Phar Side Phly

Published Feb 28th 2010

A basic saltwater pattern, which can be adapted to your needs... easily downsized... easily modified... no rules... just a progression of basic steps...

By Pete Gray

Finished phly - Notice the length of the hackle feathers and the herl as well as the color blend of the feathers. You can very the combination and size of all elements, but keep each additional layer fairly skinny to keep the fly slender and mobile.

PharSidePhly
Pete Gray

It's been a while and winter has driven me inside... 'playin' around with the camera as I made my way up a hook shank...
My basic philosophy it to design a fly to suit my needs and compose as I go...
When I look at someone else's fly for the first time, I tend to visually de-construct it and then try to figure out the original tying steps...
I have my "favourites" and they seem to form the basis [foundations] for follow-on notions...
This is one of my favourite fly foundations... easily downsized... easily modified... no rules... just a progression of basic steps...

In an attempt to achieve a higher level of "self importance" I prefer to "categorize" my flyz...
They all start out as PhuzzieNotions [R&D ideas rattling around in my noggin and looking for a place to happen]... and then materialize into PharSidePhlyz [as in the PharSide of the canal]...
Then they are designated BigEyez... Tubez... DualTubez... Shrimpz... whatever...
This particular exercise falls under Naturalz [predominately phur n'pheathers with spartan application of phlash]... My FAVOURITE catagory!
SinThetics would be "plastic" and acrylics... evil but very tempting and seductive... and so on and so on...

Anyway...

I'll have to start wearing my "official" MAKO ADVISORY STAFF fishing shirt 'cause, if I'm going to be impotent, I gotta dress impotent!

But I digress...

My techniques are refined basics ['been doing this for a LONG time]...
My technical eye is self trained and perhaps even gifted...
My former life [AVIATION] encourages attention to detail...
I have developed good control over the thread and material... and I combine and overlap these basic techniques to obtain a desired effect and overall insinuation...

An artist has a pallet and canvas... I've got my phur, pheathers n'phlash... 'just looking for an unsuspecting hook [or tube] to hang 'em on...

Colours are thoughtfully blended as material is added and subtle flash is lightly infused so as not to overwhelm...

My goal is to create an illusion with inherent motion... properly selected and applied materials speak for themselves... The FISH always have the last word!

By nature I am a lazy animal with time tested convenient habits that simplify my daily activities...
After years of wandering around with open eyes, I've arrived at my foundation station...

'trains mostly depart from the same tracks and are customized to suit their intended destination...

Phar Side Phly

Type	Cold saltwater fly
Originator	Pete Gray
Difficulty	Easy
Target species	Bluefish Striped bass

Materials

Hook	Saltwater, short shank 2-2/0
Thread	Mono
Tail	White salwater hackle (4-6 feathers), clear flash
Collar	White bucktail and more flash
Underwing	Chartreuse bucktail
Wing	Varying colors of saltwater hackle, from dark to light (Olive, blue, gray, purple hues will work)
Cheeks	Large Jungle Cock feathers
Topping	Peacock herl
Head	Tying thread with varnish or epoxy

Tying instructions
See image sequence below

+ Step 1: thread Pete Gray	+ Step 2: tail Pete Gray	+ Step 3: bucktail Pete Gray
+ Step 4: flash Pete Gray	+ Step 5: color Pete Gray	+ Step 6: more flash Pete Gray
+ Step 7: top & bottom Pete Gray	+ Step 8: herl and JC Pete Gray	+ Step 9: finish Pete Gray

This "NATURAL" exercise typically kicks off with the same starter steps to get me going and then follow-on steps divert to suit my current needs and intended goals...
Call them starter recipes... even though I tend to not rely on written recipes... they are, after all "PhuzzieNotions"...

This is supposed to FUN [or should that be phun?!]...

Sofarsogood!

Another striper - Yet a striper enticed by a Phar Phly

Comparison - Different Phar Side Phlys compared. A long and colorful version on top, a couple of slightly smaller and less flamboyant ones below.

Phly and phather
Pete Gray

Cheers
Pete on the PharSide of the Canal... das People's Republik of Taxachusetts

Recommend this page to a friend

Add comment Go to article start

User comments

From: Pete Gray · areasixtyone·at·hotmail.com Link
Submitted April 14th 2010

Phlatwing... Sort'a... Thanks...
It starts off with vertically oriented hackles tied in near the bend then progresses with high/low tied splayed buck tail and culminates with flat and tented hackles tied in without the classic "pillow"...
I mix and match basic techniques to create the desired size and profile... and enjoy playing around with material management to achieve a balanced and pleasing result... the hook is a canvass and the pheatherz 'n phur my pallet... being able to share the results is part of the challenge and pleasure... phlatwing... sort'a...

From: Frank Swarner · fgs30·at·comcast.net Link
Submitted March 30th 2010

Nice Phlatwing

From: Pete Gray · areasixtyone·at·hotmail.com Link
Submitted March 25th 2010

Laura...
Thanks... I think...
A predator mugs my fly, thinking that it's a meal, and line goes tight...
Quickly brought to hand, I have just caught my dinner but, I hasten a release and send the fish back into deep water to fight another day...
Now THAT'S IRONY!?
CIAO

From: Anonymous Link
Submitted March 19th 2010

Thanks Pete, for sharing, also from Italy.
A sense of irony is, in my opinion, guarantee of freedom... and, to my eyes, some of your 'freestyle' tying are full of sense of irony!

Laura

From: Dennis Kelly · dennis.kelly·at·syngenta.com Link
Submitted March 5th 2010

Peter is the master of alot of great flies! He actually catches BIG fish on them, which is even cooler!!
Rooster

From: Pete Gray · areasixtyone·at·hotmail.com Link
Submitted March 1st 2010

I learned early on that there are only so many ways to hang phur n' pheathers on a shaft and "claiming" anything as "my own" was a terrible idea...
Perhaps the closest I've come to an "original" might be a certain DualTube fly that seems curiously off the beaten path...
The way these Naturals are tied incorporates a smattering of material applications... some of the feathers might be tied down flat and/or tented and/or whatever suits the desired profile...I don't employ the suggested "pillow" technique to rest the flat wings on... and frequently I'll forgo the jungle cock and spot weld on the head material and 3D eyez with the new light cured acrylic [which probably makes true purists cringe...] Should we call this "freestyle" tying?! Whatever...
Anyway... I'm just trying to share some style variations with folks who might appreciate my efforts... the photos, while pleasing to my eye, aren't the best and certainly aren't the worst... perhaps "not bad" might work...
The only thing that I claim these days as my own is a nice steaming turd in the morning, after my starter coffee... both of which are short lived and soon flushed... Cheers!

GFF staff comment

From: Martin Joergensen · martin·at·globalflyfisher.com Link
Submitted March 1st 2010

Jim,

I don't see Pete claiming to have invented the flatwing anywhere. Telling people how to tie it is no offense, or...?

We have a widespread international audience, and a lot of them will love to learn the techniques used in flatwings, and this general pattern is an excellent starting point for them.

Try traversing the web for flies looking like Wooly Buggers, Egg Sucking Leeches, Muddler Minnows, Elk Hair Caddises and whatnot, but being called something else, and you can fill pages up and pages down with "reinventions".

We reinvented the Woolly Bugger at least a dozen times on this site alone... and no harm done in that if you ask me!

Pete will be contributing more flatwings in the future, and we will be very happy to host his flies - new or reinvented.

Martin

From: Jim Slater · james.slater44·at·hotmail.com Link
Submitted March 1st 2010

Wow. Pete reinvented the Flat Wing.

Want to comment this page? Fill out the form below.
Comment Only comments in English are accepted! Comentarios en Ingles solamente, por favor!
Your name		Your email
Anonymize my information. Name and email will not be shown with comment.
Notify me on new comments to this article on the above email-address. You don't have to comment to start or stop notifications. All comments will be screened by the GFF staff before publication. No HTML, images, ads or links, please - we do not publish such comments... And only English language comments will be published. Name and email is optional but recommended. The email will be shown in a disguised form in the final comment to protect you against spam You can see other public comments on this page

More stuff to look at on The Global FlyFisher
These other stories on "Saltwater - Fishing in the salt" might also interest you: End of the rainbow Prisoners: In Denmark fishing for escaped sea farm rainbows is possible when a cage breaks. The sport is good and you can catch - and kill - several prize size fish in the 50-60 cenimetre or 20-24" range in a day, helping removing them from nature. Read Martin Joergensen's article and see the pictures here Chinook in the salt salt: The chinook is considered by many to be the prime game fish of the North East Pacific, with only the steelhead challenging that title. By Martin Bowers Go to the story More about Saltwater
A few random articles for your entertainment Domestic Fly The common housefly is indeed... eh.... common, and an obvious insect to imitate. Bulgarian Radoslav Kiskinov has made a simple but very efficient pattern imitating Musca domestica using foam, raffia and peacock herl, which will catch several species when fished dry. March 18th 2009 Lake fishing in Sweden Hans Jacob, a good friend of mine, has been going to some lakes in Sweden for many years, and asked whether some of us wanted to join him on another summer fishing trip. I wasn't late to return with a confirmation. Sure I wanted to fish lake rainbows with him! Sounded like a lot of fun. And it was! July 26th 2011 GFF Summit podcast The second installment of the GFF Summit report is this collection of sound bits recorded during the weekend on Fyn. Not concentrated on any subject in particular, but just whatever hit the microphone during this great weekend. As usual hosted by Martin Joergensen. October 30th 2006 New Streamers Converting a classic salmon fly to hairwing form has been done for many years among salmon anglers. Recently, the gang on the streamers@ mailing list tried their hand at converting classic salmon patterns to trout flies. April 22nd 2005