St. Vrain Angler

Atlantic Salmon Tying Sessions

Here is the recipe, a few pictures and basic tying instructions for the Akroyd, our first pattern of the year. If you have questions, drop me a note. If you need materials, do the same. Thanks. Have fun.

  The Balmoral is on the left, and the Akroyd on the right. These are beautiful strip-wing flies that are fun to tie. The directions are for the Akroyd; you'll figure out how to do the Balmoral from them, though. Have fun.

Here's the basic list of materials for the Akroyd. The Balmoral is similar, but the colors are a bit different.

Akroyd: Tag: fine oval silver wire; Tail: a topping and tippet; Body: Two equal parts yellow and black seal (black can also be floss), back 1/2 ribbed with fine oval silver tinsel followed by yellow hackle, front half medium silver tinsel followed by heron or substitute; Throat: teal; Wing: strip of white turkey; Sides: Jungle Cock; Head: Black.

Balmoral: Tag: fine oval silver wire; Tail: a topping and tippet; Body: two equal parts of green and blue seal fur or substitutes; Ribs: flat silver tinsel and oval silver tinsel; Hackle: Black Heron or substitute - blue eared pheasant; Throat: teal; Wings: stripped Argus secondary wing quill; Sides Jungle Cock; Head: Black.

Determine the hook you will use. If you decide on a blind eye hook, attach the gut and move the thread back so it hangs over the barb. Select either oval or flat silver tinsel - both are used. If you use the flat tinsel, tie it in above the hook point with several wraps of thread. We use white 70 Denier Ultra thread.

Make even, adjacent wraps of tinsel back to the point immediately over the barb, then wrap back forward to the thread. Unwind the wraps of thread used to initially tie the tinsel, then tie off tinsel with about 4 adjacent wraps of thread. If you decide to use oval tinsel, tie the tinsel in over the point of the hook and under the hook shank. Wrap thread back about 6-8 turns, then wrap the oval tinsel forward, pushing the thread with each wrap. Make 5-7 wraps of tinsel. Tie off on the bottom of the hook shank and trim excess.

Here's what the hook will look like after the gut is attached and the tinsel is wrapped.

Now, select a topping that will match the curve of the hook. Prepare the feather by stripping off the white fluff near the bottom, and flattening the feather at the tie-in point with a small pair of flat pliers. When you tie the feather in, you'll want it to lie flat on the hook and straight in line with the length of the hook.

Now, select a few fibers of golden pheasant tippets and tie them in on top of the topping. The fibers can be whatever length you like, just so they are visible when the fly is complete.

The complete tail will look something like that.

Now we'll tie in a length of oval tinsel, hackle and dubbing. To prepare the oval tinsel, strip off a bit of the silver from the silk center. When you face the eye of the hook, looking towards the vice, tie the stripped area in at about 4 o'clock. Only use 2-3 wraps of thread. On the Akroyd, select a yellow saddle hackle that has fibers that are about equal in length to the gap of the hook. Fold them so all the fibers are on one side of the feather's quill, and tie the feather in by the tip adjacent to and below the tinsel.

Loosely dub some yellow seal or a good substitute to the thread and cover 1/2 of the body portion of the hook shank evenly with the yellow dubbing. Make 5 even wraps of tinsel, tie off; then follow the tinsel with the yellow hackle. Tie it off and trim excess. At this point, you may want to pick out some of the dubbing to create a "halo" effect. The picture at the left shows the back portion of the fly when complete.

Now it's time to tie the front half of the fly. If you plan to use floss, the area in front of the yellow dubbing will have to be completely flat in order to make a smooth body. If you're going to dub, you can cover a multitude of sins with the dubbing.

Immediately in front of the dubbing, tie in a section of flat silver tinsel. To prepare the tinsel, on the end you'll be tying in, cut the material at a 45° angle. Tie the tinsel in about 1/2 way up the cut, then fold the cut tip back over the thread and make one more wrap to keep the tinsel from sliding when you wrap it. The tinsel should again be tied in at about 4 o'clock. (I don't know what you'll do until then, ok?) Select the spey hackle you'll use and tie it in just below the tinsel, as before.

Dub seal (of substitute) forward to the back of the head of the fly - about one eye length behind the eye, then make 5 even wraps of tinsel. As you wind the spey hackle behind each wrap of tinsel, fold the fibers back so the hackle flows to the back of the fly. Tie the hackle off on the bottom of the hook shank - which is where the tinsel was also tied off.

Now, select a nicely-barred teal feather. A center feather will work best, if you can find a good one. Strip off all the fluff at the base of the feather clear up to the point where the stem of the feather gets thinner. Stroke the fibers back and tie feather in by the tip at about 4 o'clock again. Make 1-3 wraps of hackle, pulling the fibers to the back of the fly, and tie off on the side of the hook shank.

When the teal is tied off, stroke the teal and the spey hackle back and under the body of the fly. You can see in this picture that the teal is even with the center of the hook shank, giving us room to tie in the wing. I also like to flatten and clean up the head area with a few wraps of thread. Note also that I've changed from the white to black thread. You can do this after the yellow dubbing has been completed.

Hold a white turkey quill with the top of the feather towards you. The left side of the feather will create the wing closest to you while the right side of the feather makes the wing that is on the far side of the fly. Decide how full you want the wing and select a slice of fibers from each side of the feather. Cut them from the quill. Tie the close wing on first at about 10 o'clock, then tie the far wing in at about 2 o'clock. Each wing should be tied in with 1 wrap of thread. Take a look to see how the wing appears to you. The tips of the wing should extend somewhere near the bend of the hook or so. A little longer or shorter is fine. It is nice if the wing nestles into the topping used for the tail.

Once the wing is in the right position, you may want to try to marry the tops of the two wings together so they form a tent over the fly. I'm certainly no expert on how these flies looked traditionally, but this looks pretty good to me.

Now it's time to add the jungle cock. Select two feathers that are about the same length and decide how long you'd like them to be on the fly. I like them to flow down and away from parallel to the hook shank, extending about 1/2 way back to the point of the hook. Hold the feathers with the backs together, and strip away the fluff at the base of the feather where you want to tie it in.

Tie the jungle cock in below the bottom edge of the wings, one feather at a time. You'll know that the length is right by tying them in on the stripped portion of the stem, up against the fibers that remain. Try to get the same angle on each feather.

It's time to trim away any excess material. Sometimes it is a good idea to wrap thread over the area you intend to trim in order to scrunch it down. Then, unwind the thread and trim the excess material with very fine scissors or with a razor blade. Form the head with thread. Make it clean and conical in shape. When you are happy with the shape and appearance of the head, trim the thread and put a thin coat of head cement on it. Add cement or a thicker material to make a smooth, glossy head.

Take a break; you've earned it.

Tying Atlantic Salmon flies is challenging and fun. It adds a new dimension to your tying palate and offers a creative outlet for those who've tied enough elk hair caddis flies for the time being. Let us know if you'd like more of this. I hope it opens a new world of fly tying for you.

Happy tying. Dale Darling