282 
FOREST AND 
STREAM 
May, 1918 
CONSTRUCTING THE BEST TROUT FLIES 
FEATHERS, SILK AND TINSEL—IN FACT EVERYTHING REQUIRED TO TIE THE 
PERFECT FLY IS HERE DESCRIBED IN ACCURATE DETAIL BY A MASTER OF THE ART 
By GEORGE PARKER HOLDEN, M.D. 
T HIS paper includes 
a list of some 
seventy-five o f 
the most successful ar¬ 
tificial trout-flies, and a 
description of their ac¬ 
cepted patterns. It is a 
good plan to obtain at 
the beginning high- 
grade samples to serve 
as models for the re¬ 
production of the exact 
colorations; later, you 
will be getting your 
color indication from 
the real insects. It 
will be seen, after look¬ 
ing over this list, that 
Dr. Gove is about right 
in saying that these 
eighteen shades are 
most characteristic of 
trout insect food, and 
that you will note that 
most of them are not 
decided colors: dark 
red, ginger dun, claret, 
yellow', gray, orange, 
black, olive, purple, red 
brown, amber red, 
green brown, lead 
color, yellow dun, mul¬ 
berry, white, yellow 
green, and blue. You 
may also note that the 
above shades may be 
well represented in 
comparatively but few 
sterling fly patterns, as 
in Black Gnat, Beaver- 
kill, Cahill, Coachman, 
Cowdung, the duns in¬ 
cluding Whirling Dun 
and Hare’s Ear, Queen 
and King of the Water, 
the drakes including 
March Brown, Bluebot¬ 
tle, Montreal, Red ftS 
Spinner. 
Patterns of the Best Trout Flies. 
(Note: “Brown” hackle means a dark 
chestnut; “red” hackle means a foxy red 
and not scarlet.) 
Abbey: Wings, gray mottled (wid¬ 
geon) ; Body, red ribbed with gold tinsel; 
Legs, brown hackle; Tail, orange and black 
barred (golden pheasant hackle or breast.) 
Alder: Wings, dark brown mottled 
(turkey) ; Body (corpulent, or moth), 
green (peacock) herl; Legs, black hackle. 
Black Ant: Wings, slate or black; 
Body, black silk with ball of black herl at 
head; Legs, black hackle. 
Red Ant (two patterns) : Wings, gray; 
Body, front half red silk, posterior half 
brown herl; Legs, red hackle. Or with 
Body, red with green (peacock) herl tip; 
Legs, brown hackle. 
Bee (various patterns) : Wings, brown 
tipped with black (end of brown turkey 
tail-feather), or black; Body, alternate 
The accompanying illustration is a small reproduc¬ 
tion of the April Forest and Stream cover, which 
displayed these flies full size and in their exact color¬ 
ations. The flies are here numbered for reference 
and the name of each fly will be found under the 
same number in the table on the opposite page, 
placed in relative position for easy comparison 
rings of black (ostrich) herl and yellow; 
Legs, brown hackle or yellow. Or Wings, 
same; Body, brown herl ribbed with gold 
tinsel; Legs, black hackle. Or Wings, 
gray mottled; Body, yellow and black che¬ 
nille in alternate rings; Legs, red hackle. 
Or Wings, blue heron; Body, same as 
above; Legs, brown hackle. Or Wings, 
dark brown; Body, yellow ribbed with 
green (peacock) herl; Legs, brown hackle. 
Beaverkill (two patterns) : Wings, lead 
(blue heron); Body, white silk; Legs, 
brown hackle wound entire length of body; 
Tail, gray mottled (mallard). With Wings, 
same; Body, green gray tipped with yellow 
call to represent eggs; Legs, brown hackle; 
Tail, gray mottled (mallard) ; this pattern 
called Female, or Lady, Beaverkill. 
Black Gnat (Hackle, Spider) : Wings, 
lead, black or brown; Body, black ostrich; 
Legs, none except when tied on larger than 
number io hooks, when the pattern is 
( called Black Hackle, 
and is sometimes 
dressed palmer; dressed 
with very long black 
hackle, it is called Black 
Spider (wingless). (A 
very taking tiny pattern 
of the Black Gnat is 
tied with pike-scale 
wings laid flat on the 
hook.) 
Bluebottle (diversi¬ 
fied) : Wings, black or 
gray: Body, dark blue 
chenille ribbed with 
black silk or gold tin¬ 
sel, or of steel blue silk 
with white tip; Legs, 
black or dark gray 
hackle. 
Brown Drake (see 
March Brown) : \\ ings, 
golden yellow brown; 
Body and Legs, same; 
Tail, dark brown. 
Gray Drake (three 
patterns) : Wings, gray 
mottled (mallard); 
Body, white ribbed 
with black; Legs, gray 
hackle; Tail, gray mot¬ 
tled or black hackle or 
n o n e. Or W ings, 
brown; Body, dark 
gray : Legs, gray mot¬ 
tled hackle; Tail, 
brown. Or W ings, 
purple mottled; Body, 
white ribbed with silver 
tinsel and tipped with 
green (peacock) herl; 
Legs, purple mottled 
hackle; Tail, gray. 
Green Drake (di¬ 
versified— see May¬ 
fly) : Wings, yellow 
green mottled; Body, 
white ribbed with black 
or blue silk; Legs, yel¬ 
low green or brown hackle; Tail, gray mot¬ 
tled. Or Wings, brown mottled; Body, 
white ribbed with blue; Legs, brown hackle; 
Tail, gray mottled. Or with Body, white 
and brown mottled with posterior half 
ribbed with black, green or yellow; and 
Tail, dark brown. 
Brown Hen (Governor) : Wings, dark 
brown mottled (turkey) ; Body, green (pea¬ 
cock) herl tipped with short red silk tag; 
Legs, brown hackle; without the wings, this 
pattern called Red Tag. 
Brown Hackle (or Palmer) — (seven 
patterns) : Body, brown (ostrich) or green 
(peacock) herl; Legs, brown hackle: with 
the hackle wound whole length of body, 
this pattern called Brown Palmer. With 
the Body (corpulent), green herl ribbed 
with gold tinsel; Legs, brown hackle tied 
very bushy; the pattern is called Marlow 
Buzz, or Cochy Bonddu ( Coch-y-bon-dhu)■ 
With the Body, red silk or red ribbed with 
