Bodkin / Patterns

Dark Silverhorns

Wet Fly · Trout · Intermediate · 1 version

Classic Recipe

  • Hook wet fly / spider hook, down-eye, 14
  • Thread black 8/0

Materials

  • Silk body Black silk No. 9 (full length of shank)
  • Dubbing Mole's fur, very sparse (pinch)
  • Rib Olive silk (3-4 open turns)
  • Wing Slip from a waterhen primary quill, tied 'penthouse' fashion (1 slim slip)

How to tie it

  1. Run the black silk from behind the eye to above the barb, then forward two-thirds.
  2. Twist a very sparse pinch of mole's fur onto the silk and wind a slim dark body over the rear two-thirds of the shank.
  3. Spiral the olive silk forward in 3-4 evenly spaced turns to rib the dark body, then tie off.
  4. Tie a slim slip of dark waterhen primary low and tent-shaped over the body ('penthouse' fashion), extending past the bend for the long antennae, and secure.
  5. Build a small black head, whip finish and varnish.

Tying videos

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