Kate MacLaren

[scotfly]

Recent discussions have brought to my attention that we don't have a sbs of the Kate MacLaren (note she's a Mac not a Mc!)
So here is one of the original dressing (according to Tom Stewart)

Instructions assume right-handed tyers


HOOK ? Wet fly #10
THREAD ? 8/0 Black
RIB ? Fine Oval Silver
TAIL ? Golden Pheasant Topping
BODY ? Black Seals Fur
PALMER HACKLE ? Black Cock
HEAD HACKLE ? Brown or Red Game Hen


STEP 1
Attach the thread and take 5 ? 7 turns as shown.



STEP 2
Tie in the hackle with the good (shiny) side towards you.



STEP 3
Tie the rib in under the shank as shown



STEP 4
Take a Golden Pheasant head.



Pluck a topping feather from it. Look for one with a nice curve to it.





Tie in on top of the shank. Note I have trimmed the butts to the same length as the body. The tail should roughly = the body length.



STEP 5
Dub a pinch of Seals Fur onto the thread.


STEP 6
Wrap the dubbed thread to form the body. After dubbing the body make one turn of thread past the hackle, this is where you will be tying the rib off later.



STEP 7
Wrap the hackle in an open evenly spaced spiral toward the tail.



STEP 8
With the hackle held in the pliers in your left hand take the rib over it to lock it down with your right hand.



Then continue wrapping the rib in evenly spaced turns through the hackle to where you left the thread.



Tie off the rib.



Trim the hackle tip off and the waste end of the rib.



STEP 9
Tie in the head hackle as shown with the shiny side towards you. The head hackle should be slightly longer than the body hackle.



STEP 10
Make two or at the most three turns of hackle, working towards the eye and tie off.



STEP 11
Trim off the waste tip and form a neat head.



Finally whipfinish and varnish for the completed fly.

[doogs]

Great fly, one of the bestest.............