A pattern by Walt Johnson as featured in the “Spey Flies, How to tie them” by Bob Veverka, tied on a Alec Jackson 2065 #1.5
This will be a pattern to tie down in small sizes for the rivers up north here in Norway, and for low-water, clear, rivers.
Hook: Alec Jackson 2060 #3/0
Tag: Silver
Tail: Teal
Body: Orange silk. Green, Red and Brown wool mixed
Ribs: Silver
Hackle: Heron from second turn
Wing: Golden pheasant tail
A pattern from the Farlows book that was given as a challenge on The Spey Tyer group on facebook. The only difference here from the Keson version is the body: Where Kelson had olive-green, Farlows had Green, Red & Brown wool mixed.
Tied this sparsely to bring for fishing, so went with just a few turns of hackle, and a hackle that wasn’t dense in fibers. A pure Golden pheasant wing is not something that is too easy to work with, but as long as you take your time it will come together in the end.
I fish with all the classics I make (of course: I put aside some specials that I want to keep), so thinking about fishing situations is important: where am I fishing, when and what could the water be like at that time. With the new season coming up soon and the fact that I’ll be fishing in a river that could be high on spring-flood, I needed some patterns to accomodate that situation.
The eagle patterns, here with standard marabou as substitute, is a pattern that should work well in murky, high waters. I have chosen a #3/0 spey hook (that measures a good #6/0 on the scale), but it could also be done on a tube instead.
Some experiments with different shades of marabou and testing out the amount to see how these behave in the water.
From Knox: “Autumns on the Spey” page 69
http://flytyer.org/eide/pattern/balmoral
Tying up a part of my salmon box with Dee patterns these days, today: Balmoral
Recent Comments