The Switcher
I tied this fly in hand about a month ago but hadn’t got a chance to photograph it earlier. I think it’s a fine looking salmon fly pattern that’s rarely used today. Even the color combination is a bit odd when you compare it to modern salmon flies but I can’t see why it wouldn’t work just as good. The blue I used is maybe a bit too “royal” for a classic pattern but that was the best dark blue I had because I wanted to have the dubbing and hackle the same color and don’t have hackles to match my more periodically correct dark blue dubbings.
I tied the whole wing in together, both sides and all of the strips including the Mallard. Just stacked them over each other and moistened the tying point before mounting. Worked out all right, maybe I would’ve wanted the wing to fan out slightly more but on the other hand I like the streamlined look. After the wing I freaked out because I noticed I had to do a collar after the wing and wasn’t prepared for it. Forgot to put the horns in the middle because of the shock 🙂
Here’s the pattern from Frederik Tolfrey’s Jones’s Guide to Norway
Tail: Golden Pheasant.
Tip: Gold twist, orange silk and black Ostrich.
Body: Dark-blue Pig’s wool.
Ribbed: Silver tinsel and gold twist.
Throat: Orange hackle.
Wing: (Mixed) Mallard, Teal, Bustard, Golden Pheasant tail and Peacock. Blue hackle over all.
Horns: Blue and Red Macaw.
Head: Black
