Bodkin / Patterns

Golden Darter

Streamer · Trout · Advanced · 2 versions

Savage Flies dressing

  • Hook streamer, 6-10
  • Thread White, then black to finish

Materials

  • Tail Mottled turkey slip
  • Rib Gold Mylar, medium
  • Body Yellow floss
  • Throat Jungle Cock feather
  • Wing Golden Badger feather
  • Cheeks Jungle Cock eyes optional

How to tie it

  1. Pinch the barb on a size 8 streamer hook and start white thread. Tail: one small slip of mottled turkey, caught in with a loose pinch wrap; if it bunches, work it back on top of the shank, then bury the butt.
  2. Bind in the medium gold Mylar just in front of the tail wraps, on top of the shank, with the gold side facing the hook so gold shows when it is wound.
  3. Advance the thread to a little forward of the middle of the shank and bind in the yellow floss (one strand takes 12-14 inches; three strands is not really easier). Snip the tag. Wrap the floss down to the tail and back up, then about halfway down and back up again, aiming for a slight cigar taper. Tie off at the front and trim any scraggly ends.
  4. Rib the Mylar forward in evenly spaced turns, gold out, and tie off at the front. Fold the tag back, take a few wraps over the fold for durability, then trim.
  5. Throat: a small jungle cock body feather bound in underneath with a couple of loose wraps. Pull it shorter until the length looks right (the fibres bunch up, which matches the book), then secure.
  6. Wing: two golden badger feathers with a good dark stripe, matched. Strip a couple of extra fibres from the underside of each so the wing lies flatter, then bind them in on top with two loose wraps and check they sit in the plane of the hook before tightening. Snip the stems and whip finish the white thread.
  7. Start black thread at the head. If using jungle cock eyes, bind them in one at a time as cheeks, then snip the excess.
  8. Build a proper big streamer head: push the wing butts back, take the thread right behind the eye, and ramp it back up with more bulk toward the rear of the head. Whip finish and add a drop of head cement.

Other versions

1 more in the app: Tyer Recipe.

Tying videos

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