Tail Golden pheasant tippet fibres (a small even bunch)
Body Yarn, black (one strand)
Hackle Brown hen or cock (one feather, few turns)
Wing Teal flank fibres (one bunch)
How to tie it
Mount a Daiichi 2441 in size 6. Dave ties his summer steelhead flies sparse and small, so this pattern also goes on 8s and smaller without changing anything.
Start black UTC 70 and run the thread back to the rear of the shank. Put a little wax on the thread before dubbing.
Dub a small bunch of orange Polar Dub and wrap it at the very back as a butt. It does not want to be bulky, and fibres sticking out are fine. The fly gets picked out more as it is fished. There is nothing behind the butt.
Pluck a small bunch of golden pheasant tippet fibres, taking them from a little higher up rather than the base, and keep the tips fairly even.
Lay the tippet over the top of the shank as the tail, hold it with one loose wrap, then wrap over the butts to cover them and lock it down.
Wrap the thread forward and tie in a length of black yarn. If it is a four-strand yarn, pull some of the strands away first. The whole idea of this fly is a very small profile.
Wind the yarn forward to just short of the eye and tie it off. The fringe on the yarn is what gives the body life.
Strip the base of a brown hackle for an anchor and tie it in at the front. Any brown works here, and a mottled feather is fine too.
Take just a few turns of hackle. It wants to stay sparse, then stroke all the fibres back and wrap back over them so the hackle sits at about forty-five degrees, sweeping to the rear.
Cut a bunch of teal flank from the middle to upper part of the feather, avoiding the really webby stuff at the base, and even up the tips.
Set the wing with the bend of the feather curving back towards the tail, tips reaching almost to the tail but not quite, and wrap it down so it sits low over the body. Keeping the wing down is one of the keys to the fly.
Build and tidy a small head over the butts, then whip finish.