"Small And Dark" Explained

In a recent post about going "small and dark" when selecting flies to fish in winter John Dornik made a good comment on how to tie small flies on large hooks. A partridge skin contains a multitude of feathers, some beautiful and some quite ugly. The skin also has feathers of various sizes. The bird is perfect for almost any size fly and a #14 is most prevalent. As you will see in the photos of two skins there are some really outstanding small feathers up on the top of the shoulders and along the backs of the birds.

I have marked the section where these small feathers are located. These are well marked and usually in great shape.

This bird is marked showing the back feathers. Many of these feathers are great for small flies. This skin is bleached and is a favorite of mine.

Here are four hackles taken from the two skins pictured above. They are small and beautifully marked.

A completed soft-hackle fly. Orange silk body, brown squirrel thorax, and partridge hackle.....now this fly is tied on a size 12 hook. The large hook gives better hooking ability as well as it being easier to tie as opposed to tying it on a 16 or 18 hook. The hooks are Firehole 609.

Now that we have the "small" part explained I'm guessing your saying how can an orange body be considered "dark"...silk thread takes on a different shade when waxed or wet...this will be shown in a future post.