Bodkin / Patterns

Black Demon

Streamer · Salmon/Steelhead · Steelhead · Salmon · Advanced · 3 versions

Savage Flies dressing

  • Hook Salmon, 4-8
  • Thread Black

Materials

  • Tail Golden pheasant crest feather
  • Body Black floss
  • Rib Silver tinsel
  • Throat Orange hackle
  • Wing Black bucktail
  • Eyes Jungle cock (optional)

How to tie it

  1. Start the black thread just behind the eye's return on a size 4 single salmon hook and run it back to the start of the bend.
  2. Tag: catch in the silver tinsel with the silver side toward the hook using one wrap, then take the thread rearward the length you want the tag to be. Park three big open wraps forward out of the way, wrap the tinsel back in touching turns with no gaps, unwind those three wraps, and tie the tag off where the thread now hangs; add one more locking wrap and snip.
  3. Catch the silver tinsel in again just ahead of the tag, silver side toward the hook and slightly on the near side of the shank, so it stays clear of the tail tie-in. This is the rib.
  4. Tail: lay a single golden pheasant crest feather on top, take two loose wraps, set its curve and angle, then secure. Take open wraps forward over the butts so the underbody is smooth.
  5. Body: catch in a long length of black floss at the front of the shank, wrap it back to the tail and forward again for two layers that bury the tinsel and the yellow crest butts; tie off at the front.
  6. Rib: spiral the silver tinsel forward in open, evenly spaced turns; tie off with two wraps, fold the tag back, and take two more.
  7. Throat: invert the hook, pull two small clumps of orange hackle fibres, move the thread slightly forward so the head stays small, and catch them in under the shank with a pinch wrap. Check the length after two wraps, lock with another wrap or two, and snip the excess.
  8. Wing: stack a good-sized tuft of black bucktail (the wing is beefy). Spin the thread clockwise to cord it so the first wrap bites tight, go straight into tight wraps, then take a wrap under the butts and back over them to cinch the bucktail on top so it lies neither flat nor propped up.
  9. Snip the bucktail butts in stages until they are short enough to bury. Add a jungle cock eye on each side, set slightly high, with a couple of tight wraps before snipping the front ends.
  10. Build a big salmon-streamer-style thread head, whip finish, clean up any trapped throat fibres, and finish with a drop of UV resin.

Other versions

2 more in the app: Tyer Recipe, Global FlyFisher Recipe.

Tying videos

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