Partridge and Orange
Description
Partridge and Orange is a traditional North Country spider that suggests small emerging mayflies, drowned midges, and other slim-bodied trout food in riffles and soft seams. The pattern is built from orange silk and a sparse turn of partridge, so proportion matters more than material count: keep the body thin and let the hackle breathe in the current.
Materials
- hackle: Hungarian Partridge Hackle
- thread and body: Orange Silk Thread
- hook: Standard Wet Fly Hook
Tying Instructions
- 1.
Secure the hook in the vise with the shank level and leave enough room behind the eye for a small head.
- 2.
Start the orange silk one eye length behind the eye and wrap rearward in touching turns.
- 3.
Stop the silk just above the hook point to keep the body short and slim.
- 4.
Wrap the silk forward to the starting point in smooth touching turns, using light tension to avoid building bulk.
- 5.
Select a small partridge feather with fibers about one to one and a half times the hook gap.
- 6.
Strip the fluffy fibers from the base and stroke the remaining fibers back from the tip.
- 7.
Tie in the partridge feather by the tip at the front of the body with the concave side facing the hook.
- 8.
Make one to two sparse turns of partridge hackle, sweeping the fibers rearward as you wrap.
- 9.
Tie off the hackle stem cleanly and trim the waste close.
- 10.
Build a very small orange silk head without crowding the eye.
- 11.
Whip finish and apply a tiny drop of head cement.