Step by Step tying of a Mallard and Silver Sea Trout
Fly
by John Gray
The Mallard and Silver is one of the
simplest, and, in my experience, most effective of all
single hooked sea trout flies. It can be dressed
conventionally with a silver tinsel body or, as here, on a
hook with a bright silver of nickel silver finish. For a fly
intended for use during the hours of darkness, the hackle
colour is of little importance, as sea trout can no more
distinguish colour at night than we can. I have used here a
brown hen hackle.
Hook: Partridge Saltwater Perfect size 8 (black
nickel finish)
Hackle: brown hen
wing: bronze mallard shoulder feather
Step 1 - Having secured your hook in the vice and tied in
your hackle, select a bronze mallard feather of appropriate
size. I am tying here on a size 8 hook, so I have selected a
fairly large feather .....
Step 2 - Select a section about half an inch in width. The
most suitable and easily worked fibres, i.e. of similar
length, are usually found towards the tip of the feather
.....
Step 3 - Isolate a section of the required width, grip
firmly between thumb and forefinger and cut it off near the
feather stem. This will give a section like this .....
Step 4 - Fold the feather section in two, with the duller,
darker side outermost .....
Step 5 - Fold the section again .....
Step 5 - Tie in by the normal pinch and loop method. Once
the wing is secured, be careful not to wind additional turns
backwards over the wing. In finishing the fly, wind only
towards the hook eye .....
Step 7 - Form a neat head and apply two coats of Cellire No.
1 varnish .....
For more information on Salmon, Trout and Sea
Trout Flies, see
Trout and Salmon Flies |
