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In the words of Hugh Falkus, "Of
all hair-wing salmon flies for late spring and summer fishing with
floating line, the simple Stoat's Tail is one of the best we have."
This fly has been around for a long time and has in all probability
accounted for more salmon than any other fly, particularly if we
take into account its many variants. Some have an orange hackle, as
in the Thunder Stoat and Stinchar Stoat; some a touch of blue, as in
the Sweep; others sport a tinsel body, as in the Silver Stoat and
Black Brahan; the addition of a yellow hackle gives us the
Tosh. All can be relied on in a wide variety of conditions and most
salmon fly boxes would contain one or two variants, according to
preference and experience.
The Stoat's Tail Salmon Fly
Materials
hook:
Single, double, treble or tube
tag: Oval silver tinsel
tail:
Golden pheasant crest
body: Black
floss silk with medium oval tinsel rib.
wing:
Stoat's Tail
hackle:
Black cock hackle
head:
Black thread and varnish
Step 1
- Wind a bed of thread towards the tail and tie in a few turns of
oval silver tinsel.
Step 2
- Tie in a tail of golden pheasant crest feather.
Step 3
- wind thread to starting point, tie in black floss and wind to tail
and back. Overwind with oval silver tinsel.
Step 4 - Tie in a few
turns of black cock hackle.
Step 5 - Tie in a wing of
stoat's tail, form a neat head and varnish with two or three coats
of Cellire No. 1
The Stoat's Tail may be dressed
on singles, doubles, trebles or tubes. Just two of the many variants
are shown below, the Silver Stoat, excellent for sea trout as well
as salmon, and the Tosh.
The Silver Stoat
The Tosh
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