Beaucatcher Fly Fishing
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Dave's Mistake Hairwing Steelhead Fly
with Chinese rooster hackle
with Guinea hackle
with Schlappen hackle
Dave McNeese pattern
tied by Bruce E. Harang
Materials:
Hook: Salmon
Iron to suit (illustrated Partridge Traditional Salmon Iron Code M)
Thread: Gudebröd
6/0, BCS 90 Maroon or BCS 85 Red
Wing: Polar bear or substitute (I find Goat body hair to show brighter white in the
water)
Tag: Flat silver tinsel, size to suit
Tail: Crest dyed dark purple
Rib: Silver
Oval Tinsel, size to suit
Body: Bright Red seal fur or substitute
Throat Hackle: Dark purple Chinese cock, schlappen, guinea fowl, or
the like
Cheeks:
Jungle cock nails (optional)
Head: Gudebröd 6/0, BCS 90 Maroon or BCS 85 Red
Tying Instructions:
1. Mount an up eye return loop salmon hook in your vise.
3. Attach the thread at the front of the hook where the head will be formed just tight enough to hold the thread in place without closing the space between the hook shank and hook return wire.
4. Cut a small bunch of hair for the wing from the hide, clean the under fur and short hairs out as well as any hairs having broken tips. Optionally, you can stack the prepared hair before mounting.
5. Mount the wing with the butts facing the rear of the hook and the wing facing forward over the eye of the hook in the manner of Ed Haas which may be found here.
6. Tie in a length of small flat silver tinsel on the bottom of the hook shank directly above the point of the hook by securing with 5 tight thread wraps forward of the tie in point.
7. Wrap the flat silver tinsel in touching turns back to the root of the barb and then forward to the flat tinsel tie in point.
8. Unwrap 4 turns of the thread used to tie down the flat and then tie off the flat tinsel with 5 wraps going forward on the hook shank. This removes a double thread layer at the tie in/tie off point.
9. Tie in a crest dyed dark purple for the tail on the top of the hook shank making sure the tail is in line with the hook shank by wrapping the working thread backward to the front edge of the flat tinsel tag.
10. Once both tail is mounted to your satisfaction cut off the butts slightly in front of the tie in point.
11. Tie in a length of medium oval tinsel to the underside of the hook shank after stripping off the metal from the core to reduce bulk.
12. Create a dubbing loop at the tie in point of the tail making sure to lock the loop closed by wrapping the thread around the loop up against the hook shank. Then advance the thread forward to a thread wrap or two onto the return wire.
13. Using a tacking wax, wax one leg of the dubbing loop about half inch next to the hook shank. Dub a very very sparse amount of seal dubbing or substitute onto this waxed portion of one leg. This first section will thus be much finer in diameter and create a tapered transition from the tail to the body.
14. Insert a thin flat ribbon of seal dubbing or substitute into the dubbing loop slightly overlapping the end of the dubbing on the single leg of the loop and spin the dubbing loop and dubbing together to form rough dubbing for the body.
15. Wrap the dubbing forward stopping one turn onto the return wire and tie off the dubbing and cut off the waste.
16. Wrap the oval tinsel rib forward in five turns and tie off at the front of the body on the bottom of the hook shank.
17. Mount the throat hackle immediately in front of the body and take two or three wraps to fill the space between the front of the body and the rear of the wing. Tie off on the bottom of the hook shank and cut off the waste.
18. Fold the wing back over the body and using the working thread create a small dam of thread immediately in front of the wing to hold it back in the position you desire.
19. Optionally, mount a jungle cock nail on each side of the wing.
20. Wrap a small proportionate head with a whip finish and cut off the thread.
21. Soak the head with one or two coats of a penetrating head cement to seal the thread to the hook shank. I prefer Griff's Thin for this task.
22. Apply several coats of Sally Hansen Hard as Nails finger nail polish that has been diluted to water consistency to finish the fly.
© 2011 Bruce E Harang