Tip: gold
Body: Black ostrich
Legs: Small black
Wing: Starling’s wing

Black Gnat from The Art of Angling by William Blacker. The one above is tied in hand on a vintage blind-eye hook, while the three below all are tied for fishing on Ahrex FW580 #10.

A versatile pattern that have been in use all these years, but with a body-material that you don’t see that often today: ostrich herl.

Body: Lemon mohair
Hackle: Cinnamon
Wing: Landrail’s wing

Cow Dung Fly from The Art of Angling by William Blacker. The one above is tied in hand on a vintage blind-eye hook, while the three below all are tied for fishing on Ahrex FW580 #10.

For this I substituted Landrail with what I had available in a dark/tan wing material: don’t get too fixated on the exactness of a pattern, looking at the intent of this pattern from the old pictures, this, for me, is a good representation of it!

Tail: Mallard, two fibers
Body: Brown, mixed with yellow, mohair
Hackle: Black-red
Wing: Brown mallard, or hen pheasant’s tail

The Stone Fly from The Art of Angling by William Blacker. The one above is tied in hand on a vintage blind-eye hook, while the three below all are tied for fishing on Ahrex FW580 #10.

The color-combination here with the dark wing over the yellow-red body will result in a fly that should attract trout anywhere.

Tail: Mallard, two fibres
Body: Light brown mohair, mixed with hare’s ear
Hackle: Partridge neck, or grey cock
Wing: Hen pheasant’s wing, or grey drake

The Grey Housewife from The Art of Angling by William Blacker. The one above is tied in hand on a vintage blind-eye hook, while the three below all are tied for fishing on Ahrex FW580 #10.

Of all the standard flies from Blacker this my favorites in terms of composition, color and all-round use. If I were to choose just one pattern to bring with me from this set it would be this one.

Tip: Gold
Tail: Two fibres of yellow mallard
Body: Yellow silk
Front-hackle: Yellow hackle at the shoulder
Wing: Thrush’s wing, or yellow

The Little Caste Fly from The Art of Angling by William Blacker. The one above is tied in hand on a vintage blind-eye hook, while the three below all are tied for fishing on Ahrex FW580 #10.

For this pattern I chose some bright yellow swan for the wing. There is one “off” with a dark tail, but that was just a tying-zone mishap: the natural dark mallard was next to my yellow mallard!