Waiting for my plane at the Bozeman airport a few years ago, I picked up a copy of Flyfishing and Tying Journal and came across an excellent article written by Al and Gretchen Beatty about the Lochsa River. In the article was a picture of this fly - sorta kinda H&L Variant/Wulff (also very similar to Charlie Craven's GTH Variant) which looked like a fun one to tie. Although I didn't get to the Lochsa the following summer, I did use this fly on a number of streams on the East side of those mountains and the fish seemed interested. Not a hard fly to tie, really just a matter of watching proportions and maintaining thread control.


hook - Dai Riki 320 #12
thread - UTC 70 chartreuse
tail - moose body hair
abdomen - Uni Stretch chartreuse
thorax - peacock herl
wing - calf body hair
hackle - brown



Part 1




mash barb and attach thread at 75% mark





clean, stack and measure a clump of calf body hair (shank length)





tie in with 2 firm wraps





and continue back with firm wraps





trim butts at an angle (I was a bit steep here)





brush with a little Sally and move thread back to point above barb





clean, stack and measure a clump of moose body hair (shank length)





tie down and wrap forward (firmly) to wing butts





trim tail butts and smooth over with tying thread