Bodkin / Patterns

American Coachman

Wet Fly · Trout · Steelhead · Advanced · 1 version

Tyer Recipe

  • Hook 2-3x long curved-shank, #4-10
  • Thread Black 70 denier

Materials

  • Duck or goose quill slip Red duck or goose quill slip (1 thin slip (tail))
  • Mylar tinsel Flat silver, medium (1 length (rib))
  • Wool yarn Bright yellow wool yarn (1 length (body))
  • Bucktail (polar bear original) White bucktail (Sparse clump (wing))
  • Hen or soft rooster hackle Brown hen hackle (1 feather (collar))

How to tie it

  1. Lay a thread base back to where the barb would be.
  2. Cut a single long, thin slip of red duck or goose quill and tie it in on top with pinch wraps for a long tail, keeping it riding slightly up; bury the butts.
  3. Catch in medium silver tinsel (silver side toward the hook) with open wraps going back, keeping thread buildup even.
  4. Tie in yellow wool yarn near the rear; flatten the yarn by untwisting for the first wraps, letting it cord up as you go, and wrap a uniform body forward to just short of the eye; tie off and trim.
  5. Counter to the body, spiral the silver tinsel forward in about 5 fairly widely spaced turns; secure with two wraps and snip.
  6. Prepare a sparse white bucktail wing by hand-pulling the longest and shortest fibers out of a clump until it's thinned by half; tie it in on top with a pinch wrap, tips reaching about the end of the body, and snip the butts.
  7. Tie in a brown hen (or soft rooster) feather by the thick end, concave side toward the hook.
  8. Wrap the hackle 2-3 turns as a collar with hackle pliers, sweep the fibers back, and secure.
  9. Build a neat black head, whip finish, and cement.

Tying videos

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