Hook Alec Jackson spey/steelhead hook, barb pinched, #5 (low-water style)
Thread Black
Materials
Mylar tinsel (tag and rib) Silver (gold on the reverse side) (One strand, used for both)
Golden pheasant crest, dyed (tail) Red golden pheasant crest dyed (One crest)
Thin chenille (body) Black chenille (A short length)
Saddle hackle Fluorescent purple saddle hackle (One feather, two or three turns)
Golden pheasant body feather, dyed (wing) Black pheasant tail fibers (One feather, tied flat over the top)
How to tie it
Pinch the barb, mount the hook and start the thread with a jam knot, trimming the tag.
Tie in the mylar tinsel silver-side-down along the shank and wind the thread back to a point above the barb.
Wrap the tinsel back to form a tag about a quarter inch long, keeping firm tension throughout (it springs away if you let it go slack), lock it with one wrap and leave the tinsel hanging. It becomes the rib.
Tie in a red-dyed golden pheasant crest as a tail, about as long as the hook bend, and shorten it if it looks too long.
Tie in thin black chenille and wrap a small, compact body forward to where the up-turned eye begins.
Counter-wrap the mylar over the body in evenly spaced turns, pushing each wrap down into the chenille so the rib is protected. This is the spot where the fly fails when a steelhead's teeth catch it. Tie off and trim.
Tie in a fluorescent purple saddle hackle, wet your fingers and fold the barbs back as you take two or three turns, then tie off and clip the stem.
Take a black-dyed golden pheasant body feather, push its tip through the hook eye from the front, lay it flat along the top of the shank and pull it back through so it locks in as a low, durable wing.
Build a head in the deliberately long space left behind the eye, whip finish and cement.