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This fly is accredited as being the first Australian designed and made fly and whilst the originator is not known with certainty there is highly persuasive evidence that suggests that it was conceived around 1896 as a grass hopper imitation for targeting fish on the Bredbo river just outside of Cooma NSW. The evidence points to the fly being created by Mr C.R. Burnside and Dr A.J. Brady who along with Howard Joseland are amongst the pioneers of fly fishing for trout in New South Wales .

It is still a relatively common in local fly boxes and continues to work well as a hopper imitation.

More recently the Bredbo and a Bredbo variant have attracted attention as a middle dropper fly in a loch style fly fishing team. One of my favourite flies in that situation is a Dunkeld and over the last two seasons I have found the Bredbo to be a very comfortable alternative particular in summer months when fish are turned onto the wing colour of the dominant local grass hopper the yellow winged hopper.

So here you have a fly that fishes well as a formidable traditional river wet fly is now vying for a position as a very effective middle dropper for  loch style fly fishing ... and its only a couple of hundred years old.

See also Bredbo variant MK1 and Bredbo variant MK2.

Materials

The original dressing had a beard of brown partridge feather barbules and a wing of pheasant wing feather slips both of which are not readily available these days but you find the substitutes below are more than adequate to the task.

Process

A	Load your bobbin with a spool of yellow or lime floss. Wind the floss in touching turns just past the bend of the hook. Understanding hooks Wind the floss back to the 95% position and then reverse the direction and wind back down the hook shank to the 85% position. Tie in a length of gold wire at that position and whilst holding the wire above the hook shank continue winding the floss in tight touching turns toward the bend of the hook.

B	Wind the floss all the way to the bend of the hook, in touching turns, locking the wire in place on top of the hook shank. Note that the wire is locked into place at the bend of the hook whereas the fist layer of floss continued  a little way round the bend of the hook. Wind the floss back toward the eye of the hook in touching turns stopping at the 85% position. Tie your black thread in at the 85% position locking in place the floss.

C	Trim the floss. Wind the copper wire forward creating six or seven segments along the body of the fly. Body segments Take a couple of wraps of thread to lock the wire into place at the 85% position.

D	Worry the excess copper wire off. Tie 6 or 7 golden pheasant tippets in at the 85% position with the ends extending out each side of the fly to represent legs.

E	Tie in a beard of hackle fibres that are long enough to partially hide the point of the hook.

F	Cut two opposite matching wing feather slips and tie them in on top of the fly at the 95% position. The tips of the wing should finish above and just behind the back of the hook. Build up a neat head of thread. Whip finish the thread, trim the thread and varnish the head.

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