Partridge and Copper

[Chuck Morris]

A very simple, but effective soft hackle pattern.
Hook: Standard or 1xl nymph #10-20
Thread: UTC 70 Brown
Body: Copper wire
Thorax: Optional - Small ball of dubbed Hare's Ear
Hackle: Partridge ( I tie this a little thicker than is normal ) (More turns of hackle)
Chuck
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v235/sirrom/DSC04562.jpg

[rainbowlover]

good looking fly. tied up a couple and really are easy to tie:)

[Buck Henry]

Nice tie Chuck. I have tied that one myself and fished it with great results. I like to tie it with a darker brown Scottish Grouse hackle.

[fishnpreacher]

Can also be tied with different colors of copper wire for different looks. :rolleyes:
Chuck, what size wire do you use? I'm guessing small?

[Chuck Morris]

Bill,
I use whatever size looks best to me. This is a #14 and the size wire is small. I also use x-small on smaller sizes and I have some super fine wire that I got out of a old clock, that is so fine I have to careful or I'll break it.
It's more fragile than 8/0 thread. Tied some Sawyer's Pheasant Tails (using wire as the tying thread) with this wire and the language was not fit for a Sunday morning, nor any day!:o
And yes, different colors, different looks. Copper looks real good when tied with an English Woodcock soft hackle feather, as does red wire.
Try olive wire with an olive partridge soft hackle feather.
I guess what I'm saying is, that this is a representative fly of a style incorporating wire and hackle.:)
Here's a Copper and Woodcock utilizing the clock wire, a dubbed thorax and a woodcock hackle tied on a #18 Mustad 7957B.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v235/sirrom/DSC04573.jpg
Chuck

[fishnpreacher]

One other question, when you use wire that small, and/or tying a tapered wire body, do you use just the wire or do you build a thread "underbody" to get the tapered look? I've tried tying copper johns and just can't seem to get the tapered body to look right. The trout don't seem to care, but they could look better. :yawn:

[Chuck Morris]

On the above flies, I used thread to cover and slightly build up an underbody. I use UTC 70, and if you spin it counterclockwise, it will flatten out and can be used just like floss. On Copper John's, I use un-waxed dental floss to build a tapered underbody (or bead thread from Wal-Mart{it's a thinner floss type thread}).If I'm tying small Copper John's (#16 and smaller) I will just use thread.
Hope this helps
Chuck
Hint: Unwaxed dental floss and the Wal-Mart bead thread are pretty stiff right off the spool, so I take the piece of floss and pull it, under pressure, over the back edge of my scissors to soften the fibers. This makes it lie flatter on the hook, and easier to control the taper.