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| Fly recipe Hook: Natural Bend Hook (Dai Riki #270) Size # 10-14 Thread: Tan 6/0 Uni Thread Tag: Red 6/0 Thread Tail: Mallard Flank Dyed Wood Duck or the real thing Body: Pale Yellow Superfine Dubbing Underwing: Tan Antron Yarn Wing: Dun Hackle Tips Post: White Poly Yarn Hackle: Dun Dry Fly Hackle Head: Pale Yellow Superfine Dubbing Tying instructions: Step 1: Secure your hook in the vise and attach the thread to the hook. Step 2: Tie in a piece of Red thread to form the tag on the fly. Wrap the red thread around the hook shank so that you create a red butt on the fly. This butt should go down the bend of the hook slightly and stop when the bend turns into the shank. Step 3: Pull off several fibers from your mallard flank feather and tie them onto the hook at the rear to form a tail. You can also substitute Yellow Goose biots for the tail. Step 4: Once the tail is secure move your thread forward to the front third of the hook shank. Cut a small piece of poly yarn and tie it on using a fiqure eight style wrap to secure the poly yarn to the top of the hook. Once the poly yarn is secure to the hook twist it around so that it lays on the bottom side of the hook shank. Once the Poly yarn is on the bottom end of the hook shank pull both ends up and around the hook shank. Form a small ramp of thread in front of and behing the poly yarn so that it stands straight up in the air. Now wrap your thread off the hook shank and around the poly yarn to form a post to wrap the hackle around the parachute. This is a standard way of making a parachute post, if you have questions please refer to a tyers manual for instructions. Step 5: Now that you have a post for wrapping the hackle bring your thread back to the rear of the hook and apply the dubbing to the thread. Remeber to use sparse amounts of dubbing, it is easier to add more dubbing than it is to take it away. Wrap your dubbing up the shank of the hook to the parachute post. Step 6: Once the body is formed you can cut a small chunck of Antron yarn and attach it to the hook just like you would a caddis type of wing. You will want the wing to extend to about the same lenght as the tail on the fly. Step 7: Next select two equal sized hackle tips and secure them to the hook as a wing over the top of the antron. Some tiers like to tie the hackle fibers on so that the wings project outward while others like them to lay flat on the back. Either way works great, you can do whichever you prefer. Step 8: The next step is to take a either a hackle from a dry fly neck or a good dry fly saddle and remove several of the fibers at the base of the hackle stem. I like to strip the barbs off to expose about 3/4 to l inch of the bare hackel stem. Tie in the hackle just in front of your parachute post and just behind the post. This insure that the hackle does not pull out when you go to wrap it around the parachute post. Step 9: Once the hackle is in place attach some more dubbing to the thread and cover the rest of the exposed hook with dubbing. You will want to try and make a nice even wrapped body all the way to the eye of the hook. This will help to keep the hackle barbs from pointing downward when you wrap the hackle. Your thread should be right near the hook eye, where you want to put on a nice thread head. Step 10: With the thread near the eye of the hook grab your hackle and begin to wrap it to the top of your parachute post, where you wrapped the thread up the post. I like to have the hackle all the way to the top of the post before the first barbs start to poke out. Once you are at the top make one wrap below the next until you have a nice full hackle around the parachute post. Once the post is hackled bring the hackle in front of the eye of the hook and wrap over it with thread. Pull all the hackle fibers out of the way and make a small head on the fly. Step 11: Whip Finish and apply a drop of head cement to the fly. Trim off the thread and you have a perfect Yellow Sally adult pattern. Notes: Yellow Sallies are one of my favorite insects that hatch during the month of July. These small stoneflies are very delicate flies, unlike most of the other stonefly species. You will find the adults in many different colors from tones of lime to very pale yellow. The one constant that most them have is the red coloring near their tail. This is primarily a see through portion of their body which is filled with what I would assume is blood. I have never looked into the reason for the red tail and I may have to do some research to see if there is a purpose or a reason for the red butt. Either way this fly provides some very good action and many times is overlooked because there are lots of other bugs that hatch during the same time. You will usually see strong hatches of caddis and pale morning duns during Yellow Sally hatches and many anglers try to imitate the other hatches and forget about the Yellow Sallies. I find the fish will eat the Yellow sallies most days and sometimes they will really key in on them. So if you see fish rising and they won't eat a caddis or pmd imitation give the yellow sallies a try, the fish could be keyed into them and not on the other two hatches. I also tie this fly with elk hair for the wing rather than the hackle tips, the elk hair gives it more floatability and will allow you to fish a small beadhead off the rear as a dropper. Check out the sallies next time you are on the water. They are a pretty little insect that can help you unlock some fish during the month of July. |
