#77 - Leprechaun

Tied by: Ryan Houston
Originated by: Ryan Houston

Hook: Gaelic Supreme Mike Martinek Rangeley Streamer hook
Thread: White
Tag: Silver flat tinsel
Body: Highlander green silk
Rib: Silver flat tinsel
Belly: White bucktail
Throat: Mallard flank dyed burnt orange
Underwing: Golden pheasant crest sweeping down (over hook bend) and 6 peacock herls
Wing: Picric dyed hackle flanked by grizzly hackle
Shoulder: Green golden pheasant feather
Cheek: Back feather from a melanistic / green cock pheasant
Eye: Jungle cock
Head: Black with red band

Notes: So what if it's only 8 am, it's happy hour somewhere and we can all celebrate with this Leprechaun streamer tied up by Ryan Houston. Ryan is an accomplished classic salmon fly tyer and as you can see, some of his patience and expertise has transferred well into tying streamers. Ryan states that the melanistic pheasant cheek was the starting point of the inventive process for this fly. He had a patch, and liked the feathers but never found a use for them. Once the cheek on a streamer was decided upon, he decided to tie the rest of the fly following either the bottle green or the black of the feather. He went for green and as the fly flew off the vise from the emerald isle, the name followed suit. I guess its only fitting that with its Irish origins and connotations that it should pop up on St. Paddys day. Cheers!