Partridge & Orange

Wet fly imitating mayflies and caddis, for trout and grayling. Beginner.

A short, slim body of orange silk, optionally ribbed with gold wire, and one or two turns of mottled brown partridge.

Materials

Steps

  1. Attach thread Attach the thread at 88% of the way along the shank with a few turns and trim the tag end.
  2. Wrap thread Wrap the thread to 35% of the way along the shank in touching turns. Touching turns, to above the hook point.
  3. Tie in: gold wire Tie in the gold wire with a few firm thread turns. Optional; the classic dressing has none.
  4. Wrap thread Wrap the thread to 86% of the way along the shank in touching turns. A slim, single-layer silk body; don't build a taper.
  5. Wind: gold wire Wind the gold wire forward to 86% of the way along the shank in 4 turns.
  6. Tie off: gold wire Tie off the gold wire with a few thread turns and trim the excess.
  7. Tie in: brown partridge (back or neck feather) Tie in the brown partridge (back or neck feather) with a few firm thread turns. By the tip, just behind the eye, fluff stripped and barbs stroked out.
  8. Wrap thread Wrap the thread to 93% of the way along the shank in touching turns.
  9. Wind: brown partridge (back or neck feather) Wind the brown partridge (back or neck feather) forward to 93% of the way along the shank in 2 turns. One or two turns, stroking the barbs back after each.
  10. Tie off: brown partridge (back or neck feather) Tie off the brown partridge (back or neck feather) with a few thread turns and trim the excess.
  11. Whip finish Form a small head, whip finish with 5 turns and cut the thread. A small orange head.

History

A North Country spider from the Yorkshire Dales. The earliest dressing found is Pritt's "Orange Partridge" in Yorkshire Trout Flies (1885), a body of orange silk and a well dappled feather from a partridge's back; Pritt fished it from April to September on warm days. Wikipedia says the style was first described by Joseph Wells in 1842, but gives no source. Edmonds and Lee (1916) ask for a mottled, not barred, feather. Sylvester Nemes' The Soft-Hackled Fly (1975) popularised soft-hackled flies like it in America.

Fishing it

Fished across and down on a team of two or three spiders, or upstream on a short line, just under the surface: the soft partridge fibres move with the slightest current and suggest a hatching nymph or pupa.

Sources