Bacchus - The God, The Nightclub & The Fly ...

by Richard Fieldhouse

Our Artisan fly tyers have been 'on the tools' again - with some very tempting shrimp/scud patterns - fly fish food for Grayling, Stillwater Trout - and the local trees!

These have been specifically tied for success as the colder weather approaches (November through to February), when a fishes main source of food is the Gammarus Shrimp. 

We're calling them Bacchus Bugs ...

Let me explain ...

In ancient Greek & Roman myth, Bacchus is the god of wine-making, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, festivity, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, and theatre.

Back then, if you were going to follow one god, he must have seemed like a good choice - much more fun than pledging your allegiance to Cardea - the goddess of doorways and door handles!

Bacchus is usually depicted something like the Rubens painting below:

* Before you ask. No, that's not me on the riverbank after a 'liquid lunch' and few of Glaves' Pork Pies!

His wine, music, and ecstatic dance supposedly freed his followers from self-conscious fear and care, and relieved the oppressive restraints of the powerful. 

Here in Scarborough we have a hard-core underground nightclub, called Bacchus:

It's where my wife and I went on our first date - so it holds some fond memories for me - we also had some epic nights in there over the years - from what I can remember - it was quite a while ago!

But, enough reminiscing, back to the flies ...

In one of the monthly calls with our Artisan guys I mentioned that I wanted to design a fly pattern around the Disco Shrimp, but something a little more hard-core - and a little bit more enticing.

You can see where I got the name of the pattern from now - ask anyone around here what comes to mind when you put the words "Hard-core" and "Disco" together, they will say - "Bacchus".

So here they are The Bacchus Bugs:

As you've come to expect from any of our Artisan range of flies, they're all tied on the best scud/shrimp hooks available, the AHREX FW541 in sizes 14 & 16.

Each of our Bacchus Bugs have been tied with:

  • A weighted underbody (covering the middle 1/3rd of the hook).
  • Semperfli Classic Waxed Thread - The same colour as the bug
  • A 0.1mm Wire Rib in the same colour as the bug
  • A 3mm Nymph Skin shellback - colour-matched to the bug
  • A UV/Synthetic dubbing for the body

And, we have them in 4 very fishy colours - more detailed images of each can be seen below:

  • Dirty Pink
  • Olive
  • Rainbow; and
  • Silver

Please Note: These bugs are unusually heavy for their small size:

  • Size 14 - Length: 9.9mm, Gape: 4.25mm - Weight 0.18g
  • Size 16 - Length: 8.0mm, Gape: 3.44mm - Weight 0.10g

These Bacchus Bus are a derivative of the popular Disco Shrimp, which in turn is a variant of the well-known Czech-style nymphs. A typical characteristic of a Czech-style nymph is the slim profile (to allow it to sink quickly), a back covered with latex/shellback and a wire rib.

Our Bacchus Bug Selection contains 4 different colour variations:

  • Dirty Pink - 2 each of size 14 & 16
  • Olive - 2 each of size 14 & 16
  • Rainbow - 2 each of size 14 & 16
  • Silver - 2 each of size 14 & 16

Here's the geeky bit:

  • The Bacchus Nymph in a size 14 weighs 0.18g
  • The Bacchus Nymph in a size 16 weighs 0.10g

Our NEW Bacchus Bug Selection contains 16 Bacchus Bugs (4 different colour variations, 2 of each in sizes 14 & 16) all tied on specialist AHREX FW541 barbless shrimp/scud hooks.

Our full selection is available for only £26 - and we've only 35 available, so you will need to be quick!

We like to cater for all budgets, so we've made these Bacchus Bugs available to buy individually, for:

  • £1.80 each, or
  • £5.00 for a pack of 3, or
  • £9.00 for a pack of 6

As we've only got 35 of these Bacchus Bug Selections available (i've squirrelled away a few sets for myself - yes, they are that good), you will need to be quick off the mark to secure yours:

Keep reading for more info and detailed images of these bugs - you'll be glad you did as there's some great info on how to fish shrimp & scud patterns at the very end. 

Here's a close-up of The Rainbow Bacchus Bug's body:

Go on, treat yourself - you know you want to - at £26 for the selection, these will not hang around for long!

Gammarus shrimps are found in virtually every river in the UK (and Europe) and are present all year round - just turn over the nearest rock when you are next on the water and take a look. They make up about 70% of the trout and graylings annual diet.

As a part of the Riverfly Partnership's Monitoring Scheme on a local North Yorkshire beck, it's not uncommon for thousands of freshwater shrimp to be captured in a short 3-minute kick sample. These shrimp are a fantastic indicator of how healthy the river is - as they are very sensitive to pollution.

During the Grayling season and once the river trout season opens, it is essential that you have a selection of shrimps in your armoury - these are the most common invertebrates in the water at all points of the year - but especially the spring and early summer.

Gammarus Shrimps Behaviour:

  • Shrimps do not like really bright daylight - the become docile when it's really bright.
  • Fish with them during lower light levels - when it's overcast, dawn or dusk, this is when they will be more effective.
  • Shrimps are very good swimmers (but their sense of direction is appalling), they swim in really short bursts (often around in circles), so there's no need to worry too much about presentation, just make sure you fish them on the river bed.
  • Shrimps need to be fished as close to the river bed as possible - in deeper rivers try a sinking line with a short (4ft) leader. On shallower rivers use a floating line and longer leader.

How to fish Gammarus Shrimps:

  • Try casting around gaps in any weed beds and to the heads of pools which are just below the weed
  • Gammarus shrimp love weed, rocks and silt
  • Try using 2 x Gammarus shrimps of different colours (one bright & one dark) on droppers spaced 2ft apart
  • Cast these above the target area, let them sink and then track them back downstream
  • Keep in touch with the shrimp at all times by raising your rod tip as the fly comes back towards you

I usually fish these using an indicator - my nymphing skills still need a bit of work!

 

Tight lines

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