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Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Skater of the Month - March 2016: Royal Green




Royal Green Little Wang


Ok, here we go again...
Yet another color combo on my foam skater pattern. I had tried using green floss for the body on the #10 trout skaters I had been tying to imitate the McKenzie Green Caddis. I thought to use peacock herl for the thorax and then realized I had some midge sized purple cactus chenielle laying around that I could use instead. I'd never tried tying a fly using green and purple before and as I looked at the finished fly, I realized that I really liked the result of my "accidental" color blend.

I bought some larger medium sized purple cactus chenielle and tied some larger steelhead sized purple/green skaters on #6 1xl Nymph hooks (Mustad 3906B equivalent) and the fly pictured above is the result.

 I'm sure there are many fly patterns using purple and green, I've probably just been slow on the uptake.

For those interested, here's the material list for this particular fly:

Hook: #6 Mustad 3906B or equivalent - a 1xl nynmph hook, sproat bend.
Tail: Moose body
thread, rear: white 3/0
rib: med copper wire
body: bright green uni floss, separate into single strands (it's made up of two strands that come apart by unwinding a bit)
shellback/lip: tan 2mm foam
thorax: med purple cactus chenielle
thread, front half: 140 denier gelspun
wing: natural cow elk
rear facing post: yellow 2mm foam with V cut into one side
front post: orange 2mm foam

Since this is a smaller more natural fly, I didn't add any flash to the tail or behind the wing. Folks can refer to the SBS elsewhere on my blog for help in tying this one.