An Old Classic Feather Wing Streamer;

[Hardyreels]

It has been a very long time since I tied a fly to post here but I was moved to make a fly last night so...............

Cupsuptic - Originated by Herbert Welch;


Mr. Welch was an artist from Oquossoc Maine who loved fancy flies and was most well known for his Black Ghost streamer.

I provide the recipe as per the originators record.

Hook: Choice
Tail: Small bunch of yellow hackle fibers

Body: Rear 1/3 is made with a butt of peacock here then white silk and a front band of peacock. The front 2/3 red silk ribbed with flat silver tinsel. I like a little more white silk than is called for so I take that liberty.

Throat: A bunch of yellow hackle fibers

Wings: 2 bright red hackles over which are 2 bronze furnace hackles; A shoulder hackle is added with a gray or blue dunn hackle on each side 2/3 as long as your wing.

Cheeks: Jungle cock eye feather

Head: black

I photographed the finished fly with 2 different background colors so I will show how the different colors affect the look of the fly. This should help us to understand that things may look very different when in a river or creek having many colors present in the rocks and vegetation.

Do you really fish with those things? A few years ago a fellow ask me that; I live in Alaska where the fish will readily take a fly like this so the answer is yes, sooner or later every fly I tie ends up in a river.

Ard

[la_jolla1]

Breathtaking - thanks for posting it!

[caseywise]

thats quite a fly ard! gonna look sweet on your new spey rig
i love it on the dark blue background, really makes the colors pop.
what size is that hook btw?

casey

[mcnerney]

Ard: Great looking streamer as always! Interesting seeing that same fly with two different backgrounds.

Larry

[Hardyreels]

You guys are cool for telling me I can still tie

I figure the fly might actually catch a fish, I have always passed by the description and recipe in my book but had this sort of nagging question of what the thing might look like if I made one. So I did, I kinda like it and will try to tie it on and then remember to post if it works, I figure it will. As you can see I don't get too stressed over burnishing silks but you really can't tell with the naked eye, the 1:1 macro shows every detail......



---------- Post added at 06:37 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:20 PM ----------

Originally Posted by caseywise

what size is that hook btw?

Hook Size??? You know what; that hook was laying at the base of my vise and I just picked it up and clamped it in. I went to look........... I know it's a Tiemco #4 but I didn't look to the pack for the number. I do think that these and any of the feather wings should be made on the 'ball Eye' type hooks. I have used this type fly since the 70's and I really believe that the ring or ball eye ride better than the traditional down eye Mustads that I began with.

Thanks for the nice replies,

Ard

[jpbfly]

Old & Classic but beautiful...in french we say:c'est dans les vieux pots qu'on fait les meilleures confitures...think you'll understand or ask Dan to translate it

[Diver Dan]

I just ordered some more Gaelic supreme hooks for just this type of fly. They are pretty cool and are kind of fun to tie.

[s fontinalis]

Originally Posted by Diver Dan

I just ordered some more Gaelic supreme hooks for just this type of fly. They are pretty cool and are kind of fun to tie.

You might wanna order up some more of those gaelic hooks...their hook maker retired recently (and i heard yesterday he'd passed away). He was their sole producer... When they're gone, they're gone. A great pity, the entry level blind eye hooks are hard to beat and the steamer hooks became a standard for revelry style flies.

[wt bash]

Wicked man flat out wicked!

[Pocono]

Nice looking streamer, Ard!

There's something about the top-mounted wing on an Eastern style streamer that just sets if up right.

Pocono