▲TopFLY TALK - The Big Mrs. Simpson

Len Pawsey, who is an uncle of mine, has lived on the banks of Lake Jindabyne for over 30 years. From his back door it is only about a hundred metres to the lake’s edge.

Len is now 87 years old and he still fishes whenever possible. In talking with him he relates many stories about the fishing of old. He would say that when he first arrived in Jindabyne back in the early 1970s he used to catch so many fish that he thought he was good, when in fact the fishing was so easy it was not difficult to get caught up in a little ego chase.

Today he laments about those days gone by and how his lake has changed, especially down in front of his home. The swallows are all but gone; the huge swarms of midge that buzzed around his back door light on most nights throughout summer have also gone. Len also tells me that the only time he sees trout rising is if there is an east wind and the terrestrials are blown out onto the lake margins.

In early April I took some time off to visit and take advantage of this time to sit and share some more of the many stories that have influenced our lives over the years. When you have the opportunity to share some time with a person like Len whose life was solely framed around his fishing and his late wife Beryl, one gets a better understanding of his feelings and thoughts on a lifetime spent fishing the rivers, streams and lakes of the Snowy Mountain region.

When I had the opportunity I sat out on the back patio overlooking the lake just contemplating the past and taking in the view. In an environment like this you can find time to think back over the years and the times I have spent fishing these waters; the people like Lindsay Haslem and Maurie Wilson who have now gone, together shared part of their lives with me fishing this region. As Noel Jetson would say, “we have seen the best of it”, and so has Len.

Listening to Len one wonders why things have changed so much, there are answers, but just how relevant they are is open for argument. The key reason we feel is that the lake has changed so much, for along most of the Eastern shore there is now sand instead of clay and mud. Yabbies or midge larva cannot bury into sand as they need to to live and without vegetation, what is there for mayfly or even mudeye?

About twelve months ago they dropped the lake to its lowest point ever. This was caused by the construction of a power station on the main wall just across from where Len lives. For a while the fishing was great, Len was getting one or two fish an evening all around the two to three pound mark. But as he said, it was a long walk over sand to where the fish were.

Over on the Western shore there is a totally different scene. The prevailing winds are from the West, be that South West, due West, or North West, either way the wave action all ends up on the Eastern shore. Hence, the sand.

For most of the western shoreline the bays are mostly clay and mud, some of which are studded with yabby holes. In some areas the yabbies are so thick that fishing for Trout that feed freely on these nippy monsters is a pastime that is practised by more than just a few anglers.

Over the years Len has developed a number of patterns to catch the fish in his beloved lake. In the early days when the mudeyes were hatching sometimes they were so thick they would crawl up your legs whilst wading the margins.

During these mudeye hatches Len used a version of the Mrs. Simpson he called the Wollundibby Wonder, which was simply a Mrs. Simpson with a muddler head. It has been written up many times and for a while it was available in various retail outlets. In recent times I have noted that it has been written up as the Muddler Mrs. Simpson. What a shame the author did not do a simple bit of research to get it right.

Len still uses this fly when fishing the shallows and it is still as deadly as ever. However, since the big change in conditions, Len has been targetting the yabby feeders and has become somewhat of an expert at it. In shallow water he uses his Wollundibby Wonder or a Mrs. Simpson. On the other hand, if fishing deep water, he uses a creation that he simply calls his Big Mrs. Simpson. It is tied on a size two wide gape hook and he lets it sink, often counting up to twenty before slowly retrieving it along or close to the bottom.

Len went for this big fly rather than adding weight. The large hook is big enough to get the fly down to where he wants it. It is also big enough to look a little like a yabby. To look at this fly you may be saying a yabby; well maybe, but the bottom line is that the trout like it and that is good enough for me.

The pattern is as follows:

THE BIG MRS. SIMPSON, AS DEVELOPED BY LEN PAWSEY

Hook: Mustad Signature Series R74
SIZE: 2
THREAD: Yellow 3/0
TAIL: A good bunch of Black cock hackle fibres with a few dyed bright red cock hackle fibres over the top
BODY: Yellow plastic straw (see tying notes)
WINGS: Mrs. Simpson feathers, three either side with a dark green feather on the outside on each side of the body.

TYING NOTES To form the body you need to tie in three strands of yellow plastic straw; two on top of the hook shank and the other tied under the hook. Wind the first strand to form an under-body. The second strand you simply lie over the back of the body and tie in at the end of the body section. Do the same with the second piece and tie it off under the body section. The final look is if as we are shrouding the wrapped body with the other two strands.

The tying of the Big Mrs Simpson is a little complex but not all that difficult.

1. Tie in the tail fibres and your three strands of plastic straw. Make the body section around 8 or 9cm long and the other two around 5cm long.

2. Wind on body and tie down the over lays and rap an even bed of tying thread to secure the Pheasant rump feathers.

3. Tie in the Pheasant feathers at least three each side making sure that you handpicked the outside feathers. They need to be the good dark green feathers for the best results.

4. The head of the completed fly is a little longer than normal, around three to five millimetres. Seal with a little head cement and the job is done.