Hungarian partridge (hackle) Natural partridge (The smallest feather you can find; one and a half to two turns)
Head cement Clear head cement (A drop)
How to tie it
Put seven or eight wraps of.015 lead wire on the middle of the shank. Start black thread and build a small dam behind the wire, push it back into position over the middle of the shank, and thread-ramp both the front and the rear of the wraps so there is no step for the herl to fall off.
Take the thread to the rear and tie in a single strand of blue Krystal Flash (or blue mylar tinsel) at the point where the body will begin, then snip the excess.
Tie in two strands of peacock herl at the rear, leaving the butts long up front so you can just grab and break them off later, and check that the drop-off at the rear is smooth. Leave the thread hanging in the middle of the body: it keeps the herl strands from spreading as you wrap.
Wrap the peacock herl forward over the weight to just in front of it, leaving room for the hackle. Take two wraps to catch it off and break the herl butts, then add a couple of extra wraps to lock it in.
Counter-wrap the blue rib forward in about four turns, spun flat rather than corded so it lies as a ribbon, giving just a hint of blue under the peacock. Tie it off, fold the tag back and put a couple of wraps on it before snipping, since the flash is stretchy.
Prepare the smallest Hungarian partridge feather you have, create a tie-in point and catch it in with two wraps; take a couple of extra securing wraps and snip the stem close. Be gentle: the stem is thin where you tie it in and snaps easily.
Take one and a half to two turns of partridge as a collar, then catch off and cut the stem as close as you can to avoid a nub.
Pull the hackle fibers back so they sweep rearward rather than sticking out like a spider, take wraps to hold them back, whip finish, and pluck out a few fibers if you have too much hackle.