Dry Fly Patterns: Greenwell's Variant

CFFC INAUGURAL FLY SWAP


Greenwell's Variant Tied by Bryan Martin	Materials
	Hook: Type: dry fly. I prefer an up-eye although a down-eye could be used. Size: 14-18 Silk Primrose Yellow Body: Yellow silk, over Lureflash PFY2 Gold wire Thorax: see notes Hackle: Greenwells, or light brown/ginger hackle. Wing: Polypropylene floating yarn, Lureflash PFY2, colour grey. Tail: long fibres from Greenwells hackle (see notes).

Greenwell's Variant

Tied by Bryan Martin

Materials

Hook:

Type: dry fly. I prefer an up-eye although a down-eye could be used.
Size: 14-18

Silk

Primrose Yellow

Body:

Yellow silk, over Lureflash PFY2

Gold wire

Thorax:

see notes

Hackle:

Greenwells, or light brown/ginger hackle.

Wing:

Polypropylene floating yarn, Lureflash PFY2, colour grey.

Tail:

long fibres from Greenwells hackle (see notes).

Tier's Comments:

Wax the tying silk and lock with about 3 touching turns starting about 1 mm behind the hook eye.
Cut a 25 mm length of the polypropylene yarn and lay along the length of the hook with about equal amounts either side of the silk.
Tie in the yarn by continuing the silk in touching turns towards the hook bend.
Ensure the yarn stays on top of the hook and does not revolve as it is tied in.
When the yarn is secure, cut the end just short of the hook bend, cutting at an angle to produce a tapered body.
Continue the tying silk to cover the yarn, stopping just before the hook bend.
Tie in the tail whisks, length to be about the same as the hook length.
Tie in the gold wire and return the silk in touching turns to just short of the yarn wing.
Take about 3 turns of the wire, winding in the opposite direction to the silk, to finish just behind the wing. Tie the wire in with the silk, taking the silk in front of the wing to make the wing stand upright. Then take one turn of the silk to bring it behind the wing again. Trim off the wire end.
Select a good quality hackle with fibres just a fraction longer than the width of the hook bend. Strip off any flue at the stem end and tie the stem end in with a couple of turns of the tying silk behind the wing.
Wind the silk forward in front of wing, securing the hackle stem with a couple of turns and then trim off the hackle stem.
Wind 3 turns of the hackle behind the wing and then take 2 turns in front of the wing. Ensure the wing does not rotate but stays on top of the hook.
Tie off the hackle and complete with a whip finish. Catch hold of the end of the wing and cut off to same length as hackle fibres.
Trim off any hackle fibres that may have got trapped when finishing and then varnish the head with clear varnish.
Tip: The wing can be kept under control while tying the fly by wetting with the fingers to keep it together. If you don't do this the fibres will splay out and be difficult to keep at the top of the hook and also difficult to trim to length. Once the fly is completed and the wing trimmed to length, it should be encouraged to splay out to produce the required wing shape.

After completing the fly, colour bottom of thorax with a fine tipped permanent black marker pen. Same applies to tail whisks, colour about 2 mm of whisks at hook end.

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