I learned to fish like the kids in the great movie "A
River Runs Through It": Nearly 35 years ago
- when I was a seven year old boy - my grandfather took me fishing
for the first time . In France where we lived. I was allowed to catch little
baitfish. Some years later - and with stronger arms - I caught my
first trout and I remember it like yesterday. - The rod was 4 meters long,
made out of Bamboo and the bait was a natural may-fly (Ephemera danica,
imago) which had to be handled as carefully as a snow-flake. My first experiences
of fly-fishing used an old split-cane rod of my grandfather and an
even older line which had to be greased every five or ten casts! This was
not a very efficient way to catch fish, but I learned a lot! In Switzerland,
where I moved in 1978, I had my first contact with a cdc-fly. It
was at a dinner among fishermen when my friend Bruno - who had poor eyesight
- asked me to tie him a visible fly which floated nicely. Because I was
very proud of that request and did not want to lose face I began a study
of local cdc-flies. Those patterns used cdc-hackles, no wings and classical
bodies made of silk or other materials. Worried, not wanting to copy
those local flies, I developed a new concept of also tying the body with
a cdc-feather: This product a perfect conical body, which floated even
in riffles and rapids. Bruno and later many more fishermen in Europe, were
very pleased with the simple but efficient new way to tie a fly. I have
been a professional fly-tier since 1990 and today more and more anglers
are convinced that those tiny and inconspicuous feathers are the best a
fly fisherman can have wrapped around a hook: They are good for dry-flies,
for emergers, for nymphs, for streamers and even for salmon flies or saltwater-patterns.
I love them and think you will too!
Marc Petitjean
The CDC Story
:
Like the famous Swiss army-knife or the healthy muesli
the fluffy CDC-Fly is a genuine product of Switzerland as well. CDC
is the abbreviation of "Cul de canard" which is French for "Duck's
arse". Not right at the backside, but on the top of the duck's tail
is the preen-gland, which oils and waterproofs the aquatic bird.
Around that gland are approximately two
dozen small feathers - the cdc's. They are fluffy and due to their
natural impregnation absorb very little water. The cdc-feathers give
a natural "live-effect" which
imitates the wings of many mayflies and other insects perfectly.
In contrast to the barbs of a cock-hackle the cdc-hackles have very
small kinked and twisted barbules that trap air and increase floatability.
It is unknown who created the first cdc-patterns. But in 1920 the
Swiss fly-tyers Maximilien Joset in Courtfaivre and Charles
Bickel in Valorbe tied the first small series of simple cdc-patterns to
fool the smart and suspicious trout and graylings of the chalk-streams
in the Swiss Jura area. The body of those flies were made of raffia
or thread. The flies had no wings and just a cdc-hackle instead of
a cock-hackle turned around the hook-shank in the classical way.
After local use for over 50 years in Switzerland, Marjan Fratnik from Slovenia
found an important new way of using cdc-feathers in 1983. He used
top parts of cdc-feathers to copy the shape of caddies-wings. The next
big step in the evolution of cdc-patterns happened a few of years later
in Germany. Gerhard Laible used just the barbs of cdc-feathers in a long
dubbing loop. In 1985 Laible elongated the short cdc-feather that way and
enabled the tyers to use the material in the same way as using long first
grade hackles of a cock neck to make different kinds of wings. The ultimate
step came in 1986 - again in Switzerland - when Marc Petitjean had the
inspiration to use complete feathers for the body. This has several major
advantages. First, the floatability of the flies increased dramatically
and hackles are no longer as a "must".
Second, the natural shape of the feather helps to create a conical
body shape critical to overcoming the wariness of trout or grayling.
Because of the floatability of these bodies the wings can be tied
with remarkable resemblance to the natural flies!
two
dozen small feathers - the cdc's. They are fluffy and due to their
natural impregnation absorb very little water. The cdc-feathers give
a natural "live-effect" which
imitates the wings of many mayflies and other insects perfectly.
In contrast to the barbs of a cock-hackle the cdc-hackles have very
small kinked and twisted barbules that trap air and increase floatability.
It is unknown who created the first cdc-patterns. But in 1920 the
Swiss fly-tyers Maximilien Joset in Courtfaivre and 
Charles
Bickel in Valorbe tied the first small series of simple cdc-patterns to
fool the smart and suspicious trout and graylings of the chalk-streams
in the Swiss Jura area. The body of those flies were made of raffia
or thread. The flies had no wings and just a cdc-hackle instead of
a cock-hackle turned around the hook-shank in the classical way.
After local use for over 50 years in Switzerland, Marjan Fratnik from Slovenia
found an important new way of using cdc-feathers in 1983. He used
top parts of cdc-feathers to copy the shape of caddies-wings. The next
big step in the evolution of cdc-patterns happened a few of years later
in Germany. Gerhard Laible used just the barbs of cdc-feathers in a long
dubbing loop. In 1985 Laible elongated the short cdc-feather that way and
enabled the tyers to use the material in the same way as using long first
grade hackles of a cock neck to make different kinds of wings. The ultimate
step came in 1986 - again in Switzerland - when Marc Petitjean had the
inspiration to use complete feathers for the body. This has several major
advantages. First, the floatability of the flies increased dramatically
and hackles are no longer as a "must".
Second, the natural shape of the feather helps to create a conical
body shape critical to overcoming the wariness of trout or grayling.
Because of the floatability of these bodies the wings can be tied
with remarkable resemblance to the natural flies!