North Country Angling: The versatile Bivisible

Interestingly, as the sky got darker, there were less misses by the fish. There were less hook ups as well since it was harder to see the fly and determine if a trout was taking the real bug or our imitation. Frustration was growing.

At times like this, it often pays to stop casting, sit in the float tube, open the fly box and see what fly speaks to you.

Scanning the fly box, the white hackle on a pattern was clearly visible. The white picked up the ambient light. Holding the fly up to the evening sky, it was close in size to the actual red quills but the white hackle was like a blinking beacon.

The fly, a Brown Bivisible, was quickly tied to the end of the leader. A Bivisible is simplicity. The fly has hackle fibers for a tail and a hackle wrapped on the shank of the hook.

The last two of three wraps of hackle are the white hackle. The fly was sent in the direction of a splashy rise. When the fly landed on the dark water, it was easy to see where the fly had landed as the white showed its contrast in the failing light.

A quick twitch of the fly and the white disappeared from view. A gentle lifting of the fly rod and fish on. Bringing the trout to hand, the barbless hook slid out of the trout and the fish was released.

The Bivisible was put into the flotant bottle, given a shake and sent back out onto the water. This repeated itself until exhaustion took the angler off the water.

The Bivisible dry fly was created in the 1800s during the evolution of the dry fly. The distinguishing characteristic of the Bivisible is a white or cream hackle at the head of the fly. This makes the fly visible to the angler and the trout. The Bivisible does not have a set of wings.

What makes the Bivisible so effective is that the main body of the fly can be tied in a wide variety of colors. In addition to reddish brown for the red quills, the Bivisible can be tried in black, badger, ginger, grizzly, olive and blue dun. In fact, you can tie the Bivisible with any color or style of dry fly hackle. Ewing Feathers have a huge selection of colors in plain, grizzly and bleached grizzly. The combinations are endless.

The Bivisible can be tied on a wide assortment of hooks as well. From hook sizes 8 to 22. From light wire dry fly hooks to 3x long curved shank hooks. A fly box stocked with a wide variety of sizes and colors will catch fish whenever there are hatches on the water. Just match the size and color of the natural insect.

While the Bivisible was designed for simplicity, they can be taken to another level. Looking for variations of the Bivisible, Sturgis’ Fly Tying had a Pink Lady Bivisible listed. This fly was tied using ginger hackle wound over a pink floss body. The front feather is a chartreuse hackle. This will be a great fly for the Hendrikson hatch come spring.

Commit a section of your fly box to Bivisibles this winter when tying your flies. It will be time well spent.

Tip of the Week

Local ponds and lakes have stayed warm. The pickerel are cruising the shorelines looking for baitfish. A well-placed imitation will produce pre-ice fishing action.

Steve Angers, a native to the Conway area, is the author of the book “Fly Fishing New Hampshire’s Secret Waters” and operates the North Country Angler.