink to the bottom as naturally as possible, and even though this fly was intended to be used with sink tips designed to get it down deep quickly when required, I prefer to rely on the dynamics of the fly rather than weight to achieve this: hence the sparser dressing. The few turns of lead I use are not enough to make the fly sink like a stone: it just seems to make it travel better and more naturally underwater, and as such I see it as an integral part of the fly makeup.

A few turns of lead

Using church windows from pheasant as backing provides a shellback with a semi-realistic bit of colour and segmentation, with the added benefit of introducing slight movement. You could varnish these feathers, and I’ve tried it, but they end up having a fake appearance and the stiffness detracts from the fly, so I’ve long canned that idea. Also, I don’t put these feathers on all Yabby flies: I also use schlappen as hackle in their place, with equally pleasing results. It’s good to change things up on any pattern: no two animals are the same in nature, so why not vary your flys as well?

The feelers change from fly to fly, each time I make the Yabby. A mixture of Bird Fur, pheasent tail barbs, long black fox guard hairs, schlappen, and so on have all been used. It just depends on what the colour palette calls for, and what I have on hand. 

Bodies vary too. For some, I chop up tying floss (blue and green) and blend them together to form a really striking dubbing colour, and then brush that out to form the body. Or maybe I’ll use, chenille, wool, Bird Fur, and so on.

I’ve used burnt mono and pheasant breast for eyes. Either one works well, and though there is something scarily realistic about the mono eyes, I prefer the more suggestive and abstract appearance of the Pheasant breast.

Pheasant breast eyes

Top view of pheasant breast eyes being tied in

Burnt monofilament eyes

Colouraton

I had a lot of fun with the various colour schemes for this fly. I started out with realistic colours, then went for brighter shades, then blue shades, then orange, green, and many more beside that. Like many flies, the differences in colour were not to match naturals, but to suit lighting and water conditions. Darker flies for darker days, bright and slightly sparkly blue for bright sunny days, and orange for slightly murky water. Or, perhaps a more truthful explanation for the variation: it was just plain enjoyable to see what I could make with different colours and materials at hand.

The Goulburn Yabby is a fly that can be tied on any size hook, even shanks and tubes. It is suitable for any freshwater application where crustaceans are on the menu. It can be cast and swung on a two-hander, figure-8 retrieved on a single hander, strip-retrieved on anything. Why not have a crack at tying a few and give the Goulburn Yabby a swing in your favourite waters next season!

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