Edson Brass Eyes
Bill Edson was one of the early bucktail innovators. Flies like his Edson Light Tiger and Edson Dark Tiger are still superb trout flies. As he designed his flies, he wanted to add jungle cock eyes to them, but had trouble getting them. So he added small, oval brass eyes in their place. These added weight to the head, and gave the flies a jigging movement. This jigging action gave the imitations tremendous appeal to the trout, and likewise tremendous appeal to the angler.
When I wrote “Long Flies,” and discussed Edson’s early use of a weighted head, his brass eyes were basically a thing of the past. But this weekend, while speaking the Fly Fishers of Virginia, Phil Johnson gave me some of the Edson eyes. They are indeed now available from Whitetail Fly Tying Supply-see Edson Brass Eyes at: http://www.whitetailflytieing.com/products.php?pageNum_products=13&totalRows_products=811&CriteriaCategory=Beads%2C+Bar+Bells%2C+%26+Plastic%2C+3-D%2C+and+Flat+Eyes&Criteria=&CriteriaItemName=&CriteriaPartnum=&itemsperpage=20
Clip off the broad flat end of the eye and trim the smaller flat portion to a taper before tying it in, to keep the head as small as possible.
Edson Brass Eyes–his answer to Jungle Cock.