Bob's Tying Instructions
1. Attach red thread behind the eye of the hook and wrap to the end of
the hook shank.
2. Take one or two strands of silver flashabou, double them around your
thread and tie them in at the rear of the shank.
3. Choose a marabou feather that has a thin stem and fairly thin
barbs (not "fluffy" like wooly bugger marabou). Strip the unwanted
fluff from the bottom of the feather, especially where the stem is
too thick to wrap.
4. Tie the marabou hackle in by the *butt* and wrap your thread forward
to just behind the eye of the hook.
5. Palmer wrap the marabou hackle up the hook shank, folding and
stroking the marabou fibers back as you wrap. You want the marabou
to point to the rear of the fly as much as possible.
6. Tie off the tip of the feather just behind the eye.
7. Fold a mallard or similar duck flank feather and tie in by the tip.
If your flank is heavily "one-sided", you can avoid the folding by
stripping the short side and wrapping the one-sided flank feather as
if it had been folded.
8. Make one or two wraps of the duck flank to create a hackle collar
in front of the marabou body.
9. Tie off the flank feather and build a small head. Whip finish.
10. Trim any excess flashabou that extends beyond the marabou.
Bob's Comments On This Pattern:
This fly was originated by Jack Gartside. He makes a very compelling
argument for the fly in the book "The Art of the Trout Fly" by Judith
Dunham. In it, he alludes to the fact that the soft hackle streamer is
the result of imitation through reduction of materials. He had stripped
a baitfish imitation down to its bare essentials - a few wisps of
flashabou inside the body to serve as flash, a three-dimensionally
shaped body formed from the palmered marabou hackle, and a mottled scale
effect from the flank feather, which also acts as a foil to the water
causing the marabou to pulsate more effectively. Even the choice of
red thread was deliberate. The results are a fly that has a good
silhouette when viewed from all angles, subtle flash, and built-in
movement that does not require a lot of angler manipulation.
It's a simple fly, but well thought out.
Although it lends itself to a multitude of color combinations, I favor
the pattern shown, white having always been a good color for my streamer
fishing.
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