Black Ghost
If I had to list five most well known streamers of all time Black Ghost would no doubt be on that list. Developed by Herbert “Herb” Welch in 1927 it became quickly the go to pattern widely in the US. Herb has today been a bit overshadowed by Carrie Stevens from the same region but has an important part in development of streamer tying also. There is also Bucktail and Marabou winged versions of the pattern but I prefer the original hackle wing over those.
J. Bates’s book Streamer Fly Tying and Fishing mentions Black Ghost on multiple occasions and features photographs of the original tied by Welch himself. Bates notes the pattern to work especially well on darker hours of the day when good contrast on the fly is needed. Tying of the Black Ghost is pretty straight forward but one thing to be careful with is that you fill the bump created by the hackle with tying thread before tying in the wing so that it sets nice and low along the hook shank. You can reduce this bump by flattening the stem of the hackle with flat nose pliers before winding it to the hook.
Black Ghost
Hook: Long shanked streamer hook.
Tail: Yellow hackle fibers.
Rib: Flat Silver tinsel.
Body: Black Floss.
Hackle: Yellow.
Wing: Two pairs of white hackle feathers.
Cheeks: Jungle Cock
