Pitcroy Fancy

Pitcroy Fancy (variant).

An old photo I found when digging through the collection and thought it would be a good pattern to share. The Pitcroy Fancy is pretty simple yet elegant fly and a good alternative for a Silver Doctor when you are looking for something a bit more subtle.

Looking back on this fly there are couple things I’d change especially if I was going to fish this fly. First and foremost a fragile heron(or B.E.P.) hackle on a flat silver body is a recipe for disaster and I would counterwind the hackle and then cross over with the rib to make it more durable. Another thing that I would change is a longer guinea hackle for the throat, don’t know what I was trying to achieve with that short hackle but a slightly longer one would work much better.

Here’s the pattern as described in George Kelson’s The Salmon Fly where the pattern is attributed to Turnbull. I’ve changed the wing slightly by omitting the tippet and using a regular brown mottled Turkey for the main wing.

Tag: Silver tinsel.
Tail: A topping and strands of tippet.
Butt: Scarlet wool.
Body: Silver tinsel.
Ribs: Silver tinsel (oval).
Hackle: Grey Heron, from centre (sub Blue Eared Pheasant).
Throat: Gallina.
Wings: Tippet (large strands), light mottled Turkey, Pintail, Mallard, and a topping.
Sides: Jungle Cock.
Head: Scarlet wool.