Dry fly hackle Grizzly hackle (One small feather sized for an #18-22)
How to tie it
Lay a base of red thread back to the start of the bend.
Pull four or five mallard flank fibres from the side of a feather and tie them in as a tail about one body-length long, angled very slightly down so the tail rides in the surface film; trim the excess.
Stack six or seven deer hair fibres. Tie them in with the tips pointing forward out over the eye, holding them on top of the shank so they do not spin. Check the length first by imagining them folded back, and shorten if they would overhang the tail. Bind the butts back toward the tail, then trim.
Wind the red thread forward to build a slim tapered body, flattening the thread as you go.
Grip the deer hair tips (taking care not to catch the mallard tail) and fold them back over the top of the body, setting them with a loose wrap first to check they are centred on top, then a medium wrap and finally tight wraps. Trim any stray fibre out of the fold.
Widen that tie-down into a small thread base without disturbing the deer hair, so you have somewhere to seat the hackle.
Strip a few millimetres off the grizzly hackle and tie it in on that base leaving about a millimetre of bare stem, then trim the butt.
Wind three or four turns of hackle with hackle pliers, tie it off behind the deer hair fold and snip the excess without cutting the hackle fibres.
Push any forward-facing fibres back, whip finish with three or four turns on that base, and if you want cement, apply it with a bodkin between the deer hair and the hackle.