Coch-Y-Bondhu

This one appears in Mike Weddell’s 10 of the Best New Zealand Trout Flies. It certainly is one of the most often used dry flies fished in New Zealand and a must for your fly box. I particularly like the Coch-Y-Bondhu because it is an easy fly to tie quickly. Nothing complicated about this one. The original spelling is Coch a Bonddu but this is generally not used today.

Weddell prefers to tie his with a tail of ginger hackle fibres as it helps it to float better in faster-broken water. The traditional tie has a small amount of gold tinsel wrapped around the curve of the hook. As someone who ties the Hopes Silvery with rabbit fur I certainly won’t argue with adding a tail to a Cochy!

The Coch-Y-Bondhu fly is a beetle pattern of Welsh origin.

Hook size 6-14

Tail: Ginger hackle

Body: Green or bronze peacock herl

Hackle: Furnace red/brown