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How to Tie Tim Drummond's Water Boatman Fly

Trout relish these little morsels, and tank up on them every chance they get.

How to Tie Tim Drummond's Water Boatman Fly

Catching big trout doesn't have to be complicated.

Stillwater fishing has become more and more popular here in Colorado over the last decade. What was once merely a fun alternative during runoff

Drummond grew up in Longmont, Colorado, and is the son of cane rod builder Frank Drummond. The younger Drummond came by his addiction naturally, fishing up and down the Front Range before finally settling down and guiding for North Park Anglers in Walden, Colorado. He's now in his seventh season there.

North Park Colorado is home to the village of Walden, but more importantly it's the cradle of Delaney Butte Lakes, a series of impoundments harboring fish of sometimes mythical proportions. These lakes are food factories, with crayfish, leeches, scuds, Callibaetis, and damselflies as their main attractions. Leave it to an analyst like Drummond to sift through all the options on the stillwater menu and single out the lowly water boatman as one of the most important foods in the ecosystem.

Water boatmen, at first glance, resemble some sort of water beetle, with prominent legs and blocky bodies. They are often a mystery to even seasoned fly fishers. As it turns out, trout relish these little morsels, and tank up on them every chance they get.

Tim's Water Boatman pattern is a genuinely simple affair that is tied entirely of synthetic materials and uses a gunmetal-colored glass bead to add a bit of flash and weight, and square off the face of this odd little critter. Water boatmen are good swimmers when they want to be, and lazy bottom bouncers when they don't, so Tim ties his fly lightly weighted to drift as much as possible.

Tim Drummond's Water Boatman fly stuck to a stick.
Tim Drummond's Water Boatman fly.

Using Thin Skin over a pearl Lateral Scale shellback to create a glow from within, and beautiful black peacock Ice Dub to form the body, Tim finished his fly off with a pair of Flexi Floss legs swept back along the body to imitate the prominent oarlike legs of the natural. This fly has everything it needs, and nothing it doesn't.

While this pattern could be referred to as a "guide fly," I hate that term. Guides are in the business of catching fish and I've never seen one who oversimplifies anything. Experts like Drummond have a reason for everything they tie to a hook, and everything they do while fishing. I love that sort of thing!

Drummond typically uses an intermediate line with a 12-foot 3X leader and a single Water Boatman, but he sometimes fishes the fly under an indicator, particularly when the infamous North Park wind creates a bit of chop on the water. The Boatman bounces and jigs under the indicator, and he finds he can even get a bit of a "drift" in under the right conditions. Drummond caught his largest Delaney Lakes trout without using an indicator, by simply casting the fly out and retrieving with short, steady strips.

My experience shows that a long strip-retrieve can also sometimes be deadly. I cast in the direction of some sort of visible surface activity, and make a single, very long, steady strip to swim the fly in a long arc. I'm always amazed by how often I'm rewarded with a charging trout inhaling the pattern when I fish it this way, but you can be sure I'll also try Drummond's short-strip method the next time I'm in North Park.

Step-by-step photo of tying a water boatman fly.

Slide the bead on the hook and wrap ten turns of lead wire around the shank. Shove the wire wraps up under the bead. Build a thread dam tapering from the bare shank to the diameter of the lead wraps. Cut a strip of Thin Skin two-thirds as wide as the hook gap.

Step-by-step photo of tying a water boatman fly.

Tie the Thin Skin in on top of the shank just behind the bead and wrap over it to the bend. Return the thread to just slightly behind the bead and tie in the Lateral Scale. Wrap back over that to the bend. Make sure both materials are centered on the shank.

Step-by-step photo of tying a water boatman fly.

Dub a robust body from the bend to the back of the bead. You may need to trim some of the loose Ice Dub fibers to form the right shape.

Step-by-step photo of tying a water boatman fly.

Pull the Lateral Scale forward over the top of the body and tie it down behind the bead with a few tight turns.

Step-by-step photo of tying a water boatman fly.

Pull the Thin Skin forward over the top of the Lateral Scale and tie it off behind the bead.

Step-by-step photo of tying a water boatman fly.

Fold the front end of the Thin Skin back and bind the fold in place with extra turns of thread for durability. Trim flush the remaining Lateral Scale and Thin Skin.

Step-by-step photo of tying a water boatman fly.

Tie in black Flexi Floss along the far side of the hook. Draw the other end of the Flexi Floss tightly down and back along the near side and bind it in place with a few more tight wraps. If there is any curve to the Flexi Floss, try to make it align so the legs curve toward the body as shown here.

Step-by-step photo of tying a water boatman fly.

Twist a tiny bit of dubbing onto the thread and build a short collar behind the bead to cover the thread wraps. Whip-finish and clip the thread, then trim the legs even with the end of the body.

Charlie Craven co-owns Charlie's Fly Box in Arvada, Colorado, and is the featured tier in two Fly Fisherman DVDs: Warmwater Fly Tying and Saltwater Fly Tying. His latest book is Tying Nymphs: Essential Flies and Techniques for the Top Patterns, available from Stackpole Books/Headwater Books (2016).




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