Black Pennell
Wet Fly
Tied By Christian Andrews
Hook: #12 – 14 wet / nymph
Thread: black
Materials- tail: Golden Pheasant tippet rib: silver wire body: black thread front hackle: stiff black (but it’s a wet fly) 2x gape
Notes:
Mary Orvis Marbury has the brown, green, and yellow pennell illustrated by her father Charles Orvis in her book Favorite Flies and Their Histories (1892). It is possible she did not include the Black Pennell because H. Cholmondeley-Pennell himself said the best colors (or maybe that’s “colours”) to fish are brown, green, and yellow.
Notes:
The body is firm and slim, just thread wraps.
The front hackle is sparse, per Cholmondeley-Pennell’s description, slightly longer to 2x the hook gape.
The fly can be tied in the colors he preferred: brown, green, and yellow. Per the illustrations by both H. Cholmondeley-Pennell and Charles Orvis, the tail, body, and hackle on these are the named color. There is no rib in the illustrations.