Body Magic Girdle

[Bessie Murrillo]

Itis easy to tie and durable as long as you fortify the thread on the head with a lot of head cement, or, my favorite UV Knot Sense by Loon (this is cured in 5-10 seconds with a UV flashlight). Trout love to chomp on this fly and will cut the head thread in short order. The original fly was tied by wrapping lead wire down the entire shank of the hook. That version of the fly sinks like a rock. However, if you are not fishing on a large western river with lots of current, you will spend most of your time trying to unsnag your fly or tying on a new fly every other cast as you had to break off another snag. The fly is versatile in that it works well as the original version, with no weight at all, and everything in between (more on that later).

For no good reason I had never used these on the rivers around my house, and I have no idea how I ended up with three of them in my fly box, but this decision was the beginning of my love affair with girdle bugs. I lost count of how many fish I caught that day and eventually I lost all three flies. But I was convinced this was the fly of choice.

The next morning we went to the local hardware store that doubled as a fly shop and bought all of their size 8 beadhead girdle bugs. For the remainder of the trip we used the girdle bugs almost non-stop. It turned a not-quite-average trip into a fantastic one.

A few years later I was back in Montana with a friend in April for an early season trip. Our guide talked us into coming in mid-April with the hopes of catching the Skwala hatch. We missed the full-fledged hatch but saw some sporadic flies on one of the three days with our guide. It was the last couple of hours of the last day and not much was happening. The guide decided we should start experimenting as he knew we were in good water. While he was tying on a couple of flies for my friend, I asked what he thought I should use (I wanted to tie on the flies so I could get back to fishing). He told me to pick out a couple flies; so, you guessed it, I tied on a beadhead girdle bug with a beadhead nymph dropper and put on a float indicator.

I have been testing different body and leg materials, weights, and colors ever since. If I could only have one style of a girdle bug, I would choose a black body with yellow silicone legs and no weight (you can always add a couple of split shot if need be, but it is really difficult to take off a bead or lead wire underneath the body on a finished fly). It seems crazy but my experience is that size #10 works well almost all day whereas the larger ones tend to work better in low or no light conditions.

Observations on various types of tying materials.

First and foremost are how the chosen leg material influences the drop rate of the fly. I have found round rubber legs retard the drop rate. So if you want to use them, be sure to add more weight to achieve the desired drop rate. My preferred legs are thin and extremely supple (they are still surprisingly durable). I cut pieces that are about two-times longer than the hook shank I am using. Spirit River Flex-Floss, Sili Legs, and Hareline Dubbin Life Flex are my preferred leg materials. My experience is that these have a minimal effect on the drop rate. Sometimes these can be hard to find, so be flexible and use what you can find as long as it is very supple and thin.

I use numerous ways to weight the fly. It all depends on how deep and fast the water that you are fishing is. The table below gives you some ideas on how to weight the fly depending on the intended use.

These are the basics for this amazingly versatile fly that produces a lot of fish for me every year. Hope this helps you get started and let me know if you find something else that works well for you with these basic set-ups.

So to elaborate on the definition, a body shaper is any piece of clothing you wear to give an illusion of a flatter and slimmer body. It is also called girdle, tights, body magic etc. It comes in different shapes, shades and sizes. Earlier body shapers came with iron which made it very painful as it keeps sticking into the body. The new body shapers come without iron and are more comfortable.

Wondering how a body shaper functions? Well the science behind a body shaper is that when worn correctly. Body shapers simply move the fat into spaces where muscle is compressed. On the other hand, the fat is levelled into more desired areas for fat instead of simply sitting on your midsection. Body shapers do exactly what we have always wanted; it moves the fat into the places we want them! In addition, if worn correctly, it will help with posture correction. Which will also naturally help achieve that hour glass look.

Thanks to the advanced, micro fibre construction of the Lycra-based fabric that makes up these undergarments, the resulting sheerness of the material makes them virtually invisible beneath clothing. That means you can wear body contouring garments and the only person that needs to know is you!

Holy cow! This is something I need immediately. Like you I have the love handles, mama pooch and rolls which could use some sucking in from some miracle garment. I love the before and after pix(you are getting brave) I love it! Sounds like an amazing product.

Thank you for your comments regarding Ardyss reshaping garments. Our garments will allow you to look like you dropped 1 to 3 dress sizes in minutes PLUS drop weight over a period of time.

If you have a product or business opportunity question please feel free to contact us directly at 1 888 755 1673 or visit our website:

www.bodymagicbyardyssstore.com

I've been wearing the body magic since Sept 2010. I started in a 36 body magic & just got a 30 body magic last week!!! It has changed my life. I used to be a size 14, now I'm a size 8 in jeans! If you are concerned about undoing the body magic, Ardyss sells the body magic long which has a velcro gusset that opens up & allows you to go to the bathroom very easily. The body magic long also works on slimming the legs. This is a must for every woman wanting to look & feel better!

Editor's note: Flyfisherman.com will periodically be posting articles written and published before the Internet, from the Fly Fisherman magazine print archives. The wit and wisdom from legendary fly-fishing writers like Ernest Schwiebert, Gary LaFontaine, Lefty Kreh, Robert Traver, Gary Borger, Joan & Lee Wulff, Dave Whitlock, Vince Marinaro, Doug Swisher & Carl Richards, Nick Lyons, and many more deserve a second life. These articles are reprinted here exactly as published in their day and may contain information, philosophies, or language that reveals a different time and age. This should be used for historical purposes only.

It was a simple-looking pattern, but with a name like Girdle Bug it seemed that finding the materials might be difficult and/or interesting. Anyway, after searching several sewing shops, I found an elastic suitable for leg material.

On the fourth cast I caught a bush, and as the boat floated swiftly downriver, I hauled on the fly until the leader snapped and the fly hung like a Christmas ornament on the willow. As we floated, I noticed other rubber-legged jewels festooning the branches. "There were a few other clients who wouldn't believe me," Monte said.

Casting the Girdle Bugs in tight to the banks caused large, shadowy browns to rocket out to strike the pattern, and during the evening we netted many 14- to 22-inch browns and rainbows. I was fast becoming a convert to rubber legs.

The next morning I fished with Al. In the gray dawn we drifted down the Beaverhead toward one of his favorite spots, searching the inside curves and the shallow tail-outs of the pools for big fish as they cruised for meals. "Drifting a Girdle Bug or Bitch Creek near these large trout should bring action," Al said. "The boys back in Pennsylvania would die if they saw these rubber-legged monsters we're fishing. I don't know what the rubber leg represents. Some anglers believe it looks like a large stonefly. I agree for some rivers, but on the Beaverhead we have no Pteronarcys (large stoneflies), only the smaller golden stones. Perhaps it represents the early-morning cranefly, which hatches in the numerous slow-water sloughs that feed the Beaverhead."

During the following years, fishing pressure increased on the Beaverhead, and fly tiers modified the rubber-leg patterns to meet the needs of the river. Monte introduced me to a cross between a Woolly Worm and the Girdle Bug, called the Yuk Bug.

The New Fork and Green Rivers flow out of the Wind River Mountain Range in northwest Wyoming. Lifelong friend and guide Robbie Garrett and I were drifting the Green one evening when the fish started working. I cast a black Girdle Bug against the brush and slowly stripped it out. A large dorsal fin appeared behind the fly, followed it for ten feet and then pounced. It was my first six-pound brown on the Green River. The Girdle Bug proved itself on Wyoming rivers, and I converted Robbie into a rubber-legged-fly addict.

Since then Robbie has become an expert in fishing rubber legs and has created new patterns (the Senior's Bitch and the Pepperoni Yuk Bug) that drive the trout wild. He has also discovered that, as in dryfly fishing, trout can become selective on rubber-legged patterns. Sometimes they prefer small black flies; at other times they prefer large brown Yuk Bugs. In the fall they seem to prefer black Girdle Bugs. You just never know.

Robbie prefers dead-drifting rubber legs on a taut line with an upstream cast. He holds the rod high in the air so just the leader touches the water. He lets the fly drift with several slight rod-tip twitches to make the legs "breathe" in and out. Throughout the drift he intersperses twitches with dead drifts to create an impression of a live, drifting insect. Robbie contends that if you strip the fly through the water like a streamer, the legs fold tight against the body, destroying the movement. Lifelike action is the key to successful rubber-legged fly fishing.

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