RAB – Best Fly Fishing Flies

The RAB, which is an abbreviation for “Red Arsed Bastard”, is a wide winged dry fly that is excellent for prospecting on a stream or stillwater. The Rab is an attractor pattern and also imitates spiders, water striders, skaters and mosquitoes. It covers a lot of water and sits perfectly in the surface film. This classic dry fly was first tied in the Western Cape in the 1960’s by Tony Biggs.. Lee Wulff, the late World famous fly fisherman who coined the Royal Wulff and White Wulff respectively, loved fishing traditional dry fly patterns similar to the RAB, and that says a lot about the fly.

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Type Of Fly?

  • Dry Fly
  • Prospector Fly
  • Attractor

When To Use?

  • All Year

Where To Use?

  • Dams
  • Streams

Colour Variations?

  • Natural

This fly received it’s name in an interesting way. As legend has it, Tony Biggs and a few friends were fly fishing a Western Cape stream on a slower than normal day. The fishermen split up and when they regrouped later Tony Biggs had caught his limit for the day. The others asked to see what fly he had used and one of the fishermen said something about the fact that the fly was a “Red Arsed Bastard“, I presume in a bit of anger, thus the name R.A.B. was coined.

At Fish The Fly, we have caught some big Trout on the Rab. At the time of writing this article, my personal best Rainbow Trout on dry fly, of 2.4 kilograms, was caught on a size 16 RAB.

Species That Can Be Caught On This Fly?

The Best Flies To Use

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