Earlier in the month, Alan (Small stream reflections) asked me to try to duplicate a fly that he had picked up in Fran Betters' shop. Alan later contacted Jan Betters and she told him that Fran referred to it as a Picket Fin. The colors of the fly remind you of another "Fin" fly the Fontinalis Fin, a wet fly that resembles a brook trout fin with it's orange, black, and white married wing.
After handling the fly and taking some pictures of my own and doing a little experimenting, I think I've figured out how Fran put it together. Here are two versions for smaller streams where a good sized bead is too heavy. Both are tied on 2x long nymph hooks that are a little shorter than Fran's fly which appears to be tied on a mustad 9671 (3X long) with a good sized bead on it. When tying the fly on the 9671 hook add an extra wrap of chenille and hackle.
Tie in the tail (grizzly hackle tip), then the grizzly hackle (#18 saddle hackle was used on the #16 fly). Remove some of the fibers at the tip of the chenille to expose the thread of the chenille and tie in at the rear (reduces the bulk of the fly). Wind the chenille to the mid point of the hook and palmer the hackle forward (3 turns each). Tie in the calf body hair wing and then tie in 3 peacock herls to the base of the wing and wrap them around the hook once, go around the herls counter clockwise once with the thread once and wrap the thread and herl forward forming a nice tight thorax (wrapping the thread and herl together reinforces the herl and gives it more durability). Tie off a nice tight hot spot behind the bead or at the head.
After handling the fly and taking some pictures of my own and doing a little experimenting, I think I've figured out how Fran put it together. Here are two versions for smaller streams where a good sized bead is too heavy. Both are tied on 2x long nymph hooks that are a little shorter than Fran's fly which appears to be tied on a mustad 9671 (3X long) with a good sized bead on it. When tying the fly on the 9671 hook add an extra wrap of chenille and hackle.
Tie in the tail (grizzly hackle tip), then the grizzly hackle (#18 saddle hackle was used on the #16 fly). Remove some of the fibers at the tip of the chenille to expose the thread of the chenille and tie in at the rear (reduces the bulk of the fly). Wind the chenille to the mid point of the hook and palmer the hackle forward (3 turns each). Tie in the calf body hair wing and then tie in 3 peacock herls to the base of the wing and wrap them around the hook once, go around the herls counter clockwise once with the thread once and wrap the thread and herl forward forming a nice tight thorax (wrapping the thread and herl together reinforces the herl and gives it more durability). Tie off a nice tight hot spot behind the bead or at the head.
Glass bead version
#16 2X long nymph hook
Fire orange thread
Gold lined glass bead
tail - tip of a small grizzly hackle
body - orange fine chenille (3 wraps)
grizzly hackle palmered from the rear (3 wraps)
Wing - white calf body hair
thorax - peacock herl
non beaded version