The Parmacheene Belle
"If a trout will, he will;
if he won't, he won't, and that's all about it, except he may or will take this when he won't take that.”
Pat Donoghue’s award-winning fishing website, Nova Scotia Fly-fishing, Tying, and Tall Tales -
http://users.eastlink.ca/~dryfly/ provides some great background, insightful thoughts, and fishing tales about our favourite
flies. These examples concern the old favourite trout fly, still popular with us old-timers today, the Parmacheene Belle:
“Published in 1892, Mary Orvis Marbury's book, Favourite Flies
and their Histories, contains several letters with references to fishing in Nova Scotia. Red and yellow flies abound
in many of the letters, the writers emphatically stating their preference for the Silver Doctor, Parmacheene Belle, Red Ibis
and the Professor. As an example, Edward E. Flint wrote..."While fishing in Nova Scotia for brook trout, last May and
early June, a red bodied Brown Hackle and the Parmacheene Belle were my most taking flies, the latter at evening."
The Parmcheenie Belle (as Albert calls it) and the Silver Doctor are two flies
that also receive frequent mention in The Tent Dwellers-Sports Fishing in Nova Scotia in 1908, by Albert Bigelow
Paine. The Parmacheene Belle, invented in the late 1800's, with its yellow body and red and white striped wing, makes
bold use of both colours.
In his book, The Autobiography
of a Fisherman (1927), Frank Parker Day writes about the time when he was a young boy fishing for sea trout near Boylston,
Guysborough County, where..."I soon found out that a bit of red flannel tied to a hook made a better lure than a worm."
And at age seventeen, whilst residing in Lockeport, he states that..."I know it now, for my favourite of all flies, a
number twelve Parmacheene Belle."
To quote his father Brett,
Gary Saunders wrote in Rattles and Steadies: Memoirs of a Gander River Man (1987) that..."About the only time
brightly-coloured flies were used was for trouting, usually in May or June month when the sea trout came in. For this such
lures as the red and white Parmacheene Belle, the white and brown Royal Coachman with its peacock body windings, and the red
and yellow Mickey Finn streamers are among the best."
The Parmacheene Belle pops up in James R. Babb's
book Fly-Fishin' Fool (2005) when he asks the question..."And what famous fly pattern did a studious angler
create to tempt our precious eastern brook trout? Henry P. Well's Parmachene Belle, a garish red-and-white fish-fluffer
that looks less like a proper trout fly than a scrap of naughty negligee from Victoria's Secret."
None the less, John D. Robins, author of The Incomplete Anglers (1943),
states that..."I have never caught anything on a Parmcheenee Belle, except an overhanging bough."
A popular variation, the Parmacheene Beau, has a flat silver tinsel rather than yellow floss body,
the same red-white-silver colours of the deadly Red Devil lure, or our glorious Canadian flag flying proudly in bright sunlight
from a chrome flagpole.
Originated prior to 1890 by the imaginative Mr. Wells of Providence, Rhode Island,
The “Par Belle” was named for Parmacheene Lake in the Rangely backwoods of north-western Maine. Over the years
it has been tied not only as a wet fly, but also as a dry fly, a streamer, and recently as an Atlantic salmon fly for fall
fishing in Northumberland Strait streams. The photo shows a married wing version using goose shoulder feather strips, and
duck quill strips can also be used. Those who don’t like fussing with married feather strips can tie use a white feather
wing followed by red strips on each side. For those most comfortable with tying hair-wing flies, red & white calf body
hair, calf tail, or bucktail can be substituted for feathers. The most important quality may be the striking colour scheme,
not the material.
Finally, we’ll thank Pat Donoghue for his kind permission to use this material
and give him the last word ... “With all this literary knowledge and local lore in mind (which, if you're like me, you'll forget
about as soon as your waders hit the water), you might want to think about carrying a couple of these red or yellow flies
in your box. When nothing else works give one a try, it'll take you back in time to the days of cane rods and silk lines.
While you're at it, enjoy your day on the stream, and always remember what C.B. Burnham said..."If a trout will,
he will; if he won't, he won't, and that's all about it, except he may or will take this when he won't take
that."
Parmacheene
Belle
Thread:
Black 8/0 UniThread
Hook:
Mustad 3399A, size 4 - 12
Tail:
Pair of married white & red goose shoulder feather strips (red on top)
Rib:
Narrow flat silver tinsel
Body:
Yellow wool or floss
Hackle:
Mixed red and white hackle
Wing:
Pair of married white, red and white goose shoulder feather strips
Head:
Black thread finished with ProLac Head Cement
Please stay on the line …