The magic of the red tag

Red Tag - One of my favorite flies.
Source: Wikipedia

There is a certain type of excitement about going on a fishing trip. You approach the river, you witness how things look, you watch the trees, and most importantly you look at the water. You are searching for fish in the river. You want to spot the fish, you want to see where they are, and most importantly where they feed.

If there are many fish close to the surface, you are going to go for a different kind of fly than if you don't see any fish close to the surface. If you see the fish swimming and feeding at the surface you are going to go for a dry fly. If you don't see any fish close to the surface, you are going to use a nymph.

This post is going to be about one of my favorite dry fly out there. This fly if the red tag.

According to this fly-fishing website, the red tag is a classical fly that was originally created for fishing for grayling. The fly goes back to the middle of the 19th century, when fly-fishermen used it to fish for grayling. Since then many different interpretations of this fly have surfaced, nowadays fishermen use it to fish for trout, salmon, or even salt water fish.

An instructional video to tying a dry-fly version of the red tag.

The red tag is a basically a certain-looking type of fly instead of a specific fly. The most noticeable aspect of the fly - and where the name comes from - is the red tail at the end of the fly. The red tag imitates any kind of small bug or insect that had fallen onto the surface of the water.

A beautiful grayling caught with  red tag.
Source: Global Fly Fisher

The classical red tag is a small, lightweight fly that I mostly use in slow waters. My type of red tag is lightweight. I can't use it in a very strong current, but I can fish with it perfectly in slow, quiet waters where trouts dwell.

Although this is not the only way the red tag can be used. I have seen other fishermen use it on lakes, fishing for perch from a boat. This requires a very tiny version of the red tag. I have also seen it used as a nymph, with a golden head put on the front of the fly. I have heard rumors about - although I have never seen this version - a type of red tag that  is used for sea fishing. It is a considerably larger, heavier type, but it attracts bigger fish as well. These examples highlight the versatility of the red tag.

A guide to tying a golden head version of the red tag.

What kind of materials do you need to tie a red tag?

First of all, you need a hook. The type of red tag you want to tie will determine the size of the hook you need, but you can use one anywhere between a size 2 and a size 18.

The red tail can be created from wool, which is the most common material for this fly as it is easy and cheap to get. However you can use a plastic tail or a shiny piece of paper as well.

The body is created from peacock feathers. You will need anywhere between 2-8 pieces of feathers to tie the red tag.

The head is created from a brown hen. The hen is tied on the end of the fly, this creates the part that will hold the air in and keep the fly on the surface of the water.

As I have said, you can interpret the red tag in your own way. You can use any kind of material to spice it up and come up with a new design. Use golden heads, use shiny pieces of paper, or eyes.

The red tag is one of my favorite flies. I love its visibility, I love that I can see it on the surface of the water thanks to its little red tail. I also like that it resembles multiple types of insects, so you can use it pretty much all year long. I also love how you can adapt it to fit almost any kind of fishing situation.