Bodkin / Patterns

Partridge and Orange

Wet Fly · Trout · Grayling · Beginner · 1 version

Partridge and Orange fly

Classic Recipe

  • Hook Standard wet fly, 12-16
  • Thread Orange 8/0

Materials

  • Body Orange silk or floss (slender)
  • Hackle Partridge back feather (1-2 wraps)
  • Rib Fine gold wire (optional)

How to tie it

  1. Mount hook, start orange silk or thread behind the eye and wrap a slender body back to the bend and forward again. Two thin layers, no lumps. Real silk darkens translucent when wet; that's the traditional magic.
  2. Optional: 4 turns of fine gold wire rib.
  3. Select a well-marked partridge back feather, fibers about one and a half shank lengths. Tie in by the tip.
  4. Wrap 1-2 turns, no more. Sweep the fibers back so they cage the body like an umbrella blown inside-out.
  5. Tiny head, whip finish.

Substitutions

  • Body instead of Orange silk or floss: Orange thread wraps — Simplest approach; Orange dubbing (sparse) — Slightly more texture
  • Hackle instead of Partridge back feather: Hungarian partridge — Same thing, different name; Hen hackle (brown) — Softer, less mottled; Starling — Darker, very soft; Brahma hen — Natural barring

Tying videos

← All fly patterns