#18-2013 Parmachene Belle

Tied by: Marcelo Morales
Originated by: Henry P. Wells
Source: Streamer Fly Fishing in Fresh and Salt Water, Bates (1966) Pg. 315-316

Hook: Partridge CS15 #4
Thread: White 8/0
Tail: Equal married sections of matched left and right goose quill white / red / white half the wing length
Butt: Peacock herl
Body: Yellow wool
Rib: Gold embossed tinsel (tapered)
Throat: Mixed red and white hackle
Wing: White then red then white bucktail layered
Eye: Jungle cock nail, long
Head: Black

Notes: The Parmachene Belle can be found in many forms such as a trout fly, feather-wing streamer (#84), steelhead versions and of course the bucktail streamer. The streamer dressed as the bucktail version tied on shorter 2xl hooks is an excellent and popular fly for the West coast steelhead and salmon rivers from California to Alaska. A steelhead specific version also exists which reverses the wing colour, resulting in a red/white/red wing. Marcelo has included a big helping of his own style into this streamer. Marcelo spends a lot of time building up the under body of the streamer to create the tapered cigar shape in the body. He dubs a generous amount of dubbing over the pattered body, wraps the tapered tinsel and brushes out the dubbing. Care is also taken to select just the right bucktail and stack it into precise layers. His streamers are finished with perfect jungle cock nails and the perfectly round head Marcelo is well known for.