Magnus

Saltwater fly imitating shrimp and scuds and baitfish, for sea trout. Beginner. Magnus Ting Mortensen, 1973.

Splayed grizzly hackle-tip tail, a sparse grey hare's fur body with an oval silver rib, a palmered grizzly hackle and a longer grizzly front hackle, behind bead-chain eyes and a red head.

Materials

Steps

  1. Attach thread Attach the thread at 90% of the way along the shank with a few turns and trim the tag end.
  2. Tie in: bead chain eyes Tie the bead chain eyes on top of the shank with figure-of-eight turns. On top, one eye width behind the eye; the originator ties them underneath.
  3. Wrap thread Wrap the thread to the start of the bend in touching turns.
  4. Tie in: grizzly hackle tips Pick a feather about a quarter of the gape wide. Tie in the grizzly hackle tips so the tips reach well past the bend (one and a half times the gape from the tie-in point), angled about 8° up from the shank. Two small neck feathers, curving away from each other.
  5. Tie in: silver oval tinsel Tie in the silver oval tinsel with a few firm thread turns.
  6. Dub: grey hare's fur Twist a thin noodle of grey hare's fur onto the thread and wrap it forward to 82% of the way along the shank. Sparse; stop one eye width behind the eyes.
  7. Tie in: grizzly cock hackle Tie in the grizzly cock hackle with a few firm thread turns. By the butt, at the front.
  8. Palmer: grizzly cock hackle Palmer the grizzly cock hackle back to 4% of the way along the shank in 6 open turns. Backward, in open turns, to the bend.
  9. Wind: silver oval tinsel Wind the silver oval tinsel forward to 82% of the way along the shank in 6 turns through the grizzly cock hackle. The first turn traps its tip. Forward the opposite way, through the hackle, locking its tip.
  10. Tie off: silver oval tinsel Tie off the silver oval tinsel with a few thread turns and trim the excess.
  11. Trim: grizzly cock hackle Trim the tip of the grizzly cock hackle close to the body. The hackle tip at the bend.
  12. Tie in: grizzly cock hackle, longer Tie in the grizzly cock hackle, longer with a few firm thread turns.
  13. Wrap thread Wrap the thread to 87% of the way along the shank in touching turns.
  14. Wind: grizzly cock hackle, longer Wind the grizzly cock hackle, longer forward to 87% of the way along the shank in 3 turns. A wet-fly collar behind the eyes.
  15. Tie off: grizzly cock hackle, longer Tie off the grizzly cock hackle, longer with a few thread turns and trim the excess.
  16. Whip finish Form a small head, whip finish with 5 turns and cut the thread. Varnish the head red (the original had the eyes varnished too); tease out the fur.

History

Magnus Ting Mortensen tied it on Funen in the spring of 1973 from what he had to hand: hare from his own hunting and grizzly hackle from a friend's Plymouth Rock chickens. He did not set out to copy any particular creature, only to make something that looked alive. It resembles a Woolly Bugger, but GlobalFlyFisher traces it to palmered wet flies such as the Chillimps and the Red Tag Palmer. It caught on first through a local shop that stocked it as a staple, then through magazines and books; GlobalFlyFisher counts it the original of the many grey, grizzly-hackled Danish coastal flies. The Grey Fred (1989) looks much like it but is a separate pattern with different materials, and the two are often confused.

Fishing it

A coastal sea-trout fly, found in most Danish fly boxes and fished along the Baltic coasts. It suggests shrimps and small fish without copying either, and has also taken steelhead, salmon and saltwater fish further afield. The bead-chain eyes add weight and make it jig.

Sources