Dark Moor Game

[tie2fish]

Next installment on my spider odyssey a la Roger Fogg is the "Dark Moor Game", so named because the hackle is from the red grouse -- often called the "moorgame" in northern England. Pritt offered the name "Freckled Dun" as an alternative to Dark Moor Game, and without stating what this pattern imitates, informs us that it is "... a goodly fly during March and April, particularly in brown water, when the river is clearing after a flood."

Hook: Daiichi 1530, #14
Thread: Pearsall's Gossamer # 19, hot orange, waxed 'til dark
Hackle: Red grouse upper covert (per Fogg, "a very dark brown feather, freckled with orange-brown, from the 'knuckle' of a red grouse's wing")
Body: Thread wraps tinged (touch dubbed) with a mix of mole fur and brown seal [as a sub for water rat]
Head: Peacock herl

This photo lost.

[letumgo]

Gosh, that's pretty! I love the warm shade of brown you achieved with the waxed thread. Excellent balance of dubbing & hackle. "Goodly" and then some!

[hankaye]

t2f, Howdy;

Mongo Like...........

hank

[willowhead]

WAY Buggy lookin'.........transition from abdomen, to thorax to head is TERIFFIC! So natural lookin'.........

[North Country Angler]

The Dark Moorgame was always traditionally called the Freckled Dun and is found in many fly lists and manuscripts that pre-date Pritt. It wasn't until the mid 1800s that it became know by a more regional name. It is listed in the manuscripts of Lister and Whitaker whose sources both pre-date Pritt. It should also be remembered that was not a fly tyer and bought his flies from local tyers. His book is based on what he read in Leeds library and through talking to others.
Rob

[tie2fish]

A very interesting and informative history lesson, NCA; thank you. I've a hunch that we're all (well, most of us anyhow) be learning a lot with you being active again.

[William Anderson]

Bill, it's always great to see an interpretation of what was intended by any one author. The blend of dubbing is nice with the brown seal blended with the mole. Especially with such a tone achieved with the wax on hot orange. Lister recorded a fly called Moor Game and Orange. Probably a close relative to flies listed by Pritt and others. He considered it a #14 stonefly imitation as far as I can tell. This would do just that, regardless of all the variations.

w