Buck Henry
02-16-07, 05:11 PM
A few have asked for the recipe for the Starling & Purple, so here it is! As you can see, there is nothing fancy about this fly which I guess is the beauty of it.
The Starling & Purple
Hook: Daichi 1550 Size 18 wet fly hook
Thread / body: Purple Pearsall's Gossamer Silk (Single strand floss is a decent substitute, but tying with anything but gossamer silk is considered heresy! :) )
Thorax: Moleskin dubbing
Hackle: body feather from a Starling skin
Starting at the hook eye, wrap with purple gossomer silk thread back to the hook bend.
Tie in a piece of fine gold or amber colored ultra-wire for ribbing material, then advance your silk thread up towards the hook eye, being careful to maintain a single layer of thread (no overwraps if possible).
Counter-wrap the body with the wire and tie off and cast off the excess.
Dub your thread with a small amount of moleskin dubbing and wrap a small thorax.
Select an appropriate size feather from your Starling skin and stroke the hackles from the tip of the feather towards the base to fluff them out. Tie the feather in by it's tip forward of the thorax.
Wrap the starling feather 1.5 to 2 wraps for a sparse hackle collar. Be careful here, starling feathers are a bit delicate and easy to break.
Tie off with the silk thread and cast off the excess hackle. Next, gather the hackle wraps and sweep them towards the back of the fly. While holding the hackle in this position, make a few thread wraps to hold them down in this swept back position.
Whip finish the fly.
The Starling & Purple is a very effective winter midge pattern. It is best fished as a dropper off the back of a larger nymph or even a dry fly.
Enjoy!
http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u207/buck_henry/IMG_3403.jpg
The Starling & Purple
Hook: Daichi 1550 Size 18 wet fly hook
Thread / body: Purple Pearsall's Gossamer Silk (Single strand floss is a decent substitute, but tying with anything but gossamer silk is considered heresy! :) )
Thorax: Moleskin dubbing
Hackle: body feather from a Starling skin
Starting at the hook eye, wrap with purple gossomer silk thread back to the hook bend.
Tie in a piece of fine gold or amber colored ultra-wire for ribbing material, then advance your silk thread up towards the hook eye, being careful to maintain a single layer of thread (no overwraps if possible).
Counter-wrap the body with the wire and tie off and cast off the excess.
Dub your thread with a small amount of moleskin dubbing and wrap a small thorax.
Select an appropriate size feather from your Starling skin and stroke the hackles from the tip of the feather towards the base to fluff them out. Tie the feather in by it's tip forward of the thorax.
Wrap the starling feather 1.5 to 2 wraps for a sparse hackle collar. Be careful here, starling feathers are a bit delicate and easy to break.
Tie off with the silk thread and cast off the excess hackle. Next, gather the hackle wraps and sweep them towards the back of the fly. While holding the hackle in this position, make a few thread wraps to hold them down in this swept back position.
Whip finish the fly.
The Starling & Purple is a very effective winter midge pattern. It is best fished as a dropper off the back of a larger nymph or even a dry fly.
Enjoy!
http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u207/buck_henry/IMG_3403.jpg