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Septemberby Rich Johnson
Signal Light
This steelhead pattern came from the vise of Randall Kaufmann, and was
named after the signal lights on the Deshutes River. This fly aslo has developed a
spey style pattern which I am showing at the end of the photo plates. Construction
notes for the spey style are included. |
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Hook: UTE Salmon
Thread: 8/0 or 6/0, black
Lead: Optional
Rib: Oval Tinsel, Medium silver
Tail: Hackle Fibers, purple
Body: Rear 1/4-Wool, fire orange. Next 1/4-Wool, chartreuse. Front
1/2-Chenille, black
Underwing: Krystal Flash, mulberry or blue/peal/lime/wine/red
Wing: Marabou, black
Hackle: Saddle, purple.
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1. I choose to lead the front half of my fly with o.o25 lead. This will bulk up
the underbody for the chenille, and provide extra weight to get down in our Alaskan
waters. |
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2. Attach the tinsel rib on the far side of the hook shank. This allows for the
first turn of tinsel to come from the bottom of the shank and not interfere with the set
of the tail. (My vise has been rotated to show the tinsel.) |
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3. Measure the tail at a gape width and tie down the hackle fibers tightly.
I have cocked my tail up by placing two wraps of thread tightly underneath the rear
of the tail after it was securely tied down. |
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4. Bring your thread back to mid shank, binding the tail butts as you go.
Attach the fire orange wool at the mid point. |
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5. Wrap the wool back to the tail and then forward. Tie off and trim
excess. Be careful not to wrap back on the tail fibers as you will overpower the
upward angle we created. Tie in the chartreuse wool just forward of the tie off
spot. |
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6. Wrap this wool back over half of the previous layer and then forward to the
mid point on the shank. Tie off firmly and trim excess. Expose a short section
of the thread core of the chenille and tie in at the same spot you tied off the wool.
Bring your thread forward to in front of the lead. |
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7. Wrap the chenille forward. Tie off and trim excess. (Notice how
the first wrap of tinsel comes from under the hook shank and doesn't interfere with set of
the tail. Also note how this style of layered construction created a stepped tapered
body.) |
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8. Since I didn't have Krystal Flash in mulberry I mixed six strands of each
color to create the underwing. I measured the length to just reach the base of the
tail. Tie in with a few tight wraps. |
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9. Select a marabou plume with both body and defined fibers. Taper the top
end by cutting the stem about 1 inch down from the tip. Measure to reach the end of
the tail. Tie in with a few tight wraps. |
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10. Attach the saddle hackle by its tip. I have cleaned the stem down to
where I want to tie off the hackle and in the process have created a handle to use while
wrapping the hackle. |
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11. Wrap the hackle as a collar. Tie off and trim when you reach the clean
stem. Use the thread to build a tapered head back onto the collar. Whip finish
and cement. |
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12. The spey style of the Signal Light is as follows; Hook shown is an
Alex Jackson Spey (or use a Partridge CS10 Bartlett) A tag of fine silver flat
tinsel is added, the tail is eliminated. The rib is oval tinsel in fine silver.
The rear two body segments are of fluorescent floss and the front half is black
Crystal Chenille. The first hackle is purple marabou palmered through the front half
of the body. A couple of turns of black marabou is then applied as a collar.
Four (tow pair) hackle tips, placed back to back, are tied in as a short wing as the last
step. (Other types of long soft feathers can be used for the spey style of hackle.) |