ADVANCED PROFESSIONAL GAME-ANGLING INSTRUCTOR

APGAI

SYLLABUS for: Category 3. Fly Dressing

  Tests will be carried out in accordance with the conditions and advice set out in the GAIA booklet ’Taking Assessment Tests for Award of Qualifications’ (TATAQ) and the schedule of topics below. Two hours will be allotted for your assessment. Please bring with you:

• All necessary fly dressing tools, materials, equipment and teaching aids that you normally use to demonstrate fly tying or instruct fly dressers.
• A part-dressed salmon iron, prepared as far as hackle, ready for winging.

For APGAI, a high level of technical ability should be evident, achieving accuracy and fluid performance in at least one style for each step whilst dressing a fly. Flexibility in application of techniques is important, and you should be able to demonstrate a variety of alternative styles for routine operations (e.g. adding hackles, winging or dubbing) and discuss their merits. If you have techniques that you regard as parts of your particular personal ability, you should include demonstration of these into your assessment presentation. Do not, however, omit performance of the usual recognised methods which clients are likely to wish to learn from you. You should be able to identify, tie with or show the use of fly-dressing materials provided by the assessors. Identification, demonstration and correction of faults in technique are essential parts of APGAI skills. If flies produced during assessment have faults to your eye, you should discuss them. GAIA recommends that you plan (TATAQ paras. 13 to 20) part of your allotted time as ‘lessons’ of about twenty minutes each, separated by short breaks. Aim each at a different situation or target client (as stated in your presentation notes) You have to decide the content and arrangement of each ‘lesson’ so that your presentation covers this syllabus, although obviously you cannot demonstrate all techniques mentioned. We suggest that these sessions be divided between ‘demonstration’ where you can concentrate on showing the techniques of fly dressing and ‘instruction’ where you emphasise the explanation of what you do. Leave plenty of unscheduled time to provide for assessors’ questions and requests for demonstration of additional techniques. At least 21 days before your assessment, submit notes giving a brief summary of your presentation to GAIA. These will document your ability to plan classes, but will also be used by your assessors to help you to present your abilities with minimal interruption. Also, with the notes, submit in advance a collection with two examples each of at least six fly patterns that you have tied to illustrate a range of tying techniques. Each pair should be attached to a sheet (A5) of paper naming the pattern and giving brief notes describing your tying procedure and identifying the techniques displayed. Topics and Techniques. You will be expected to have the knowledge and ability to demonstrate and teach modern and traditional techniques for tying:-

• Dry flies (to include the winged types)

• Wet flies (to include the winged types)
• Nymphs
• Salmon flies
• Hair winged flies
• Lures and streamers

During the examination you should demonstrate and teach the tying of flies selected from the following list. Your assessors may also choose other patterns from the list for you to tie in whole or part.

• Olive Nymph
• Woven-Bodied Nymph (dressing of own choice)
• Richard Walker Mayfly Nymph (substitute body material acceptable)
• Suspender Buzzer Nymph: folded farrine backed nymph
• Peter Ross
• Wickham's Fancy
• Polystickle (Walker dressing)
• Muddler Minnow Gapen style (substitute for oak turkey acceptable)
• Hairwing Fly (dressing of own choice but using locking turns)
• Queen of the Waters ( or other fanwing mayfly with palmered hackle)
• Lunn's Particular
• Winged G.R.H.E
• Cinnamon Sedge
• Rough Olive
• Wonder-Winged Fly
• Parachute hackled dry fly
• A Tandem Lure (dressing of your choice)

• Married-wing salmon fly (using your pre-prepared iron, add wings formed of married slips, at least two slips per wing. Set in place using reversed thread where needed.)

You will also be examined on your knowledge of basic entomology: you should be able to teach the reasons for using a particular fly at a given time on a particular water and understand the life-cycles of each group, suggesting patterns to represent the important stages. The main groups you should be familiar with, being of interest to the fly-fisher are:-

• Ephemeroptera - upwings, characterised by two pairs of wings and two or three setae eg, Mayflies- Danica and Vulgata, Blue-Winged Olive, Olive, Pale Watery and Iron Blue

• Trichoptera - Sedges characterised by four long wings and two antennae eg. Red Sedge Grannom and Cinnamon Sedge

• Megaloptera - The Alder fly

• Plecoptera - Stone Flies

• Diptera - includes the common Bluebottle and most of the biters and stingers ! More important to anglers being the Midges, Chironomids, Black Gnat, Reed Smut, Crane Flies (Daddy Long- Legs)

• Hemiptera - Waterbugs, Corixa

• Odonata - Dragonflies & Damsels

You may also be tested or asked questions on:-

• Modern fly dressing tools

• Natural material and how to select differing quality grades and their uses.
• Substitute materials
• Artificial materials
• Hooks

You will be asked to explain safe conduct whilst game fishing, emphasising safe actions and use of personal protection in all situations, and how you can at all times promote awareness and practice of safety issues for anglers and bystanders. You may be asked questions on fishing law and etiquette. You will also be asked about how you should structure a teaching course.