Bodkin / Patterns

Borcher's Drake

Dry Fly · Trout · Grayling · Advanced · 2 versions

As tied by Jim Misiura

  • Hook standard dry fly hook, #12 - #16
  • Thread Brown

Materials

  • Tail Pheasant tail
  • Rib Copper wire
  • Abdomen Turkey tail
  • Thorax Hendrickson Dubbing
  • Wing Post White Calf's Tail
  • Hackle Grizzly hackle

How to tie it

  1. Start light brown thread behind the eye and take it back about half way to where the wing post will go.
  2. Tie in a white calf tail wing post pointing forward, secure it, and trim the butts at an angle to make a tapered body.
  3. Take the thread back to where it would hang at the barb. Tie in three pheasant tail centre fibres as the tail, as long as the body, with a wrap behind them to separate them. Trim the excess.
  4. Tie in fine copper wire on the far side for a rib.
  5. Tie in a molted turkey tail quill (nicely molted, almost cinnamon coloured, with the dark tip removed) for the abdomen.
  6. Bring the thread up to the wing post, stand the post up and wrap in front of it.
  7. Put head cement on the body, twist the turkey into a rope, wind it forward to the post and tie it off, then trim.
  8. Counter-wrap the copper wire the opposite way to the turkey, palmer it up and tie it off in front of the wing post.
  9. Tie in a grizzly saddle hackle at the front.
  10. Dub a Hendrickson thorax, wrapped behind and in front of the post.
  11. Wrap the grizzly hackle down the wing post parachute style, tie it off at the post and trim the excess.
  12. Whip finish at the wing post, working head cement into the whip finish.

Other versions

1 more in the app: As tied by Hawkins Outfitters.

Tying videos

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