This was one of the first flies I tied back in 1976. The pattern called for mallard wing quill segments. I often substituted crow wing quill feathers because they were black. It also calls for black hackle fibers for the tail and black dubbing or poly for the body. Cog de Leon has some of the stiffest fibers we can get now, which is why it is so good for tailing a fly. Back in the 70's no one had heard about that yet and it's not black anyhow. Black hackle was used for the hackle of course. I really like the idea of using black pheasant tail for the body, although that makes a thicker body than you can make with dubbing or poly. Still there is a method that I use with pheasant tail that lets you use the same 6 fibers of pheasant tail for both the tail and the body. Ideally use a center tail feather in black for this. • Pull 6 fibers out at a right angle from the stem to align the tips and then cut them off at the stem. • Measure the tail out to the length of the hook (back of the eye to back of the bend) and attach at the tail tie-in position (where shank first starts to curve down). Using the pinch technique to place it, tie it in with 3 tight wraps one on top of another. • Then pull the butts of thePT fibers towards you and the tying thread towards you and using the same motion you do when dubbing fibers, spin the butts around the thread in a counter-clockwise direction. It's very important to spin the fibers in a counter-clockwise direction because when you wrap those thread reinforced fibers over the top and away from you, the motion of wrapping it tightens PT fibers on the thread. If you wrap them in a clockwise direction it loosens the fibers as you try to wrap it, which is very frustrating. • Advance it to the hackle tie in position and tie it off. Finish tying the rest of the fly as Karl shows here. Another suggestion if you start tying below #18 on this is omit the wing and just use hackle. Reduce the black PT fibers down to just 2 or 3 of them if you need to for a sparse body on size 20 or smaller, or just use some sparse dubbing for the body.
@@Tridentflyfishing You have to sneak up on them verrrry carefullllly...:) Back in the 70's you could get it from fly-shops, or just off any crows you shot where were infesting a nearby cornfield. Black dyed duck feathers worked just as well when I couldn't get crow. Heck, arts and crafts stores still sell packets of duck feathers in dyed colors.
A one-fish fly, that pt body is going to come apart on the first fish. At the least, a little super glue on the shank thread wraps would make for a more durable fly. Or counter ribbed with extra small silver or gold wire.
