Tie The Cats Whisker with Steve Cullen

The Cats Whisker really is special. What a fly; its one of the best if not the best when it comes to stillwater trout up and down this country.

It has many different guises but the original remains as deadly today as it was decades ago when Bob Church popularised the pattern after being given a handful to try by its inventor David Train.

It was David who came up with the fly and the name. He used whiskers from his cat, funnily enough to stop the wing of the fly wrapping around the hook shank. Hence the name strange but true!

Fortunately, he never went around attacking tabbies, but just collected any stray hairs from his own cat. Obviously there are no whiskers being used nowadays, no, no, no! The pattern is pretty much one that can be used all year round, it really is that effective!

The marabou tail and wing pulse in the water, and the white and green colour combination is a true winner. Add to this the up-and-down effect when you retrieve, caused by the heavy chain bead eyes at the front, and the whole thing is exaggerated brilliant.

Any line will do the fly justice but its most commonly used in conjunction with a sinker. You really should try it teamed with a floating line and longish leader, though, as this can be very productive on small stillwaters.

If there was ever a fly that you need to have in your box, this is it and in this video TFF editor Steve Cullen will show you exactly how to tie it.

Cats Whisker Variants

International Cat
PolyShoot Cat
Cats Whisker Booby

Hook: Long-shank, size 10
Thread: Black
Wing and tail: White marabou
Body: Lime-green chenille

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• Fly
• Fishing
• Tying
• Cats
• Whisker
• Total
• FlyFisher

[Metatheist]

I went fishing in Norway, Lofoten and got 64 fish in one day! Huge cod there. cheap boat rentals too :D

[damontoney]

I've had the best luck with this lure than anything else. It's the best streamer pattern ever made. I fish for warm water fish only, and tie with olive wing/tail and a white or silver body. In a small farm pod I put it in the water, and you couldn't tell the different between this and the native minnows.

[door2yourheart]

@dav1d1984 Yes it defo fishes upside down with bead chain on top of the hook! I love 'em too!

[whosgordy]

used this fly last night, lost count of fish i took, same thing happened last season.

this is a deadly fly tied on a competition size hook.

[madaboottroot]

i really believe u, i used this fly on a loch and i was fishing for 2 hours and i caught 9 fish

[Nicolelennonbabe]

dude i did it with black thred an i stil caut 11 fish

[snowboarddude117]

love the accent...its awesome

[snowboarddude117]

how well do you think this fly would do in the Americas.

[memmnock]

excelllent vid of a deadly lure being made ;) Its so easy to make you wonder why its so deadly in the water lol