CB - I've kind of come to the same conclusion about them looking pretty much the same. It's great because I'm not worrying about the exact match for every situation. I can pick something reasonably close. So much less stress!
I'm interested in whether it looks the same with the CDC on first, then the hackle. I'm thinking it'll look like a shuck with legs emerging from it. Is it just a thread body with the two hackles? It has an amazing golden glow to it.Vicki
To answer your question, that's a Pearsall's black thread body with a little yellow Possum inserted, becoming thicker toward the ginger seal thorax. (Actually, the "purpose" of this fly was an experiment to find out what amount/kind/colors of dubbing would "pop" against a dark thread-base the way Ray's Conover Muskrat fly does.) As you can tell from my earlier comment, this doesn't appear to be it. 
