Bodkin / Patterns

Gartside Pheasant Hopper

Terrestrial · Dry Fly · Trout · Smallmouth Bass · Largemouth Bass · Panfish · Intermediate · 1 version

Gartside Original

  • Hook Standard dry-fly / 2XL hopper hook, 6-10
  • Thread Yellow or tan 6/0

Materials

  • Body Yellow/gold material (Yellow dubbing or poly yarn)
  • Rib Brown permanent marker (One brown hackle, palmered and trimmed (optional))
  • Wing Mottled pectoral fins (One ringneck pheasant "church window" body feather, lacquered)
  • Head/Collar Natural deer (Spun deer hair, trimmed)

How to tie it

  1. Start thread at the bend and dub or wind a slim yellow body forward to about the 70% point.
  2. If ribbing, palmer a brown hackle over the body and trim it close top and bottom, leaving short leg stubble on the sides.
  3. Select a mottled ringneck pheasant church-window body feather, coat it with flexible cement or head cement and let it set, then trim it to a rounded wing shape.
  4. Tie the lacquered feather in flat over the body as a tent-style wing, extending just past the bend.
  5. Spin a small clump of natural deer hair in front of the wing; whip finish behind the eye first if needed.
  6. Trim the spun deer hair to a small squared head, leaving a few tips swept back as a collar over the wing.
  7. Whip finish at the eye and add a drop of cement.

Tying videos

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