The Orange Silver

A fly which is just a piece of imagination created one evenning in march. I have been fooling around with a plain type of steelhead or salmon flies this last year. These are all signified by simple feather wings and the use of classic materials like floss, tinsel and plain feathers. The Cheapskate Heron and the Cheapskate Green Butt are two examples. The aim of these flies is to make something simple which is yet pleasing to the eye and fishable.

The Silver Orange was a continuation of this line of development. The fly has silver phesant sides which add contrast and orange marabou as a throat hackle. The body is silver tinsel with a double ribbing made from twisted floss.

 

Materials

Hook	Plain Salmon hook size 1/ or 2/0
Thread	Black
Ribbing	Black and orange floss
Body	Medium silver tinsel
Throat hackle	Orange marabou
Cheeks	Silver phesant
Wing	Orange swan or goose
Head	Thread

Instructions

1. Start the thread over the bent back part of the hook
2. Tie in the strands of floss under the hook shank
3. Cover floss and hook shank with a smooth layer of thread to the hook bend
4. Return the threat to the starting position, again forming a smooth surface
5. Tie in silver tinsel
6. Wind the tinsel to the hook bend and back to form a smooth silver body
7. Untie the thread over the start of the tinsel and tie down both ends of tinsel
8. Cut surplus tinsel
9. Twist the orange floss anti clockwise
10. Wind the twisted strand clockwise over the hook shank 5-6 times
11. Tie down and cut surplus
12. Twist the black floss anti clockwise
13. Wind the black floss closely following the orange
14. Tie down and cut surplus
15. Prepare a generous bunch of orange marabou
16. Tie in the marabou as a large false hackle that reaches just beyond the hook bend
17. Cut surplus
18. Prepare two silver phesant body feathers by removing the webby part
19. Strip barbs on both sides to a length as the tinsel body
20. Put the feathers together curves out
21. Remove the lower front barbs on half of each feather
22. Tie in one feather on each side of the body slanting slightly downwards
23. Prepare two narrow strips of orange swan or goose
24. Remember that the right side strip goes on the left side of the fly
25. Massage the strips to a soft arc
26. Saddle the cheeks with the strips by pinching the strips over the hook shank and tightning the thread down over the wings. The wings should be long enough to reach a point above the hook bend
27. Secure the wings with a few tight turns in front of the first one
28. Form a head, whip finish and varnish