Beaucatcher Fly Fishing
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Silver Hilton - Spey Variation
designed and tied by Bruce E. Harang
Materials:
Hook: Salmon
Iron to suit (illustrated Targus 7989 1/0)
Thread: Gudebröd 6/0 BCS 118 Black
Tag: Medium Flat Silver Tinsel covering rear half of hook
Rib: Medium Oval
Silver Tinsel over dubbed front half of hook (optional)
Body: Black Seal Fur or Diamond Dub dubbing over front half of hook
Hackle: Whiting Black Spey hackle
Wing: Two
pair of Coq de Leon cape feathers - Silver with black list
Collar: Gadwall Flank feather folded
Head: Gudebröd 6/0,
BCS 118 Black
Tying Instructions:
1. Mount an up eye return loop salmon hook in your vise.
2. Attach the thread at the point the wings will be tied in and wrap a smooth flat thread base to a point just above the point of the hook. If you are using an in-line rotary vise an easy method is to use one finger of your working hand as a moving thread bobbin holder and use the off hand to turn the vise while moving the thread rearward. If you start with an untwisted thread and let the bobbin hang free you will create a very thin flat thread base. I prefer to use a very light working thread such that if the materials over it become translucent in the water their colors are not muddied by a dark background.
3. Tie in the rib. I tie the rib on the bottom of the hook or optionally on the lower far side of the hook. Leave tag end of the rib long enough so that it reaches at least to just beyond the half way point of the hook shank or up to the starting point of the thread to provide a smooth even underbody for the flat tinsel tag.
4. Bring the thread back to the mid-point of the hook shank binding down the rib. Again an easy way of creating this smooth thin flat underbody of thread with an in-line rotary vise is to use your working hand as a moving thread bobbin but this time moving forward. Tie in a length of silver flat tinsel (here Lagartun brand) at the point 1/3 from the front of the hook with 5 tight thread wraps.
5. Wrap the silver flat tinsel back to the rear of the body and then forward to its tie in point. Of course you want to avoid tying down any of the spey hackle fibers. Unwrap 4 of the tight binding wraps used to mount the gold tinsel and then tie down both ends of the silver tinsel with a few tight wraps of thread. Break off the tag ends of the silver tinsel by flexing do not cut the tinsel as this will leave sharp knife edges that can cut the thread. Create a dubbing loop against the front end of the floss and then bring the thread forward to the starting point. The smoothness of the underbody is not as critical here as the front body portion is dubbed.
6. Insert a small amount of seal dubbing or substitute (here the dubbing is Diamond Dub black) into a dubbing loop, spin the dubbing loop to lock the dubbing in place, pluck out any loose dubbing fibers, wrap the dubbing in touching turns to a point 1/3 back from the front of the hook tie off and then return the to the front of the body, and tie off. Cut off any excess dubbing and loop.
7. Wrap the first rib forward in 5 turns and tie off.
8. Tie in one or two Whiting black Spey hackles of desired length by the tips and wrap as a collar the feather to the include the fuzzy long fibers at the butt of the feather, tie off and cut off the butts.
9. The wing comprises two pair of Coq de Leon cape feathers - Silver with black list. The pairs are mounted curved away from one another to form a open scissors wing having a length longer than the body but short of the bend of the hook so that the wing can not fowl around the hook shank. The wings should be mounted low over the body (here the wings are as high as you would want and a bit lower would be better). To mount the wing take all four feathers and size them leaving the bare stems connected. Insert the four bare stems through the hook eye and position the wing base just in front of the dubbed body. Tie down with several very tight thread wraps and check the wing to insure desired position. When you are satisfied with the wing position, pull the stems out of the hook eye and cut off flush with the binding wraps.
10. Tie in the Gadwall Flank feather by the tip against the base of the wing and wrap forward 2 or 3 turns. Tie off and cut off the butt.
11. Form an appropriately sized head, apply a penetrating head cement and when dry apply Sally Hanson Hard As Nails as the gloss overcoat.
© 2007 Bruce E Harang