FLYMPH FORUM

Native American (Flymph)
Hook: Daiichi 1550 #12 or similar
Thread: 8/0 Uni Thread-Orange
Hackle: Ruffed Grouse-Lesser Coveret
Ribbing: Fine copper wire
Body: American Pine Squirrel dubbed using the Leisenring method on Orange Uni Thread

A few weeks back, my son was out small game hunting and harvested a red pine squirrel and a Ruffed Grouse. In my opnion, a wonderful combination of "Native American" materials. The squirrel is beautifully fine and mixed between a reddish-ginger brown on top with underfur of dark blue dun. Of course the Grouse is a wonderfully mottled dark brown and reddish brown.
I've been anxious to combine these two materials to see the result (which is above). You can not tell from the pic, but there are subtle hints of the reddish fur in the body. Very pleasing!

Mark

Soft-hackle wrote:
A few weeks back, my son was out small game hunting and harvested a red pine squirrel and a Ruffed Grouse. In my opnion, a wonderful combination of "Native American" materials.
Mark

... then tie a fly, and go out and catch fish with it. Now that's living the dream! Very cool.

Andrew.

Actually I can see the hints of red quite nicely. Proud looking fly Mark, befitting the name.

Very nice pattern Mark and soo well tied. There is a style and character to your tying that is pleasing to us all. Thanks for sharing. We look forward to more! What other classic combinations are there?
Dougsden

-Very nice Mark, all your flies me delight.

Mark, your flies are always a treat to see. This is especially well tied and a nice combination of materials. This fly is a nice illustration of what I like to see in a body with the dubbing graduating from very sparce at the bend to end up as a built up thorax. With the rib that makes for a great, natural looking body. There are very nice tones in the dubbing mix and they do compliment the hackle and the silk quite well.

I can see why you tied this on a #12. I've had several friends send me ruffled grouse and its tough to find a smaller size hackle without using one of the techniques used for tying in larger hackles on smaller hooks. This came out very nice. And the daiichi 1550's and 1530's are my favorite hooks, so the proportions just look proper to me.

w

Thanks, all for the + comments.

William,
You are somewhat correct regarding the grouse, however, I've found some smaller feathers in the upper breast area and in the coverets and under coverets on the wings which might be suitable for smaller flies. Myself, I always tie the initial version of a fly such as this in size 12, UNLESS I have a particular fly in mind I'm imitating. This probably would do well in a size 14.

Mark

Simply beautiful!

Very nice contribution Mark. Tied just just like the elders of yester years would have done it. Collect it from the backyard and take it fishing.