Ausable Cripple

The Ausable Wulff was created by Fran Betters back in 1964, which happened to be the year Bucky was born. Bucky grew up in New York and spent a lot of time in the Adirondacks, frequenting Betters’ shop whenever he was in the area. That original Ausable Wulff was the inspiration for this fly, as Bucky combined the color scheme of that pattern with modern materials and a cripple style to simplify the tying process and create an improved all-around attractor pattern. The EP Sculpt-a-Fly Fibers add a bit of flash to the wing, which really seems to imitate the translucent sparkle of natural mayfly wings well. Bucky fishes it primarily on the Madison and Gallatin as the dry fly in a dry-dropper setup, since it is basically unsinkable and is easy to see, but he says it amazing how frequently fish will come to the dry, even when there are no large insects hatching!

If you are interested in tying the Ausable Cripple, click here to check out our How To video.