Have you ever wondered how new fly patterns come about?

Some of course, are the result of doodling at the tying vise or just using up left-over material. These are usually forgotten until a trip when nothing else works. The chances are they don't either.

Others are born of some angler's frustration astream. The one this article is about fits the latter category. Many of the flies I use are my own idea. There are some of those that I have no clear recollection of why they were first tied. One, however, I do.

Have you noticed how clearly you recall the big fish that got away? How every detail is etched in your memory?

I have such an incident in mind now. Details of the trip are unfolding in my mind as if it were yesterday.

The time is August, some twenty odd years ago. The place, Butternut creek in Wisconsin's Price County. It is the last afternoon of a long weekend. There has been no time for fishing up to now, but I have finally managed a short visit to the stream.

After some fruitless casts over a couple of pools that had produced well in early summer, I changed tactics.

Experience had taught me that trout seek out aerated water in hot weather so it seemed best to concentrate on the rapids connecting the pools for the short time remaining.

After experimenting with two or three different flies with no luck, I tied on a size 18 muskrat fur shrimp (scud) cast once or twice to get it soaked and sinking, then let it swing through some pockets about 50 feet below me.

A large brown trout took the fly and after a short run, leaped clear of the water. Browns don't often do this but the combination of taut line, fast water and momentum took this one well into the air.

I can see it yet, all of 20 inches long, golden sides glistening, it seemed to pause in mid-air before falling with a splash, free of the hook.

I know when a fish jumps, you are supposed to give line. But for me, knowing and doing aren't always the same. The sudden take, the excitement of the leap, the size of the quarry, all make me freeze for an instant. It is the fly fisher's "buckfever" and I have never become immune.

The five hour drive home gave ample time for reflection. It was not the first time I had lost a fish in such a manner but usually there isn't so much time to ponder immediately afterwards.

Over and over the experience mulled through my mind. It seemed like there must be a way to make a small fly that would hold a large fish. I had tried tying shrimp and caddis larvae on short-shank salmon-egg hooks but that hadn't been the answer.

Hooks designed for bait hold fine if swallowed but not when fish are lip hooked. Nothing works as well as conventional hooks for fly fishing.

The configuration of shrimp and that of fly hooks kept passing through my mind. About half-way home the two came together. An idea struck me. What would happen if a shrimp or larvae or pupae imitation was tied on the bend only of a regular hook leaving the shank uncovered?

I knew bait fishers often hook worms through the collar leaving most of the hook bare. Low-water salmon flies are merely small flies on the front half of large hooks. Perhaps bare metal wasn't all that important.

Tied this way, the fly would match the natural's configuration. It would have the bite of a hook several sizes larger and the advantage of a regular length shank.

Lunch-hour the next day found me at the tying vise and that evening I was on Mt. Vernon creek with the new flies, size 18 shrimp on number 12 hooks.

Except that I went directly to broken water, the scenario of the day before repeated itself. A nineteen inch brown trout took my little fly, leaping on a tight line, and--stayed on!

Since then most of the small flies I use are tied in this fashion.

To tie a size 18 scud, you will need a regular number 12 hook, a little muskrat fur, some fine flat gold tinsel, a mallard breast or flank feather, hard dubbing wax, 3/0 black nylon tying thread, a short piece of sewing thread and some fly head cement.

Clamp the hook in the tying vise by gripping just the point and barb with the top edge of the jaws. Ordinarily, to prevent breakage most of the bend is buried in the vise with the point exposed. When only the point and barb are gripped there seems to be no problem.

If your vise won't hold a hook securely in this fashion, usually it's because of cement deposits. Scraping the inside of the jaws with a knife will correct this. It applies to holding small hooks also.

A fly like this takes more of a beating in the fish's mouth than regular ones do, so it is extra important that precautions be taken so it won't slide or twist on the hook. The following procedures insure this. I heartily recommend the same precautions on all flies.

Always use regular nylon thread. Not pre-waxed or mono. Cement won't penetrate wax to lock the knots. It doesn't hold mono as well as it does multiple strand thread.

Make a base for the material by coating the hook around the bend from the rear of the shank nearly to the barb with head cement then wrap this with tying thread, winding over and away from you, half-hitch at the bottom of the bend and saturate the winding with cement.

Tie a small clump of mallard on for a tail where the thread is half-hitched. It should follow through with the shape of the hook towards the point. It can be trimmed to length later. Half-hitch and cement this.

Prepare a three or four inch piece of sewing thread by rubbing it briskly with the wax. This warms the wax so it adheres to the thread. Spread a little fur, with the guard hairs, on a pant leg or towel on a leg just above your knee and roll the waxed thread in this. When it picks up fur, finish by rolling between your hands. Always in the same direction. Don't try to pick up too much. The diameter of the yarn thus formed shouldn't be more than about tooth-pick sized in the middle and tapered towards the ends.

By using hard wax your hands or clothing won't soil and the fly body doesn't mat. Thread color controls dubbing hue to some extent, depending on how thick the fur is applied. This is something to experiment with as you make more flies.

Now tie a two or three inch piece of gold tinsel to the bottom of the bend so most of it extends out past the tail and do the same with the dubbing just prepared. Make a half-hitch where these are secured and cement the knot.

Wind the thread along the hook bend to where the fly head will be, half-hitch and cement. Tie another clump of mallard breast or flank on here with a thread wrap and half-hitch so that the tips extend forward beyond the hook eye. This will be folded back later for legs. Length and amount depends on what looks right to you. As a rule, sparse is best.

Coat the thread base liberally again and make a body by winding the fur dubbing over and away from you, forward along the bend to where the thread is half-hitched. Secure with a thread wrap and half-hitch and cement the knot.

Next wind the tinsel over the fur body for ribbing and secure in the same way. Cutoff excess dubbing and tinsel. About three wraps with the tinsel will space the ribbing right. The tinsel helps give an illusion of translucency

Pick out the fur so it is rough and scraggly along the bottom of the hook. This helps imitate some of the swimmerettes scud have.

Now fold the mallard fibers, that have been extending forward, back along the bottom of the hook and make a head with tying thread, finish with several half-hitches and a whip knot and saturate with cement. These fibers make swimmerettes also and should extend a little past the hook point.

Shrimp and scud have prominent black eyes and the head suggests these nicely.

The same style fly works well for caddis larvae and pupae imitations. These don't need a tail and can be made with thread or floss bodies. I use a midge pupae made like this with a quill body and dun hackle. Don't rib the quill body but do coat it liberally with clear lacquer when completed. The lacquer makes it durable of course, but also accents the light and dark of stripped peacock quill.

I have developed several successful flies in the last 35 years. Most of them have names like "Crappie Fly", "Green Bluegill Fly", "Silver Nymph", or have been named for fishing companions. I am kind of proud of the new hook bend flies however, I think I will call them "Brunsell Scud", "Brunsell Caddis" and so forth.

I think a fellow usually is proudest of his simplest discoveries, don't you?

Mike Cufaude and I spent New Year's day this year on the brook trout stream we fished three years ago. it had changed greatly because of beaver activity. Our silver nymphs didn't do much in the resultant ponds. Mike changed to a BrunselI Scud and away we went. We caught and released so many brookies we lost count.