The Breadcrust is a old Pennsylvania wet fly that I was introduced to many years ago, when I was getting started in tying and fishing. This fly was the first emerger that I ever had any luck with, which was groundbreaking to me at the time after countless situations where I could not fool rising fish with dries. The original Breadcrust is pretty much a soft hackle emerger that I have seen tied a few ways and color schemes. The one thing that these variations have in common is that they use a trimmed Ruffed Grouse Tail feather as a ribbed body, along with a dubbed body or floss underneath. That sounds simple enough, but that quill is so stiff and thick, one has to split it down the middle with a razor blade. I don’t know how many quills I destroyed in getting the hang of this! However, despite it being a pain to tie, this soft hackle emerger crushes fish eating emerging caddis and mayflies, and I always find the time to stock my boxes with a full range of sizes and color schemes of the “Crust”. Tied properly, it is also an exceedingly durable fly, as that stiff, shiny quill is like armor.
Besides using a Ruffed Grouse tail feather, you can also use any shiny quill that you want for this pattern that has the color that you want. It does not even need to be a tail feather either, wing quills and large coverts will work fine too.
A third option for this fly is one that uses a large, thick stemmed Rooster neck hackle. It does not have the beautiful and durable, thick, shiny ribbed body like one with a split quill. However, it sure is a lot easier to tie and most tyers have a few capes lying around. It is a nice alternative if you don’t have Ruffed Grouse Tail Quills, or don’t feel like splitting quills. One of the great things about this fly is your ability to change colors and cover any flavor of emerger.
Here is a good video that I did with the weekly fly that covers how to tie one and split that quill the right way. Don’t feel bad if you destroy some quills, Henry had to do some heavy duty editing after I did it on camera! Also take extra care not to cut yourself when using razor blades: www.theweeklyfly.com/TWF/2012/
Here are photos and recipes for three of my favorite “Crusts”:
Original Breadcrust:
Hook: Sproat Bend wet fly hook
Thread: UTC 140
Body: Orange floss, Ruffed Grouse(Brown phase)
Hackle: Grizzly Hen Hackle
Hare’s Ear Breadcrust:
Hook: Sproat Bend wet fly hook
Thread: UTC 140
Body:Hare’s Ear Dubbing, Ruffed Grouse(Brown phase)
Hackle: Hungarian Partridge
EZ Breadcrust (Mother’s Day Caddis)
Hook: Sproat Bend wet fly hook
Thread: UTC 140
Body: Peacock Herl, Whiting Farms Coq de Leon Neck Hackle
(feel free to sub any flavor of rooster hackle you have on hand)
Hackle: Hungarian Partridge
