I’m generally very reluctant to use the word, “iconic”, but in the case of Jack Gartside’s Gurgler I think it fits. Gartside died in 2009, but has left a legacy of so many flies, for so many different applications. Many of them all-purpose flies that are at home on a bass lake as they are in the salt.
His most known fly (all up to debate of course) I think is the Gartside Gurgler. In its time a very innovative pattern that in a simple, effective way made of use a foam back tied with a pronounced lip over the hook eye. The foam is tied along the shank as an underbody and then folded over to the hook eye, which gives the fly plenty of floatation. The foam lip over the hook eye makes the fly skip and jump across the surface as it’s retrieved. A fly that Gartside himself tied in many different sizes. In my own fishing I mostly use them I big sizes as surface flies for pike.
The original version is white, but it’s of course obvious to tie it in all imaginable colours. Gartside’s personal website is thankfully still up and it’s a deep well of knowledge and information here:
My pike version is a variation, to say the least, but the key element – the folded over foam and the pronounced lip remains. Mine is still a fairly simple fly to tie.
Hook: Ahrex PR 350/351 Light Predator – usually a 2/0 or 4/0.
Thread: UNI 6/0.
Tail: Slinky Fiber, Crystal Flash and Glass ’n’ Glow flash.
Hackle: Slinky Fiber in a dubbing loop and tied as a hackle.
Body: Polar Chenille.
Legs: Rubber legs.
Back: Three layers of sandwiched foam – green, yellow and green.
The key element is the closed cell foam. One piece is enough for smaller flies, but for the big one here, I use three layers. I cut them with a ruler and a scalpel making sure that the width increases a little for each of the three strips.
Begin with tying in the tail and the flash. Length is of course optional, but I like a good length on mine. Form a dubbing loop, add the Slinky Fiber and twist it hard. Put on 4-5 turns of “hackle”.
Tail, flash and hackle done.GG_4: Tie in the Polar Chenille for the body – secure it on the underside of the hook shank.
Tie in the widest piece of foam. As you can see in the picture, it’ll fold all the way around the hook. Fold it around before you tie it in and make sure it sits symmetrically. I prefer a think thread for this and not a GSP as that’ll easily cut through the foam.
Continue tying in the next two layers and crush the waste end down with thread before tying in the next layer. Leave ample space behind the hook eye.
Form a body with the Polar Chenille. Fold over the first piece of foam. As you can see, it should fold all the way around the hook shank as you tie it down.
Place three dabs of super glue spread evenly over the foam and place a rubber leg in each of them. It’ll take a little while for it to cure properly.
Fold over the next two pieces of foam one by one, tying them down in the same sport as the first. Once tied down, tie in two rubber legs one each side where you secured the foam.
How big of a lip you leave on the fly is up to yourself. On this one I cut it fairly short. Generally, the larger the lip the more water it’ll push. The magnificent “fire-tiger-artwork-artwork” is optional, but will definitely make the fly more effective (even if the pike will never see it).
A Fire Tiger Pike Gurgler ready to go on the hood of the car. When I fish these big surface flies with lots of air resistance I usually go for a fairly heavy line. This is an 8-wt rod with a WF 8 F Scientific Anglers SBT, which is a short head weight forward line – ideal for casting surface flies.
On this one I’ve cut the foam to make a longer lip, which will make the flies cast more water forwards on sharp pulls. The great thing about foam is that it’s fully customisable.
We have two of Gartside’s famous flies on our YouTube channel. You can see my version of Gartside’s Sparrow:
My predecessor on the blog, Michael Jensen, did a piece on Jack Gartside in 2017 – here:
An original Gartside Gurgler ding piggy back on a pike sized one doens’t look like much, but none the less a great fly in many applications. Perch, for instance?
Our Ahrex ambassador, Gianni De Pace, has a YouTube video of his version here:
De Pace’s version is more complicated, but looks absolutely deadly and I like the way he’s put a very modern touch on it.
It may be October, but if you’re not fishing over too deep water, you can still pick up fish on the surface and I for one will be casting Gurglers over pike in the near future.