Archive: Fly Pattern Plate #2

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Archive Fly Pattern Plate #2 (Classic Steelhead Flies)

A sampling of traditional, classic steelhead wet flies of the 20th century are shown in fly plates illuminating this fly plate. These flies are from the vise of master fly dresser Dave McNeese of Springfield, Oregon. If you have my latest book, then you have come to know  Dave in Chapter 17. Suffice to say here, the man is simply incapable of tying an ugly, chunky, unruly fly, the everyday likes of which many of us fished happily back in the day when the Beatles topped the charts.

 Please understand that, when you gaze at McNeese’s lovely iterations of such standards as the Purple Peril or the Silver Hilton, before the modern era, no one fished flies of such elegant refinement—save for the wizard Syd Glasso, fishing alone on the Sol Duc on a wintergreen day, hoping for a fresh December fish.

 In typical McNeese fashion, he has imbued these traditional patterns with an exotic flourish—fluorescent white polar bear instead of white bucktail, for example. For the first fly, the Purple Peril, McNeese calls for “fiery brown polar bear,” or brown bucktail. The polar bear in the color specified would be all but impossible to obtain unless ordering directly from McNeese.

Polar bear is legal for Americans to use in fly tying if the person selling the dyed polar bear can document that the animal was killed prior to 1972 and the passage of the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Seal is legal to use in Canada, but not in the U.S. American tiers may use some illegal connection to secure the material. But even Canadians find cheaper organic substitutes such as Angora goat. There are also synthetic products that so resemble genuine seal that tiers can be confident that steelhead won’t be put off by the difference.

 Dave offers the alternate to the original because he believes the changes make for a fly more attractive to steelhead and not based solely on aesthetics. I should add that Dave doesn’t need more business.  For as long as I’ve known him—some 40 years—he’s been custom dyeing organic materials for flies from the classic American steelhead bucktail to the most complex of Victorian salmon flies.

Classic Steelhead Flies - Plate 1 of 2

Purple Peril (George McLeod)

Tag: Flat silver tinsel. Tail: Dyed fluorescent purple golden pheasant crest. Body: luorescent purple seal or like synthetic dubbing. Rib: Medium oval silver tinsel. Hackle: Deep fluorescent purple. Wing: Dyed fluorescent fiery brown polar bear or brown bucktail. Cheeks: Jungle cock. Head: Black.

Silver Hilton (Henry Hilton)

Tag: Fine flat silver tinsel. Tail: Mallard, teal or pintail flank. Body: Black seal or substitute. Rib: Medium oval silver tinsel. Hackle: Grizzly. Wing: Two matching pairs of grizzly hackle tips tied back to back and flaring out to form a V. Head: Black.

Al’s Special (Al Knudsen)

Tail: Red hackle fibers. Body: Yellow chenille ribbed with silver tinsel. Hackle: Red. Wing: White bucktail.

Brad’s Brat (Enos Bradner)

Tag: Fine flat silver or gold tinsel, Tail: Fluorescent, hot orange over white. Body: Dubbing, rear half hot orange, front half red. Ribbing: Oval silver or gold tinsel. Hackle: Long, brown widgeon flank. Cheeks: Jungle cock. Head: Red.

Thor (Jim Pray)

Tag: Fine flat silver tinsel. Tail: Golden pheasant crest dyed red. Body: Red, seal or substitute organic or synthetic. Hackle: Long, brown or substitute widgeon flank. Wing: Fluorescent, white polar bear or bucktail. Cheeks: Jungle cock. Head: Black.

Drain’s 20 (Wes Drain)

Note: Use Danville 6/0 thread so the body won’t discolor the floss. Tie off after the hackle and complete head with black thread. Tag: Fine flat silver tinsel. Tail: Golden pheasant tippets topped with two toucan feather half tail length. Body: Fluorescent red floss (cerise). Rib: Medium flat silver tinsel. Hackle: Bright fluorescent purple. Underwing: Red cock of the rock feather tied flat extending to floss butt, over cerise body only. Wing: Gray squirrel tail. Cheeks: Jungle cock. Head: Black.

Black Diamond (Harry Lemire)

Tag: Fine flat silver tinsel. Body: Black floss or seal or synthetic dubbing. Rib: Medium oval silver tinsel. Hackle: Guinea rump feather tied under like a beard. Underwing: Gray squirrel tail, four peacock sword fibers over. Wing: Guinea rump feathers tied flat. Wing: Guinea rump fibers tied flat. Cheeks: Jungle cock. Head: Black.

Kalama Special (Mike Kennedy)

Tag: Fine flat silver tinsel. Tail: Golden pheasant crest dyed red. Body: Hot yellow, seal or substitute. Hackle: Badger, palmer up the body. Wing: Fluorescent white, polar bear, bucktail, or synthetic fur. Head: Black.

 Download Information: Fly Pattern Plate #1 is a high-resolution archival plate. Each plate includes a white border and is suitable for high-quality printing and framing. Dimensions: 20” (width) x 16” (height) at 300 DPI. The file is in CMYK format. Click the button below to automatically download the high-resolution image.