The fly box · No. 05 of 36
Kite’s Imperial
The large dark olive dun, and darker olives in general.
- Kind
- Dry
- Hook sizes
- 14–16
- Season
- Spring, autumn
- For
- Trout and grayling
- At the vice
- An easy tie
The dressing
| Hook | Standard dry fly, barbless or barb flattened, sizes 14–16 |
|---|---|
| Thread | Purple, 8/0 (70 denier), or purple tying silk |
| Tail | Grey-brown cock hackle fibres early in the year, honey dun later |
| Body | Four grey herls from a primary feather (heron in the original, now grey goose), doubled and redoubled to build the thorax |
| Rib | Fine gold wire |
| Hackle | Honey dun cock, or light ginger as a substitute |
| Wing | None |
Tying it
- Run purple thread to the bend and tie in the tail fibres and the gold wire.
- Tie in four grey herls by their tips.
- Wind the herls forward as a slim body to just behind the eye and secure them without cutting.
- Rib with the wire in open turns and tie off.
- Fold the herl ends back and forward again over the front third to make a humped thorax, then trim.
- Tie in and wind three or four turns of honey dun hackle.
- Whip finish with a small, visible purple head.
Fishing it
March, April and again in October, around midday, when dark olives trickle off and fish begin to rise in the slower runs. Kite’s method still holds: find a feeding fish, kneel well below it and place the fly a short way upstream on 5X (0.15 mm), letting it drift down without drag. Grayling take it readily on mild autumn afternoons; go to 6X (0.13 mm) for them on smooth water and lift gently, for their mouths are soft.
Where it comes from
Oliver Kite, the Wiltshire naturalist and broadcaster who lived beside the Avon at Netheravon, devised this fly in the early 1960s for the large dark olive of cold spring days. Its mark is the purple silk showing faintly through grey herl, with the herl doubled back over itself to form a humped thorax. Kite fished little else when dark olives were on.