Introduction
Cul de Canard (CDC) feathers have risen to worldwide
popularity over the last 2 decades. To avoid confusion
about their origin I can tell you that the idea using
those feathers for fly tying actually came from Central
Europe. CDC has been used by a small number of anglers in
the Swiss Jura for about a century. Marjan Fratnik from
Slovenia popularised them in the early eighties with his
publications about the F Fly series. Marjan were inspired
after he read Jules Rindlisbachers book. Another great fly
tier who is world famous for his superb CDC designs is
Marc Petitjean. He kept the Swiss tradition high and
design new patterns continuously.
The last 10 years CDC got a lot of attention, especially,
in the UK and USA and suddenly it seems that there are
many fly tiers who seems the inventor of the CDC fly now.
I guess we all know better. In spite of several
well-written stories I still think that some extensive,
clear and specified tying techniques can be a great help
with tying and fishing CDC patterns. My home country
Holland went through a similar phase over 20 years ago,
when fishing journalist Kees Ketting popularised CDC. As a
result, the Dutch have been experimenting with dressings
incorporation the feathers; developing and refining
patterns for all types of fishing. In this article about
CDC I will tell you something about my way of using CDC. I
also will try to give you some detailed information about
how I use and work with CDC and how some of my patterns
were developed. Finally I also will explain how I fish
them.
I have used CDC for more then fifteen years now and have
made loads of different dressings throughout that time.
Personally, my use of these flies seems to go in circles:
there have been periods or even seasons when I hardly used
them and at other moments I used them exclusively. Of
course the old original patterns are excellent flies.
Nevertheless, I still designed my own patterns. I like to
experiment and improve patterns of which I am not fully
satisfied. I belief it will be very hard to design a
complete new pattern of CDC but some improvements are
worthwhile to discuss.
My different style of fishing needs special patterns. The
fact that my distance vision isn't that good and my
preference for broken water you can find back in many of
my dry fly designs. I also found some very good use for
CDC in still water. Today I never will walk beside a
river, lake or reservoir without CDC flies in my fly box.
Floatability and mobility
The greatest problem with CDC is that still many people
don't know which feather is meant and where exactly it
should be taken from. CDC feathers are found around the
preen gland of ducks and similar water birds. The CDC from
the wild duck seems the most popular. The colour is
absolutely incredible and perfect to match many hatches.
The feathers are light and naturally coated with the oil
from the ducks preen gland. In many stories you can read
that the natural oil makes those feathers extremely
water-repellent. But further investigations prove that the
structure of the feather do the damage. In my circle of
friends most belief that a combination of the natural oil
and feather structure makes this feather so attractive for
the fly tier. When I got a very large amount of white CDC
of Peking ducks many years ago I started to experiment
with dyeing and I actually never had any buoyancy problems
with my special designs, so I personally have a lot
confidence in the structure theory. Under a loop you can
see easily that each feather has a great number of
barbules. Those barbules surely aid to buoyancy and are
much stronger and more durable then most of us belief they
are. I often compare CDC fibres with spider web thread
that I use for my different parachute technique. One fibre
or winding is very fragile indeed but durability improves
with the number of fibres or windings. The fine fibres of
a CDC feather are probably the most mobile you ever seen.
I think this is another reason what makes this feather so
extremely powerful. In the air they will flutter to
simulate life in the slightest breeze and for this reason
it makes a perfect wing imitation. The wind also has a
great impact of the mobility of the floating fly. In or
just under the surface remaining fibres highly improve the
mobility of the pattern and gives an excellent fly life
imitation. Size, shape and colour are the most important
facts to imitate insect life but when I started to use CDC
and reindeer hair I add mobility without any doubt. This
is why I never cut the single barbules away from my
fishing flies. So CDC is ideal for both; emergers and dry
flies. And there is even more because I know a few
fishermen who use CDC for making very mobile nymph too.
Its just the way where you believe in the most I guess.
Although the original CDC flies are good floaters if they
are tied well, they are not unsinkable as is so often
described. Several of these patterns are tied very
sparsely and will definitely become easier waterlogged
after catching your first fish. If you don't treat the fly
well after hooking a fish the pattern will sink easily
especially in rapids and turbulent currents. Amadou helps
you to dry the fibres in a reasonable way but some of the
floatants will stick the fibres together and will destroy
the effectiveness of the pattern because they loose the
barbules effect. Therefore I never use any floatant on my
CDC. I would point out that with normal or sparse tied CDC
flies it is often much easier to tie on a fresh fly than
struggle to dry one in use. This finally leads me to use
CDC against all rules.
But before I will discuss with you about my own patterns
which are surely no light dressed ones, you never should
misunderstand the thoughts behind the extremely light
dressed CDC patterns from the experts and from old days.
They can be extremely successful at times and in certain
waters. Just like a good Yorkshire 'spider' that loses its
power if overdressed. With many CDC flies it is not
different. During the years I discovered that some of the
old traditional CDC patterns are actually fished better
just under the surface film and today I still use them in
this 'emerger' role, in preference to them floating on the
surface -particularly in still waters.
My first 'cul de canard' experience
While river fishing with small, lightly dressed CDC flies,
I often had difficulty spotting them in fast water. As a
result, I tended to use them in rivers with a slow current
or on still waters. My ideas were transformed; however,
following my experiences with a Swedish pattern called the
'Rackelhanen'.
This 'Rackelhanen" was not only the source of my own L.T.
series of flies, but resulted in such tying skills as I
have acquired today. The first real breakthrough with my
own CDC flies occurred when I tie a Racklehanen mainly
from CDC. The natural colour of the CDC was perfect to
imitate some dark grey sedges. I named the pattern the
Rugged Caddis and it was built up in 4 sections, each
includes 4 CDC feathers. A very expensive fly if you have
to buy it. The pattern originally possessed a long big
wing of at least 16 CDC feathers, mainly because I assumed
that the more CDC used, the better the pattern floated. To
create the sedge shape I simply cut the feathers to form
the wing. How funny it may sound but I mainly used the
pattern for catching Atlantic salmon in northern Norway
and at that time it was rather good too. However, as I
began to experiment with smaller sizes and the length of
the wing I reduced the amount of CDC. Then I discovered
something surprising. As I shortened the wing, I got
better results. In the end I was using a pattern that had
a wing of only half the length of the fly body, and it was
still floating almost as well as one with a full wing. The
fly was difficult to see but because of the aggressive
takes I didn't loose too many fish. When I finally started
to use smaller hooks and add a hackle the Culard sedge was
born!
This is the dressing I used since 1985
THE CULARD
Hook : Partridge E1A size 18 or E6A size 16
Thread : Uni-thread 8/0 black
Body : Herl fibres of a black wing feather of a peacock
Rib : Extra fine gold wire or yellow pearsalls silk
Wing : Four CDC feathers pull together and cut 1/2 way the
body length
Hackle : Dark blue dun very fine and much smaller as usual
or starling body feather for the types I used below the
surface film
My tying technique is definitely against all rules. I keep
the stiff quill(s) of the CDC feather in the middle and do
not take only the soft hackles as many tiers suggest and
prefer. I agree with them but I have my own ideas too.
Many people said that CDC feathers should never be cut but
I still do and must confess that I prefer it above all the
other tying methods I have use in the past. After tying in
the feathers I trim them. However rebellious, this is the
technique that suits me the best. This is the great secret
behind all my CDC patterns. Because this technique the
stiffer wing dries and "fluffs up' with only one or two
false cast and that's my biggest argumentation for it.
This is not easy possible when only fibres are used. The
filamentous feather tips tend to mat together and are
almost impossible to dry by false casting. At least when
you are not familiar with CDC! In my patterns the quill
provide this. The resultant Culard has become one of my
best and favourite flies among my little ones. The pattern
is not only an excellent fly in the rivers in Central
Europe but also works very well under high summer or low
water conditions high up to the North. In still water the
fly work great on the surface but sometimes it is even
more deadly deeper in the surface. In still waters most of
the time I moistened it and fish it as an emerger just
under the surface.
During one of my tying demonstrations I discovered another
secret of the Culard just by accident. It happened when I
dropped one of the ready-made Culards in a glass of water
to show how it floats to the public. Under the wing a nice
bubble of air produces a fine halo effect what could be
another reason for the unbelievable success of this tiny
little CDC pattern.
Tying technique
The Culard
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Step 1: Wrap the shank in the thread and secure a piece of
extra fine gold wire or yellow silk.
Step 2: Tie in some fibres from a black peacock wing
feather.
Step 3: Put a some varnish or wingcement on the shank and
wind the herl fibres back towards the eye and secure with
the gold wire or silk with 7 or 8 windings in the other
direction. Be sure there is some space left for tying in
the wing and hackle.
Step 4: Tie in 3 or 4 CDC feathers
Step 5: Tie in a small dark blue dun hackle onto the top
of the hook shank
Step 6: Give only two hackle windings and tie off the fly.
Cut off the CDC exactly in the middle of the body.
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