Brook Fin Wet Fly, my version with the added tag and rib, on a Mustad 36890 size #2 salmon hook.
Brook Fin Wet Fly
I first learned of the Brook Fin wet fly while in ninth or tenth grade through the color plates of a book titled, The Complete Book of Freshwater Fishing by P. Allen Parsons. It was illustrated there with other wet flies, drys, streamers, bucktails, and nymphs. The same paintings were originally published in H. J. Noll’s Guide to Trout Flies and How to Tie Them. I did not possess a copy of Noll’s book until the late 1990’s. Other than the Fontinalis Fin and Bergman Fontinalis, the Brook Fin was just the third brook trout fin wet fly pattern I had even seen. The Parson’s book lacked tying recipes, so my brother and I were tying many of those patterns solely by interpreting the illustration. In some cases this involved our best guess.
At any rate, the reason for this batch of flies is because one of my customers to whom I had sent a few orders of fancy wet flies and Gray Ghosts for fishing in the Adirondacks, had made a September trip to the Salmon River in New York. While there, using a #6 Brook Fin wet fly I had tied on a Mustad 3399 hook, he suddenly saw a huge, dark shadow trailing his fly. As it came closer he saw that it was a very large Chinook salmon. He saw the fish actually strike and take the fly, at which point the fight was on. He played the fish for over fifteen minutes until the line went slack. Inspecting the hook, he discovered it was still attached, but had been bent open enough to lose its purchase in the fish’s jaw. He and his companions estimated the size of this fish at around 25 – 30 pounds.
He e-mailed me to say that he wanted more, and wondered about getting some of these flies on stouter hooks. The flies on these Mustad 36890 size #2 irons are the end result. Somewhere along the line, I inadvertently stopped including the tail of black hackle fibers on the brook fin, probably because I started tying the pattern from memory and hadn’t checked the photo for some time; I simply forgot to include it. The addition of the oval gold tinsel tag and rib is added to strengthen the rear of the floss body and also to protect the stem of the palmered black hackle. I love the added accoutrement of the gold tag and rib. I had never dressed traditional trout flies on salmon hooks before, but for bigger fish, it makes perfect sense. I really like the appearance of these patterns on the black, up-eye salmon hook. These flies are certain to work for steelhead, lake-run salmon, and perhaps even a few big browns that visit the Lake Ontario tributaries in the fall of the year.
Brook Fin Wet Fly
Thread: White Danville Flymaster 6/0 for body, black for head
Hook: Mustad 36890 or other brand of up-eye salmon hook
Tag: Fine oval gold tinsel
Tail: Black Hackle fibers
Hackle: Black tied palmer
Rib: Fine oval gold tinsel
Body: Orange floss
Wing: White, black, and orange, in equal parts, married
Head: Black
I also tied six other patterns on size #4 salmon hooks, the Alexandra, Golden Duke, Neverwas, Cupsuptic, Golden Doctor, and Dr. Burke. These additional photos and their recipes will be added to this topic later today.
1/2 Dz. Brook Fins, dressed on #2 Mustad 36890 salmon hook (Bastian variation with added tag & rib)
Alexandra
Alexandra
Hook: Dai-Riki 899 size #4
Thread: Red Danville 6/0 Flymaster
Tag: Dark red floss
Tail: Peacock sword fibers
Rib: Oval silver tinsel
Body: Flat silver tinsel
Hackle: Black (also red, claret, or deep wine)
Wing: Peacock sword, may have scarlet splits on each side
Head: Red, (Wapsi lacquer)
Dr. Burke
Dr. Burke
Hook: Dai-Riki 899 size #4
Thread: Black Danville 6/0 Flymaster
Tail: Peacock sword fibers
Rib: Oval silver tinsel
Body: Flat silver tinsel
Hackle: Yellow
Wing: White goose
Cheek: Jungle cock
Head: Black
Cupsuptic
Cupsuptic
Hook: Dai-Riki 899 size #4
Thread: Black Danville 6/0 Flymaster
Tail: Yellow hackle fibers
Hackle: Red tied palmer
Rib: Oval silver tinsel
Body: Flat silver tinsel
Wing: Dark brown mottled turkey with marrow strip of guinea fowl over
Head: Black
Golden Duke
Golden Duke
Hook: Dai-Riki 899 #4
Thread: Black Danville 6/0 Flymaster
Tail: Red goose or duck quill sections
Body: Rear 2/3 black floss, front 1/3 flat gold tinsel
Hackle: Black
Wing: Scarlet goose wing quill sections
Head: Black
Golden Doctor
Golden Doctor
Hook: Dai-Riki 899 #4
Thread: Red Danville 6/0 Flymaster
Tail: Red, yellow, green goose or duck, married
Body: Flat gold tinsel
Hackle: Claret
Wing: Gray mallard (whole feather tips paired on this specimen), with splits of blue and red goose shoulder over
Neverwas (sorry about that one stray hackle barb, I was in a hurry and took only this one photo before shipping the flies to my customer).
Neverwas
Hook: Dai-Riki 899 #4
Thread: Black Danville 6/0 Flymaster
Tail: Peacock sword fibers
Hackle: Green (I used olive on this one)
Body: Peacock herl
Wing: Orange goose wing quill sections
Head: Black
These six patterns were dressed on Dai-Riki 899 salmon / steelhead hooks and have a more aesthetically pleasing bend, and the wire diameter is finer, the return loop is tapered, and they are chemically sharpened, overall a better hook than the vintage 36890 Mustad’s I used on the Brook Fins.
