#15 - Herb Johnson Badger Dace

Tied by: Tony Smith
Originated by: Herb Johnson
Source: Forgotten Flies (Paul Schmookler and Ingrid Sils, 1999)

Hook: Mustad 36620 #2 Limerick
Tail: Mixed dun, red and yellow hackle fibers
Body: Heavy yellow tying thread*
Rib: Flat silver tinsel
Throat: Mixed yellow and red hackle fibers, about 1/3 body length
Wing: Pair of yellow saddle hackles flanked by badger saddles hackle of same length. Both reaching about a gap beyond bend.
Shoulder: Ringneck pheasant "church window" feather, about ¼ wing length.
Topping: Red hackle fibers , about as long as throat, placed over top/front of wing.
Head: Red paint/lacquer with yellow eye and black pupil. Clear coats of varnish over.
*Though not stipulated in original dressing, I chose to varnish body after ribbing applied.
Source: Forgotten Flies (Paul Schmookler and Ingrid Sils, 1999)

Notes: This is a perfect little casting streamer with lots of strike inducing color throughout. If you have any nice silver badger hackles in your tying kit, you can bet that this is what they want to be tied into. In the 1960's the one tyer whose streamers you didn't want to head off to the river without was Herb Johnson, especially for Atlantic salmon and trout. Herbert "Herb" Johnson of Yarmouth, Maine had conceived the Herb Johnson Badger Dace among other notable streamers that kept Herb in the minds and flyboxes of the nations anglers.