FLY
Red Hackle
Red Hackle recipe
| Hook | #12 - 14 |
|---|---|
| Thread | Crimson silk (red) |
| Rib | narrow gold tinsel |
| Body | bronze peacock herl |
| Front Hackle | Red furnace |
| Head | red thread (crimson silk) |
About this fly
from Dave Hughes American Fly Tying Manual Hook: 12-14 wet hook Lay down a thread base; recipe calls for crimson silk; I used red waxed 8/0 Tie in narrow gold tinsel (if you use silver/gold, tie the silver up at the hook bend so that the gold shows when you wrap Dave Hughes says it's worth it to weed through the herl to find the bronze strands for the body; oops, I used regular; tie in three or four stands and wrap forward leaving room for the hackle and head; tie off Wrap three or four ribs over the herl with the tinsel gold side up; tie off Tie in red furnace hackle; this is a soft hackle wet fly, so the hackle is longer like that on a dry fly; two or three wraps of hackle should do it; tie off the hackle Tie in a red (crimson silk) head; whip finish; head cement
What the Red Hackle imitates
- Soft hackle / North Country spider / flymph / wet fly
Where the Red Hackle came from
- Described by Izaak Walton, 1653, England. Early printed red-bodied palmer/hackle in vault.Source: Walton & Cotton, The Complete Angler (vault edition), p.124 palmer-fly (red body variant)
- Described by Aelian, Macedonia. Third-century AD account; equating it with the Red Hackle is Marbury's reading.Source: Marbury, Favorite Flies and Their Histories (1892), pp.30-31 quoting Aelian, De Animalium Natura XV.1
- Originated by unknown, Macedonia (Astraeus river). Marbury reads Aelian's red-wool and cock-feather lure as the first recorded red hackle.Source: Marbury, Favorite Flies and Their Histories (1892), pp.28-31 'History of the Red Hackle'
Where sources tell it differently, each account is listed with its own source.
In the old books
Original dressing as pictured in Marbury, Favorite Flies and Their Histories (1892), Plate A, No. 1. The photo above is a later tie, not the original.
Inside the vault every material on this fly opens to its own card, and you can save the fly to your own boxes.
